A700 CERTIFICATION SHELVED
Six months after buying the assets of Adam Aircraft for just $10 million, AAI Acquisitions is all but pulling the pin on a bid to revive the A700 very light jet program. The company announced Tuesday it's suspending the certification program on the A700 and canceling plans to hire hundreds of workers at Centennial Airport in Englewood, Colo. "The company has had a strategic readjustment," spokesman Jan D'Angelo told The Denver Business Journal. Centennial Airport spokesman Robert Olislagers was a little more pointed. "That's out the door right now," Olislagers said. "We already went through this drill with Adam Aircraft. It's obviously very unfortunate. It appears that AAI is getting caught up in the credit crunch out there. It's a worldwide problem." More...

ECLIPSE SHUTDOWN PREDICTED
Forecast International, an aerospace market think tank says Eclipse Aviation will likely cease production early in 2009 because it's unlikely to find the $200 million it needs to keep going. In a news release on Tuesday, analyst Douglas Royce says Eclipse's back is against the wall after a series of setbacks. "We believe that the company will be able to push production out into early 2009 but will be forced to cease production within the first quarter of 2009," Royce said. Forecast International predicts only 12 aircraft will be finished in 2009 and "even this forecast may prove too optimistic," said Royce. Eclipse did not immediately respond to email and telephone messages left early Tuesday evening. More...

For a fresh perspective on the aviation economy, don't miss today's exclusive AVwebBiz podcast, a little further down in this very issue.

P&WC BUILDS ENGINE PLANT AT MIRABEL
Pratt and Whitney Canada has announced it will build a 300,000-square-foot engine assembly plant and flight test center at Montreal's Mirabel Airport as part of more than $575 million in investment in facilities in Quebec over the next five years. The Mirabel Aerospace Center will house the production facilities for P&WC's new PW800 series geared turbine engines, which have been picked by Cessna for the Columbus 850 intercontinental business jet. A key factor in P&WC's decision was Bombardier's choice of Mirabel for assembly of its new CSeries airliners, which will have a PW1524G engine on each wing. That's part of the reason P&WC's parent company, Pratt and Whitney, is moving its worldwide flight testing operation to Mirabel. More...

COURT UPHOLDS FAA AUTHORITY
A Connecticut court has rejected yet another bid by a civic government to chip away at the virtually absolute authority of the FAA in aviation matters. According to Stratford, Conn., lawyer Paul Lange, the town of East Haven was trying to block the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority from proceeding with an FAA-funded runway safety area project. The airport doesn't meet FAA standards for overruns and the FAA is paying 95 percent of the cost of bringing it into compliance. All of the work will take place on land already owned by the airport. In her decision, Judge Janet C. Hall said "the regulation of taxiways and runways is preempted by federal law," meaning East Haven can't pass any ordinance that would prevent the FAA from going about its business, which, in this case, is aviation safety. More...

TEB GOOD-NEIGHBOR POLICY WORKING
Stage II business jet operations have dropped by 43 percent and night operations at Teterboro Airport have been cut by 16 percent since operators instituted a voluntary ban on those types of activities two years ago. At a news conference on Tuesday, representatives of the Teterboro Airport Industry Working Group's "Pledge to the Community Program" updated the media on efforts to ease the friction between the airport and its neighbors. "I am quite pleased with the continued progress of the working group's Pledge to the Community Program," National Air Transportation Association President Jim Coyne said. "The significant reduction in Stage II and overnight operations is a testament to the aviation industry's commitment to this critical initiative." Coyne is also co-chair of the program. There are now 300 signatories on the voluntary ban and the group is urging more to join. More...

ZEPPELIN STARTS PASSENGER FLIGHTS OVER BAY AREA
Airship Ventures is now up and running with its German-built Zeppelin, offering sightseeing flights to the general public in an airship, the first time such flights have been available in the U.S. in about seven decades. The company started media flights this week from Moffett Field, just south of San Francisco, and will start passenger operations on Friday. The ship will also fly from Oakland International Airport and from Charles Schultz Airport in the Napa Valley. The Zeppelin is almost 250 feet long. Large windows offer a 360-degree view, and the cabin seats up to 12 passengers, who are free to move around during the flight. The airship flies low and slow, topping out at about 1,200 feet AGL and 35 to 40 mph. Hour-long tours run about $500 per seat. The ship can also be chartered by the hour. More...

ECONOMIC CRISIS A MEDIA INVENTION?
Cirrus CEO Alan Klapmeier had to stand up in front of his staff last week and announce production adjustments to match the slumping demand for the company's airplanes. He told AVweb's Russ Niles that one of the hardest things to swallow about the current economic situation is the mainstream media's unquestioning perpetuation of the doom and gloom. More...

AVWEB'S NBAA CONVENTION 2008 VIDEO ROUND-UP
In case you missed any of our videos from the 2008 NBAA Convention & Trade Show in Orlando, Florida, you can watch all eight of them (plus two shorts you may find interesting) right here. (Click through to watch.) More...

WILLIAMS CHIEF PILOT AT NASHVILLE JET CHARTER

Benjamin Williams

Nashville Jet Charter announced that Benjamin Williams is its new chief pilot. Williams is a retired Army colonel who flew various military helicopters and fixed wing aircraft in a 27-year career. More...

NELSON RETIRES FROM HAWKER BEECHCRAFT
Randy Nelson, Hawker Beechcraft's senior vice president of product development and engineering will retire Dec. 1. He will be replaced by Edward Petkus, the current vice president of new product development. More...

WHO'S WHERE? YOU TELL US
Get a promotion or a new job? Your colleagues want to know about it, and AVwebBiz can get the word out. Drop us a line about the staff appointment, with a nice recent photo, and we'll do our best to include it in our new section, "Who's Where." The items will be permanently archived on AVweb for future reference, too. More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something 200,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. What have you heard? More...

MEET THE AVWEBBIZ TEAM

AVwebBiz is a weekly summary of the latest business aviation news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the internet's aviation magazine and news service.

The AVwebBiz team is:

Publisher
Timothy Cole

Editorial Director, Aviation Publications
Paul Bertorelli

Editor-in-Chief
Russ Niles

Contributing Editors
Mary Grady
Glenn Pew

Features Editor
Kevin Lane-Cummings

Webmaster
Scott Simmons

Contributors
Jeff van West

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