Most Viewed Fixed StoriesWing2023

London Southend Jet Centre joins the AvFuel network

Source: Corporate Jet Investor

Author: Terry Spruce

The London Southend Jet Centre has joined the AvFuel branded network.

“Avfuel is eager to help London Southend Jet Centre serve the millions of people for whom Southend is the quickest, most convenient airport to East London and beyond,” Joel Hirst, Avfuel’s senior vice president of sales, said. “We couldn’t be happier about this partnership.”

Offering both luxury and convenience, London Southend Jet Centre is just a 12-minute helicopter ride to the center of London, 36 miles from London’s financial center, Canary Wharf, and provides twominute aircraft-to-car transfers, letting guests skip the terminal and go straight to their destination.

Travellers with time to spare can relax in Southend’s luxurious executive lounge with fireplace, leather furnishings and a bar, along with first-class customer service. The FBO also offers a conference room for 12, wireless internet, car rental arrangements, taxi service, on-site customs, a pilot’s lounge and weather briefing.

As an Avfuel-branded FBO, London Southend Jet Centre offers benefits, including competitive prices with Avfuel Contract Fuel, lucrative AVTRIP rewards and streamlined transactions with the Avfuel Pro Card.

Verijet Continues to Expand Operations in the Caribbean

Source: Corporate Jet Investor

Author: Conor Feasey

Verijet is continuing to expand its private jet and AI-powered air taxi service in the Caribbean. This follows the company’s expansion to the Bahamas last year.

The new destinations available are Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, the Cayman Islands and Providenciales.

Richard Kane, chairman and CEO, Verijet said the company has seen a successful adoption of its service on the US East Coast, with 52% repeat customers since just launching in 2020. “And we expect to see the same in the Caribbean market,” he added.

Verijet clients have access to smaller, local airports due to the compact size of the operator’s SF50 Vision Jets. Verijet said its AI-powered booking service optimises travel departure and convenience for travellers, as well as offering them the chance to lower their carbon footprint through offsetting initiatives.

“Sustainable travel has been a foundational goal for Verijet,” said Kane. “With our long partnership with 4AIR, we have further reduced the carbon footprint of air travel by purchasing carbon offset credits.”

Wheels Up becomes world equestrian center official partner

Source: Corporate Jet Investor

Author: Conor Feasey

Wheels Up is now the official private aviation and hospitality partner for the World Equestrian Center (WEC) based in Ocala, Florida.

The company will be the named sponsor for all Grand Prix VIP shows and other events throughout the year at the venue.

The deal also entails that two events hosted at the venue during the 2023 show season will be named as the Wheels Up Grand Prix.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to become the official private aviation and hospitality partner of the World Equestrian Center,” said Bill Roberts, senior vice president, Communications, Public Relations and ESG, Wheels Up.

Wheels Up added that the partnership provides a valuable option for those looking to attend events at the venue, as there are no commercial flight options to Ocala.

The WEC, Ocala is an equestrian sports venue and hotel complex. With nearly around 378 acres of land, the Ocala site is the largest equestrian complex in the US.

WEC said it also has another 300 acres it plans to use for further expansion. It also has another facility in Wilmington, Ohio.

Roby Roberts, CEO, WEC said: “We are honoured to welcome Wheels Up as an official partner at World Equestrian Center – Ocala, and we’re looking forward to providing our guests and visitors with the opportunity to travel effortlessly to our future events.”

The equine industry is big business in the US. According to the American Horse Council’s 2018 Economic Impact Study, it contributes a cool $50bn in direct economic impact to the US economy, creating 988,394 jobs.

It also provides $38bn in wages, salaries, and benefits. From those direct effects, the horse industry’s contribution to the US economy totals around $122bn, and a total employment impact of 1.7m jobs.

Malaysian Jet Services trades back Falcon 7X for new Falcon 8X

Source: Corporate Jet Investor

Author: Alud Davies

Malaysian Jet Services is replacing its Falcon 7X with a factory-fresh Dassault Falcon 8X.

Falcon 8X MSN 451 was delivered new from Dassault’s Little Rock, AR, facility to Zurich Switzerland on June 25.

The aircraft is managed on behalf of Malaysian Jet Services by Execujet. Much like the Falcon 7X, the Falcon 8X is registered in Switzerland, where it wears the registration mark HB-JKV.

Malaysian Jet Services Falcon 7X MSN 116 / HB-JFN is currently listed for sale by Dassault.

According to ADS-B and ACARS data, HB-JFN left Kuala Lumpur’s Subang Airport on March 16th bound for Europe.

Following a short series of flight to Switzerland and Geneva, the aircraft arrived with Dassault in Bordeaux on April 5th.

Falcon 7X HB-JFN was involved in an in-flight incident in 2001 that resulted in the global fleet of Falcon 7Xs to be grounded.

Whilst descending through 12,000ft on approach to Subang Airport, the aircraft executed an un-commanded nose-up pitchtrim maneuver and climbed to 23,000ft.

The crew members were able to regain control of the aircraft and land safely, however the FAA and EASA immediately grounded all Dassault Falcon 7Xs in service whilst the cause of the incidence was investigated.

Aviation Safety Network (ASN) says that there were 112 Falcon 7Xs in service at the time of the grounding. The investigation, carried out by French authorities, found that a manufacturing defect in a small pin in the horizontal stabilizer electronic control unit (HSECU) had caused the issue.

To counteract the issue, Dassault installed a switch on the Falcon 7X cockpit that allowed the pilot to manually control the trim’s backup actuator.

Following the installation of the switch, and additional inspections of the HSECU, the Falcon 7X fleet returned to the air the following month.

Alongside the Falcon 8X, Malaysian Jet Services also operates Gulfstream G550 MSN 5355 / HB-JKI.

Both aircraft are based at Kuala Lumpur’s Subang Airport.

Tamarack installs active winglets on Cessna Citation

Source: Corporate Jet Investor

Author: Yuvan Kumar

Tamarack Aerospace announced the first installations of Active Winglets on two Cessna Citations at its new installation centre based at the London-Oxford Airport.

Winglets are retrofitted to the wings to help improve the aerodynamics on aircraft. Airbus – which calls them sharklets or riblets – and Boeing have been known to use them to reduce induced drag or drag due to lift.

Tamarack Aerospace founder and CEO, Nick Guida, said: “Keep an eye on us. We’re seeing more demand as word spreads about how the Active Winglet modification saves up to 33% of fuel usage, cuts down on noise pollution with shorter runways needs for take-offs and landings and provides safer and smooth flight.”

One set of the Active Winglets were installed on a CJ1, while the second set were installed on a CJ2 owned by Sovereign Business Jets (SBJ). SBJ has also purchased winglets for one of its other aircraft – a CJ1.

“With Jet Maintenance International’s (JMI) expertise, the installation has gone smoothly and has been surprisingly speedy – seven days from start to finish. The performance benefits and the stylish looks of the winglets made this an easy decision for us,” said Garry Chalmers, managing director of SBJ.

Tamarack’s Active Winglets have been approved worldwide on a range of Cessna aircraft, including the CJ1+, M2, CJ2+, CJ3 and CJ3+.

Its European Installation Centre opened in July this year and operates independently out of the Oxford Jet Maintenance International (JMI) facility.

Business aviation needs 106K pilots and technicians by 2032: CAE

Source: Corporate Jet Investor

Author: Mike Stones

The global business aviation industry will need to recruit an additional 32,000 pilots and 74,000 maintenance technicians by 2032, predicts flight training company CAE. Commercial aviation will need to recruit 252,000 pilots, 328,000 maintenance technicians and 599,000 cabin crew, adding to a combined total of 1.18m staff. Overall, the aviation industry needs to recruit an additional 1.3m professionals within the next nine years.

Recruitment will be necessary to to fill vacancies due to retirement, and the aviation industry’s expansion, according to CAE’s Aviation Talent Forecast. More than one third (38%) of pilots are older than 50, according to FAA estimates.

Nick Leontidis, group president, Civil Aviation, CAE said the report revealed the scale of the recruitment challenge facing aviation. “With a need for 1.3 million people by 2032, CAE’s Aviation Talent Forecast is a call to action for the industry to promote careers in aviation to the next generation to reach out to underrepresented communities and develop innovative support programmes to expand the pool of talent needed for the continued growth and safety of our industry,” he said.

As the growth in business aviation overtakes pre-pandemic levels and commercial aviation nears full recovery, new ways will be needed to find and retain staff. “CAE’s Aviation Talent Forecast shows that the demand will continue to grow and the industry will have to come together and find creative ways to ensure a steady pipeline of highly trained personnel for the next 10 years and beyond,” said Leontidis.

The business aviation fleet is predicted to grow by 18% in the years to 2032, from 22,000 to 26,000 aircraft. By contrast, the commercial airline fleet will achieve 39% growth to reach 43,000 jets.

The report identifies how many people will be needed in each region over the next decade, reasons for the high demand and what the industry can do to attract talent. It also offers insight on the industry’s use of advanced training, sustainable practices, and diversity recruitment. Highlighted are the roles of technology in shaping the industry, the importance of sustainability and the impact of diversity in filling the talent pipeline.

According to the report’s introduction: “The ebbs and flows we have seen in the industry, especially post pandemic, have reinforced that people will always need to travel for business, want to fly away for leisure, and millions will be attracted the excitement generated by a career in aviation.” Read more at the 2023 Aviation Talent Forecast.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, Airbus has confirmed it is on track to recruit more than 13,000 employees worldwide this year. So far, 7,000 new staff have been recruited despite a challenging labour market, said the manufacturer.

Plans are underway to fill the remaining positions with recruits playing key roles in boosting production ramp-up and delivering the company’s decarbonisation goals, it said.

Thierry Baril, chief Human Resources & Workplace officer, Airbus said: “Our recruitment efforts are paying-off and will continue to support our production ramp-up and company transformation. We are focused on attracting, training and developing the best diverse talents in our company to help us shape the future of sustainable aerospace.”

The company is offering job opportunities in manufacturing, engineering and disciplines including: cybersecurity, software engineering and new propulsion technologies such as hydrogen, cryogenics and fuel cells. A third of the total recruitment will be allocated to recent graduates.

Aviation’s recruitment needs – in numbers (CAE Estimates)

Business aviation: 106,000 new recruits

• 32,000: Extra pilots

• 74,000: Maintenance technicians.

Commercial aviation: 1.18m new recruits

• 252,000: Extra pilots

• 328,000: Maintenance technicians

• 599,000: Cabin crew .

VOO integrates with FL3XX

Source: Corporate Jet Investor

Author: Yves Le Marquand

B2B private jet marketplace, VOO has integrated with FL3XX, with the aim of improving charter sales efficiency.

By synchronising the schedule with VOO, FL3XX users are able to search, book and pay for all their charters based on real-time information. Additionally, operators can synchronise each VOO booking with FL3XX to receive the same benefit. FL3XX bookings can be processed in FL3XX, and VOO bookings in VOO.flights without conflicts related to aircraft availability.

Paolo Sommariva, CEO and co-founder, said: “We are excited about our new partnership with VOO, which will enhance our FL3XX users’ charter sales experience by providing greater efficiency and flexibility.

With this collaboration, syncing the operator’s schedule with VOO’s marketplace is now a breeze, making the sales operation more streamlined and seamless than ever before.

We look forward to the possibilities this partnership will bring for our valued users.”

FL3XX integrates the workflow of an aircraft operator covering sales, scheduling, and dispatch all the way to training, reporting and maintenance management. FL3XX can increase the bottom line efficiency of any flight operator by more than 20%, it said. Whilst, VOO calculates accurate quotes, so brokers can book instantly, and payments can be made 24/7 with VOOpay.

Robert Plhak, CEO at VOO flights, said: “We are proud that FL3XX is the first flight management system connected to VOO. By synchronising the schedule, the availability of our FL3XX operators is now automatically displayed on VOO in real time.

We are very grateful to Paolo Sommariva and his team for their support and collaboration and are excited about the added value this partnership will bring to VOO users.”