Volume 3, Number 1 -- January 12, 2005

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The Top Headlines From AVweb's Expanded Business News Coverage At AVweb's Business NewsWire.

AIRPORTS I: FAA SAYS SMO IS DISCRIMINATING
The FAA last week issued a 60-page order taking the city of Santa Monica, Calif., to task for what the agency has determined are discriminatory landing fees at the Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO). The order, which the NBAA immediately welcomed, is the latest chapter in a years-long battle between business jet operators and the city, and is a direct result of a series of landing fees that went into effect on Aug. 1, 2003. According to the FAA, the fees are “unreasonable and [result] in unjust discrimination against one group of aviation users to the benefit of another group.” Specifically, the FAA determined that the fees have a significant impact on operators of certain aircraft types, are not warranted by the relatively small increase in jet operations at the airport and are “high by any standard.” "The determination made by the FAA is great news for anyone opposed to discriminatory landing fees in the United States," said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. "Santa Monica Airport has been unfairly discriminating against business aircraft operators, in violation of Federal law." More...

AIRPORTS II: OTHERS WANT YOUR BUSINESS
Even if Santa Monica would like to see all the bizjets go somewhere else, other cities and airports around the country are going all out to attract them, whether flown as charters, fractional operations or traditional flight departments. For example, traffic at the Portland-Hillsboro Airport (HIO) in Portland, Ore., is expected to increase by nearly 30 percent in the next two decades, according to an article in the The Business Journal of Portland. The newspaper reported that “a significant proportion” of more than 254,000 operations at the facility in 2003 were for business reasons. That number is forecast to increase to 323,000 by 2020. "The airport is growing rapidly and it has been that way for the last few years. It is a microcosm of the growth of Washington County businesses," Daren Griffin, Port of Portland general aviation manager, told the newspaper. More...

GULFSTREAM DELIVERS 100TH G200 JET
Gulfstream Aerospace last month delivered its 100th G200 business jet. Fractional operator NetJets accepted delivery of the aircraft at Gulfstream's Dallas facility where it was outfitted. Gulfstream rolled out the G200 in 1997; the aircraft received FAA certification in 1998 and entered service in 2000. In 2001, NetJets placed 50 firm orders for the G200 with an option for 50 more. On June 30, 2002, NetJets took delivery of its first G200. To date, NetJets has taken delivery of 12 G200s. In September, Gulfstream received a type certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency, which allows registration in 25 European Union countries. "We are pleased to take delivery of G200, serial number 100, for our growing fleet of NetJets aircraft," said Bill Boisture, president of NetJets Aviation. "The G200 has proven to be an aircraft we can rely on time and time again. Also, for a super-mid-size plane, the roomy G200 cabin provides our customers an exceptional level of comfort." More...

RAAS SERVICE BULLETINS AVAILABLE FOR CITATIONS…
Cessna announced it has released final Service Bulletins for the new Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS), an upgrade to installed Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) equipment. Upgrading to RAAS involves installing a PCMCIA card that activates additional features in the existing Mark V and VII EGPWS computer 219-219 software. Cessna’s Citation Service Center network will perform the RAAS installation and associated certification for all Citation Bravos (model 550), Citation Encores (model 560), Citation Excels (model 560XL), and Citation Xs (model 750). According to Cessna, the RAAS upgrade provides operators improved situational awareness and helps lower the probability of runway incursions. More...

…WHILE MACHINISTS TRY TO ORGANIZE CESSNA’S INDEPENDENCE PLANT
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) last week filed a petition calling for an election to organize workers at the Cessna Aircraft Company's Independence, Kan., plant. According to The Wichita Eagle, the petition was filed with the National Labor Relations Board. According to the union, signatures allowing the election were collected from a majority of the employees who would be represented. More...

BOMBARDIER GRABS CHINESE TYPE CERTIFICATE
Bombardier last week announced receipt of a type certificate for its Learjet 45 bizjet from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). China’s approval will allow operators to register the type in China; it includes not only the model 45 but 40-series jet family like the models 40, 40XR and 45XR. Global Wings, based in Tokyo, Japan, will be the first operator to benefit from the CAAC’s approval. The company plans to base two Learjet 45 XRs in Beijing and begin executive charter operations in that country. More...

DASSAULT SNAGS BENDIX TROPHY FOR EASY FLIGHT DECK
On the system’s first anniversary, Dassault Falcon’s EASy Flight Deck technology was named recipient of one of the industry’s most prestigious awards, the Honeywell Bendix Trophy for Aviation Safety. The Flight Safety Foundation presented the award to Dassault Aviation at the International Air Safety Seminar for the EASy flight deck. Dassault began developing the EASy flight deck in the mid-‘90s after identifying a need for enhanced situational awareness in the cockpit. The first EASy-equipped Falcon 900EX was delivered in December of 2003. More...

CAMP SYSTEMS TO BE ACQUIRED
A firm named Boston Ventures announced this week that CAMP Systems International LLC has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Warburg Pincus. The transaction, the terms of which were not disclosed, is subject to government approvals and is expected to close in early February 2005. CAMP, which was founded in 1967, is the leader in maintenance-tracking software for corporate aircraft. According to a press release, owners and operators of more than 3800 aircraft worldwide use CAMP’s software. More...

“YEAH, WE KNEW THAT” DEPARTMENT
A couple of errors crept into our 2004 business aviation news wrap-up, which was published Dec. 29. The most egregious of them involved mis-identifying the type of Gulfstream involved in a Nov. 22 crash in Houston. We dubbed it a G-II; it was really a G-III. Similarly, the Nov. 28 crash of a Challenger 604 occurred on takeoff from Montrose, Colo., not Telluride. More...

WATCH YOUR INBOX...
...the next issue of AVweb's BizAVflash will be e-mailed to you on Jan. 26. More...

Business AVflash is a twice-monthly summary of the latest business aviation
news, articles, products, features and events featured on AVweb, the
Internet's Aviation Magazine and News Service. http://www.avweb.com

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Today's issue written by Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside:
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AVweb's editorial team: http://avweb.com/contact/authors.html.

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