In recent letters to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, NBAA and the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) asked the agency to form an aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) to address industry concerns regarding its impending rule to require commercial and fractional jet pilots to perform landing distance assessments at the time of arrival including a more restrictive safety margin.
Charter and Fractional » Charter
News and issues concerning the aviation charter industry and markets, including company announcements, regulations, new developments and labor issues.
December 6, 2006 - 9:28am
Bombardier’s Flexjet might be the only fractional provider that can say it has been profitable for the second consecutive year. “We believe we are the only fractional provider than can claim this,” said a company spokeswoman. She said the company attributes this to “operational efficiency, a right-sized fleet, success with new models [the Challenger 300 in particular] and continued emphasis on program innovations.”
November 30, 2006 - 8:18am
UK operator Club328 (Booth No. 1672) has introduced an intriguing way to market charter flights through its new SkyBond program. Customers hand over £1 million ($1.75 million) to be put in an escrow-protected bank account in Club328’s name for a six-year period. Club328 gets the interest earned over this time and the customer gets 25 flight hours each year (that is, 150 hours in total) in one of the company’s Raytheon Premier Is.
November 30, 2006 - 8:12am
Jet Personales (Booth No. 957) is a newcomer to Spain’s growing business aviation industry and it claims to be the country’s first executive charter firm that owns all the aircraft it operates. Launched in December 2004, the operator, which is the exclusive sales representative of Bombardier Business Aircraft in Spain, is based at Madrid’s Torrejon Airport where it has an FBO and a fleet of five aircraft.
November 30, 2006 - 8:11am
Executive Airlines, Spain’s second-ranking executive charter operator, has increased its fleet from four aircraft to seven and expects to add five more in the next two years, for a total of 12, to serve what it calls a growing but very competitive market.
November 30, 2006 - 8:08am
Gestair makes a fair claim to being Spain’s leading business aviation group, with about 60 percent of the national executive charter market. It also claims to be the third-ranking operator for the whole of Europe in terms of the number of aircraft operated and passengers carried.
November 30, 2006 - 6:17am
Gold Air International has ordered two new Bombardier Global 5000s in a deal valued at close to $80 million. The UK executive charter operator is to receive the long-range jets between late 2008 and early 2009, allowing it to take on full-blown intercontinental missions.
November 29, 2006 - 10:33am
Paris-based fixed-wing and helicopter executive charter and fractional operator Aviaxess is launching its Corporate Helicard, a block charter card providing buyers with discounts and guaranteed helicopter availability. The company fields some 35 rotorcraft in the program, including Eurocopter Ecureuil AS 350 B2s, AS 355Ns, Dauphin AS 365Ns, EC 135s; and Agusta A109 Powers.
November 29, 2006 - 6:51am
German charter operator Cirrus Aviation is joining forces with Luxair of Luxembourg. The alliance will result in Cirrus operating a fleet of 17 executive jets, including various Cessna Citations, Bombardier Learjets and larger aircraft up to the Global Express.
November 29, 2006 - 6:47am
Barcelona, Spain-based charter operator Executive Airlines is offering new services such as third-party handling, U.S. visa waiver processing and operations to and from London City Airport.
The firm is now offering handling services for third-party operators at Barcelona and Madrid airports. These services will be expanded by the recent purchase of Aeroplanning, a Madrid-based corporate flight planning specialist.
