General Business Aviation News

Gulfstream, a subsidiary of General Dynamics experienced a dip in deliveries for Q1 of 2015. Figures suggest that deliveries went down by approximately 18% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. The G650 line has been doing well for the company though with a long backlog of orders set up.

Luxaviation is now the world’s second largest business jet operator after buying larger international rival ExecuJet Aviation Group from entrepreneur Dermot Desmond and ExecuJet chairman Niall Olver. The new company has more than 250 business aircraft under management, 1500 employees and staff in 22 countries. Of course NetJets, the Berkshire Hathaway company, has a larger fleet of business jets.

Things are happening for the Pilatus PC-24, the first business jet of this Swiss-based manufacturer. The first aircraft has already started taxi trials and is looking to be on track to make its first flight in May, 2015. Certification and entry-into-service are expected to come in 2017. Below is a photo taken by Stefan Widmer showing the first Pilatus PC-24 testbed.

Gama Aviation has added five business jets to its operational fleet. The new aircraft will be based operated in different bases. The Gulfstream V (their first aircraft to be based in India) will be in Mumbai. Their new Gulfstream G550 will be in the UK while two Bombardier globals will be stationed in Hong Kong and a Challenger series jet in the UK with the G550.

Nextant Aerospace looks like they are going to have the G90 XT certified in June, 2015. For those who don't know, the G90 XT is basically a remanufactured Beechcraft King Air C90. Final approval is anticipated for June and below, on the right is an example of a remanufactured aircraft.

Jordan Hansell has stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer at NetJets with immediate effect. He is expected to be replaced by Adam Johnson, a long-time employee of the US-headquartered fractional ownership company.

All are reported safe as a Cessna 172 ditches in ocean near Nassau, Bahamas. The group floated in the water for three hours about nine miles southeast of Nassau before finally being located at 10:20 p.m. local time by a U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 helicopter. The Cessna pilot reportedly radioed at around 7:23 p.m. that he was having engine problems on the planned flight from Crooked Islands in the Bahamas to Nassau, a distance of about 250 nm. Among the five aboard was a small child being carried on one of the passengers' laps. After being located, the group was transported to Nassau aboard a Royal Bahamian Defence Force boat.

Landmark Aviation has added a number of aircraft to their portfolio. The new acquisitions total seven are two Falcon 2000's, two Challenger 300 jets, one Challenger 604, a Falcon 900c and a Gulfstream G550. Ben Murray, who is the president of Aircraft Management & Charter said, “We are excited to announce this rapid and organic growth of the managed fleet.”

The launch customer for the ACJ319neo has been revealed. Alpha Star based in Riyadh has been touted to be the launch customer for the recently announced neo equipped ACJ model. Salem Al Muzaini, CEO of Alpha Star says: “Middle East customers already recognise and appreciate the greater comfort, capacity and capability of Airbus corporate jets, so new and improved versions are a natural next step when it comes to investing for the future.” Delivery is anticipated for Q2 of 2019.

In some RATHER interesting news... COMAC and Fokker as to collaborate on bringing the first Chinese Business Jet to market. Sounds crazy? Well maybe not as crazy as it sounds. Fokker actually does have experience in converting some aircraft types into business standard aircraft like the Fokker F28, F70 and Bombardier CRJ700. They will be using ARJ21-700 regional jet to convert into a business jet under the current contract arrangements.

Union National Bank of the United Arab Emirates has signed a deal with Royal Jet that will see the bank finance the purchase of two Boeing BBJ aircraft for the locally based operator. The deal was signed in early June at the banks Abu Dhabi headquarters, and covers financing needed for two BBJ private jets to be delivered before the end of 2015.

Sovereign Business Jets have added another jet to their portfolio. A Hawker 800B is the latest addition to the folds of this charter company.

Vista Jet is in the news again... their fleet is growing exponentially. Keep your eyes peeled to the news section for more on this.

Flexjet takes delivery of first Gulfstream G450, part of a much wider Gulfstream order made in 2014. The Gulfstream G450 is msn 4330 / N450FX and it departed Gulfstream’s Savannah production facility on June 18, enroute to Bradley International Airport. The overall Flexjet $1 billion order called for 50 Gulfstream jets. The deal included firm orders for 10 G450s, six G500s and six G650s. Flexjet expects the first G650 to be delivered in 2016, with the first G500 following in 2017.

Up & Away Aviation Detailing services announces that they have taken over Avialogistics from Gamma Aviation.

VistaJet is presently preparing for its launch into the Chinese market. To facilitate this, one of the company's long-range Challenger Bombardier aircraft has been transferred from its Austrian base to Nantong. The aircraft is now re-registered B-3378 and is a Challenger 850. VistaJet anticipates starting Chinese operations later this month. “This is a tremendous accomplishment for VistaJet; we’ve worked for many months to be ready for the arrival of the first Chinese registered aircraft. It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome this Challenger 850 jet to China and officially start the countdown to offering flights within the country,” said Thomas Flohr, founder and chairman, VistaJet.

The largest Cessna Citation Mustang operator in Europe is GlobeAir and they just started a campaign to make them even more visible. So, what did they do? GlobeAir has appointed winner of the 24h Le Mans race and Formula One driver Nico Hülkenberg as the company's brand ambassador. By doing this, GlobeAir hopes to fulfil its long-held ambition to provide a point-to-point, low-cost, pan European air taxi service. “Hülkenberg was already a GlobeAir customer,” says company founder and chief executive Berhard Fragner. “So it was a natural step to appoint him to promote our brand and our service to other travellers who are looking for convenient and flexible transportation around Europe.”

Lufthansa Technik has a United States subsidiary -if you didn't know- and it is called BizJet International. Well, news is that Bizjet International has recently named Thomas Kuhn as the new president and CEO of the company. He is expected to take up his new role once current president and CEO Manfred Gaertner steps down at the end of July.

Priester Aviation has been granted FAA approval to start operations in Cuba. Priester Aviation is one of the small number of operators that has approval to fly on-demand charters into Cuba at the moment.

“Our private jet division is an integral part of the Qatar Airways group and has developed into a world-class corporate aviation operation since its start in 2009.” said Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways group CEO, “Apart from our successful charter business, we are now extremely pleased to be able to offer aircraft management services to our elite clientèle and are seeing substantial market potential for this attractive new business aviation product”. The company says that it has added three aircraft to its managed portfolio over the course of the last 18 months. Coming up later this year the company expects to have their first Gulfstream G650ER delivered to them from Gulfstream.