AIRBUS IN ONE-HORSE RACE IN PARIS
Despite the economy and rainy weather, the show must go on and the Paris Air Show is no exception. More than 300,000 people are expected to attend but something that's missing is the annual order tally competition between Airbus and Boeing. A fixture of the summer shows that alternate between Farnborough and LeBourget, this year only Airbus is playing the game. It announced more than 50 orders worth about $6 billion but by the end of the second day of the show, Boeing hadn't notched a single sale. Boeing executives dismissed the shellacking, saying they don't "save up" orders to announce at shows. Instead of trumpeting sales, Boeing instead dwelled on the imminent first flight of the 787 Dreamliner, which spokesman Scott Carson said will occur by the end of this month. More...

BOMBARDIER RELEASES BIZJET FORECAST
The current downturn is a blip and happy days will be here again for business aviation soon, according to Bombardier. As painful as the current downturn has been, the global economy is expected to recover quickly and Bombardier is predicting the fortunes of the business aviation industry will too. In its annual market forecast, delivered at the Paris Air Show, Bombardier said that over the next 10 years 11,500 business aircraft, worth $256 billion, will be delivered. That's only about 2,000 less than the current number of bizjets currently flying (13,600) and the company says most of those will stay in service despite the new deliveries. By 2019, the company expects the worldwide fleet of business aircraft to be about 23,800. "While in the short term the industry faces such important challenges as high pre-owned inventories, negative public perceptions and a difficult economic climate, Bombardier remains confident that there is a strong potential for the business aircraft industry over the next 10 years," the company said. "The anticipated return of global economic growth is expected to result in a strong recovery in the demand for business jets." Bombardier is equally bullish on the future of small airliners. More...

FAA CHIEF PROMISES NEW, SAFER RULES FOR AIRLINE PILOTS
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said on Monday that airlines can expect new rules soon regarding flight and duty hours for pilots, and also that rules will be clarified to ensure that airlines can get data on every checkride a pilot applicant ever took. Babbitt spoke at a high-level closed-door meeting of industry executives, pilot union reps and government officials held in Washington to discuss concerns about safety at regional airlines and what can be done to improve it. "Our job is to deliver and ensure safety, and recently we've seen some cracks in the system," Babbitt said, referring to the publicity about hiring practices and standards at regional airlines during the investigation of the Colgan Air crash in Buffalo. He said he also wants airlines to have a process to ensure that senior captains mentor new pilots as they build experience. Babbitt and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood hosted the "Call to Action" to identify immediate steps that could strengthen and improve pilot hiring, training and testing practices at regional airlines as well as at the major air carriers. More...

INCENTIVES ABOUND FOR CUSTOMERS OF ALL TYPES
Bombardier this week became the latest aerospace company to decide that the current downturn has "hit bottom," but considering the incentives available for those who are considering a major purchase, it's still clearly a buyer's market. For instance, Hawker Beechcraft recently announced a no-cost maintenance program for its Premier IA composite-fuselage light business jets. The program covers the maintenance on the first five years or 1,000 flight hours, whichever comes first. The silver lining in the downturn has been that those deferring aircraft purchases have been upgrading their current equipment. The good news for those considering that route is that the shops are just as competitive as the OEMs and are devising innovative incentives, like J.A. Air Center's Zero Downtime deal on King Air G1000 upgrades. More...

PROJECT PHOENIX FIRST FLIGHT
Although Project Phoenix was started to provide an alternative for those facing years of waiting for a new business jet, the company is continuing despite the drastic change in market conditions. The company announced the first flight of one of its refurbished Canadair Regional Jets in executive configuration on June 12 and said the flight was flawless. The flight occurred at Flying Colours, the completion center in Peterborough, Ont. With used inventories climbing and new aircraft backlogs evaporating, Project Phoenix has shifted marketing strategy to the performance and features of the rejuvenated regional jets, most notably the long-range carrying capacity. More...

TWO CIRRUS AIR-TAXI OPERATORS JOIN FORCES
SATSAir and ImagineAir, two of the new generation of air-taxi operators flying Cirrus SR22 aircraft, said on Tuesday they have entered a "flight networking" or "code-share" agreement, effectively expanding their combined network across a 10-state area in the Southeastern U.S. "Customers of both companies will benefit from the increased aircraft availability immediately," said Steve Hanvey, SATSair president and CEO. "From an operational standpoint, this will also create an opportunity for both companies to route their aircraft in an even more efficient manner." Both operators offer on-demand flights to over 1,000 airports in the Southeast. Each company will retain its own pricing structure and operate its own flights. "While code-shares have been common practice in the airline industry for years, 'flight networking' is really an innovative 'first' for the next-generation air-taxi industry," said Aaron Sohacki, CEO of ImagineAir. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: AIR SAFETY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
That's the way it was on Monday when the Transportation Department held a closed-door session with the airline industry to discuss issues related to the Colgan crash in Buffalo. "What's up with this?" wonders Paul Bertorelli in today's AVweb Insider blog. Shouldn't the sun shine in on such governmental meetings? The new administration said it would. TranspoSec Ray LaHood said the meeting was too urgent to wait for the NTSB's full report in another eight months. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: WHY SPECULATING ON AIRPLANE CRASHES IS A GOOD THING
Used to be, we reclined in smug professionalism in being sophisticated enough to know aircraft accidents take months to investigate. But these days, the information comes at you a mile a minute from dozens of sources, so in the latest installment of our AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli argues that it's actually a healthy thing to offer your own theory or suggestions on crash causes. Not to worry; the NTSB won't pay you the slightest bit of attention. More...

ALIMENT PROMOTED

Steve Aliment

Steve Aliment is Bombardier's new regional vice president of sales for Europe. Aliment previously spent 25 years at Boeing. 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...

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: TV NEWS COPTERS MADE AFFORDABLE
Thanks to seismic shifts in the news business, many local television outlets can no longer afford their own turbine-powered eye-in-the-sky. As a result, Robinson is doing a brisk business selling its R44-based ENG camera ship. AVweb visited Robinson in Torrance, California for a closer look. 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.

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Timothy Cole

Editorial Director, Aviation Publications
Paul Bertorelli

Editor-in-Chief
Russ Niles

Contributing Editors
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Glenn Pew

Features Editor
Kevin Lane-Cummings

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Scott Simmons

Contributors
Jeff van West

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