Bart International 131

EST. 1988

131 FEB-MAR 2011

EUROPE'S PREMIER BUSINESS AVIATION MAGAZINE

BUSINESS HELICOPTER The Multi-Purpose Tool

P 51

CABIN CONVERSIONS What's Happening In The Elite World P 56 HOW TO BE a Well-Grounded Pilot P 62 BUSINESS AIRPORTS London Calling P 79

2011 EXCLUSIVE FLEET REPORT AND ANALYSIS

Whatever it Takes Alicante, Spain. Friday, 3:00 p.m. A pilot calls Customer Service with an AOG—and says he has a high priority flight the next morning.

Dassault’sTech Center locates the part needed.

But even express shipping won’t get it there in time. So Customer Service Manager Jean-Yves Nezereau, charters an aircraft from Le Bourget, France, to Alicante. By 9:30 p.m., a technician and the part are enroute.

By 8:00 a.m. the next morning, the plane is ready for flight. Vincent Cathelain, the chief pilot for Masterjet – texts back, “Everything is perfect. Nice job, thanks again.” Having advanced technology and strong global service is great.

But what really makes the difference are Falcon service experts who greet every emergency with one attitude: “Whatever itTakes.”

Jean-Yves Nezereau, Falcon Customer Service Manager

GoTeam

Whatever it takes Falcon GoTeams do whatever-it-takes to turn your AOG into an Airplane On The Go. Learn more at falconjet.com/Go

EDITORIAL

FROM THE DESK OF…

The Paper Dragon

Fernand Francois

WHERE THERE IS MONEY, IT USUALLY BECOMES VERY EXCITING FOR PEOPLE IN OUR INDUSTRY! This is particularly true in difficult times, when sales department look on anxiously at vanishing backlogs. It's the time when "emerging economies" become magic words and traditional markets are left untended. You know what I mean; you certainly heard the news about those countries that seem to produce a new billionaire every day. Tempting isn't it!

The money is there, people have to spend it on something and a private jet fits the bill.

Take the Chinese, who not so long ago were not allowed to own a house or a car. Now that their country boasts the world's fastest economy, many are attracted by the glamour that surrounds private aviation. Of course many Chinese have a penchant for big watches and big cars, so it's no wonder they are opting for big iron planes loaded with all the bells and whistles.

Bombardier believes that 300 new business jets will be sold over the next ten years and Embraer expects more than 950 jets over the next twenty years in China. While Dassault, Gulfstream, Hawker, Airbus and Boeing speculate about future Chinese opportunities, Cessna adopt a moderate approach. "There are more airports in the State of Alabama than in the whole China" said Cessna VP International Sales Trevor Esling at the recent Future of Business Jet Conference in London. Esling also observed that the business jet market will develop in China in the medium term.

The presence of the so called High-Net-Worth Individuals is not enough to guarantee the prosperity of a region but Business Aviation can. Business Aviation is not a fancy extravagance but a real business tool. We have worked since the end of WWII to achieve our place in the sun and the question of whether aircraft are useful for the economy of a region has long been resolved. Too much corporate growth is attributable to business aircraft to ever again question the value and legitimacy of this business tool, too often amalgamated with luxury. We have a wonderful piece of professional jargon to explain how to start a Business Aviation operation; "Entry level!" In the standard business model, you start with that "Entry Level Jet" and when the business requires it you trade it for the upper class, not the contrary.

When the NBAA launched ABACE five years ago, there were 46 private jets in China.

Today there are 112, an increase of 66. During the same five year period, Europe has added 1609 business aircraft on his register, going from 2551 aircraft in 2005 to 4160 in 2010.

Traditional markets like the US, Europe, Brazil and even Africa may not be underestimated in favor of skylark mirrors that might plunge our industry into engineering and trade trouble.

Let's hope that high spirited manufacturers don't get caught in the sort of ordeal that shook the French car manufacturer Renault lately. The recent Chinese industrial espionage affair shows what can happen if companies don't play their cards right on the Chinese market.

As well, there are concerns in the US about Chinese automakers buying a percentage stake in General Motors and Chinese government banks participating in the capital of the company.

Personally, I would not like to see one day Chiang Ching-Kuo Xiãnshèng taking the Chair at one of our OEM.

BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 - 3

Editor and Publisher Fernand M. Francois Senior Editor Marc Grangier Managing Editor Paul Walsh. Editor-at-Large Nicholas J. Klenske.

Senior Writers Liz Moscrop, Jack Carroll Contributors Brian Humphries, Michel R. Gr端ninger, Capt. Giancarlo Buono, Markus Kohler, Aofie O'Sullivan, LeRoy Cook, Louis Smyth, Derek A. Bloom, Eugene Gordon Business Aviation Consultants Walter Scharff, Guy Visele Director Marketing & Advertising Kathy Ann Francois +32 472 333 636 e-mail advertising@bartintl.com Administration and Circulation Carolyn Berteau Production Manager Tanguy Francois Photographer: Michel Coryn Circulation and Editorial Office: BART International, 20 rue de l'Industrie, BE1400 Nivelles, Europe Phone +326 788 3603 Fax +326 788 3623, e-mail info@bartintl.com BART International Business Aviation Real Tool (USPS #016707), ISSN 0776-7596 Governed by international copyright laws. Free subscription obtainable for qualified individuals. Bank account: Fortis 271-0061004-23. Printed in Belgium. Bimestreil.

Bureau de depot B-1380 Lasne. Responsible editor Fernand M. Francois, 38 rue de Braine 7110 La Louviere. Periodicals postage paid at Champlain, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Address changes should be sent to IMS of N.Y., 100 Walnut St. #3, PO Box 1518, Champlain, N.Y. 12919-1518. For details call IMS at 1 (800) 428 3003

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Air BP AMSTAT ARINC Avinode Business Airport World Expo 2011 Cessna (MEDIASSOCIATES INC.) Cessna Service Centers, Home Service (COPP MEDIA SERVICES, INC.) DASSAULT (SINGULIER & ASSOCIES) EBACE 2011 FlightSafety International (GRETEMAN GROUP) GATES AND PARTNERS Solicitors Hawker Beechcraft Global Customer Service Jet Aviation (PUBLICIS WERBEAGENTUR AG) JetExpo 2011 JetNet LLC NBAA 2011 RUAG Aviation Universal Avionics Universal Weather and Aviation

FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 Volume XXII - No 1 BART No 131 WWW.BARTINTL.COM

CONTENTS 26

EXCLUSIVE FLEET REPORT The Business Aviation industry has experienced a rocky three years but the data from this year’s fleet report shows that the worst moments of the downturn have past.

In this issue Paul Walsh, Avinode, Amstat and Marc Grangier analyze data which suggests that an upturn is on its way.

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LATEST DEVELOPMENTS As the global economy pulls itself out of the recession, Marc Grangier reports on the value of a helicopter as a real business tool. Meanwhile Liz Moscrop reports that changes are afoot in the arena of cabin conversions and aircraft interiors.

B USINESS A VIATION R EAL T OOL Member 62

SAFETY FIRST LeRoy Cook reports “from the cockpit” on ground operations and then outlines the three key elements of safe flying, while Michael R. Grüninger emphasizes the importance of learning from experience.

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THE DETAILS Aofie O’ Sullivan opens The Docket on private or corporate aircraft ownership. Liz Moscrop reports on a triple triumph at last December’s MEBA show in Dubai and checks out who’s going to next March’s Business Airport World Expo in London.

Finally Jack Carroll catches up with CEO Bill Boisture at Hawker Beechcraft.

ADAPTABLE The flexible interior of this Lineage 1000 caters for multiple business needs.

OUR COVER Step 1 is a success for Eurocopter X3 The hybrid helicopter demonstrator has attained a true airspeed of 180 kts, flying level at a reduced stage of engine power. © Eurocopter/Patrick Penna.

AGENDA BUSINESS AIRPORT 1 - 3 MARCH 2011 Farnborough, UK HELI-EXPO 5 - 8 MARCH 2011 Orlando, US EBACE 17 - 19 MAY 2011 Geneva, Switzerland

ALTO PARTNERS WITH AeroTecs Alto Aviation has signed an agreement with AeroTecs nv of Belgium for the representation and sales of its Audio Systems to European OEMs and completion centers.

AeroTecs nv which represents several aviation-related principles, is located in Belgium and provides sales support for all of Western Europe. “By utilizing our talented engineers and sales representatives in Europe, the European customers benefit from outstanding products available in other countries, as well as our expertise and direct product support,” states Luc Stultjens, President/CEO, AeroTecs nv. “Alto Aviation is well known in the US for their exceptional cabin audio and surround sound systems and we want to bring these quality products to the European market.”

JET EXPO 2011 TO TAKE PLACE AT VNUKOVO-3,

The organizers of Jet Expo have announced that for the first time the main part of the Jet Expo exhibition and static display will be situated on the territory of Vnukovo-3 Business Aviation Center, Moscow.

Vnukovo-3 is the leading Business Aviation center of Russia and CIS and its executives say that they are glad to host Jet Expo 2011 which takes place September 14-16 2011.

Business Aviation is one of the most rapidly developing branches of the Russian market and Jet Expo is the first and only industry show of its kind in Russia.

Its organizers said that the event “not only adds to the prestige of Russia on the world arena but also opens new horizons for foreign companies on the Russian market.”

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DASSAULT AVIATION EVALUATES LAMINAR DESIGNS IN FLlGHT Dassault Aviation recently performed a successful flight test to evaluate potential applications of a laminar wing for large business jets. The flight was performed with a Falcon 7X at Dassault’s Flight Test Center in Istres, France.

The tests are part of the “Smart Fixed Wing Aircraft”, one of the Integrated Technology Demonstrators of the European Clean Sky initiative.

The flight evaluated a new infrared (IR) camera technology, developed by FLIR, which is capable of measuring temperature gradients in high altitude/low temperature and pressure environment. The camera measured differences in surface temperatures between laminar and turbulent areas of the horizontal tail plane on the Falcon 7X. While the Falcon 7X is not based on a laminar design, at high altitudes a laminarity of up to 40% was predicted on the upper surface of the horizontal tail.

WEST STAR AVIATION INCREASES PHENOM 100/300 MAINTENANCE West Star Aviation’s Dallas facility has announced a significant increase of maintenance activity on Embraer Phenom 100 aircraft and is expected to see increases for the Embraer Phenom 300 aircraft in the near future.

West Star has been a service center for Embraer Phenom 100 and 300 aircraft since 2006. In October of 2008, it was announced that West Star (DAL) would serve as the exclusive maintenance provider for the Embraer 100 initial pilot training program. They initially worked with the factory technicians on two Phenom 100 aircraft for these training sessions. West Star Aviation has performed maintenance on 25 different Phenom 100’s, which is just over 10 percent of the entire Phenom fleet.

SOMETIMES YOU HIRE YOUR TOP PERFORMER. IN THIS CASE, YOU BUY IT. The business aircraft equivalent of a fantastic hire. As the ultimate all-around superior performer, the Citation Sovereign is designed to make things happen for your business, wherever you need them to happen. New York to Los Angeles. Geneva to Dubai. Singapore to Shanghai. No problem, with its 2,837 nautical mile range. Seat up to ten of your superstars in the longest and most spacious cabin in the midsize class. Easily fly into short airfields and fly out again with more payload. And acquire and operate it at a shareholder-friendly cost. There is nothing like putting a Sovereign under your command.

CALL TO SCHEDULE A CITATION SOVEREIGN DEMO. 00-800-6060-0018 | WWW.BART.CESSNA.COM

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BAHRAIN INT’L AIRPORT TO HOUSE GENERAL AVIATION FACILITY Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) has signed an agreement with MENA Aerospace to build and operate one of the region’s large private and general aviation hangar complexes.

The deal involves MENA Aerospace investing in the development of a dedicated general and private aviation complex at Bahrain International Airport (BIA) to provide comprehensive maintenance and support services to private and corporate aircraft. Development of the complex has already begun and is located at the North West end of the Airport. Once complete, the first phase’s footprint will be 26,362m² including hangar, private taxiway and apron in addition to office and workshop areas.

JETNET LAUNCHES NEW HARTZELL PROPELLER FORECASTING AND INTRODUCES SCIMITAR TOP PROPS™ FOR PIPER AZTEC ADVISORY SERVICE JETNET LLC, the world leader in aviation market intelligence, has announced the launch of JETNET iQ, a forecasting and premium advisory service for the Business Aviation market.

JETNET iQ is the latest step in JETNET’s spectrum of products and services. Available on a members-only basis, this premium advisory service consists of three main components: JETNET iQ REPORTS, JETNET iQ SUMMITS, and JETNET IQ CONSULTING.

Hartzell Propeller Inc. has developed a new 2-bladed Top Prop™ propeller conversion kit for Piper PA-23-250 Aztec twin-engine aircraft. A statement from Hartzell Propeller said: “The cost-efficient conversion provides Aztec owners with improved reliability, performance and noise levels.”

The new 77-inch diameter propeller uses blade-mounted counter-weights to provide redundant assistance to the propeller pitch control and feathering system versus the original configuration that relies heavily on an air pressure charge for these functions.

The new propellers are available for Piper Aztec PA-23-250 C to F models, serial numbers 27-2505 through to 27-8154030, installed with Lycoming IO-540-C4B5 or TIO-540-C1A engines. They replace Hartzell’s 2-blade aluminum non-counter-weighted propeller models normally installed on these aircraft.

ROYAL WARRANT RENEWED FOR AIR PARTNER Air Partner started the New Year secure in the knowledge that it remains the only aviation company to hold a Royal Warrant.

The company’s Royal Warrant as Supplier of Aircraft Charter to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, originally awarded in 2004, has been renewed again until at least winter 2014. Royal Warrants are highly coveted, globally recognized marks of excellence and are granted by HM The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh or HRH The Prince of Wales.

8 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

CONKLIN & DE DECKER RELEASE UPDATED BUDGETING TOOL Conklin & de Decker have announced the latest release of their LIFE CYCLE COST 2011 Volume I. A statement from the company said: “The most comprehensive aircraft budget and financial analysis tool available, LIFE CYCLE COST from Conklin & de Decker, provides aircraft owners, operators, flight department managers, and aircraft consultants with extensive ownership and operating cost data for more than 380 jets, turboprops, helicopters and piston aircraft.”

The LIFE CYCLE COST budgeting software is part of a family of aircraft operating & acquisition products developed by Conklin & de Decker that puts all cost aspects of owning and operating an aircraft into one program. Aircraft acquisition costs, operating costs, taxes, final residual values and revenues, if the user’s aircraft is used in commercial operations, are all included in this Business Aviation budgeting tool.

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BANYAN RECEIVES INDUSTRY FIRST STC APPROVAL In December 2010, the FAA issued STC ST03901AT to the Banyan Avionics team based at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE) for the Thrane and Thrane AVIATOR 200 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system for the Cessna 500, 550, S550, 552, 560, and 560XL aircraft.

“We are excited to receive the first STC for the SwiftBroadBand (SBB) 200 class of service in the United States,” says Brian Wilson, Banyan’s director of avionics.

“To receive this STC before most vendors have even delivered their products to the market clearly shows the vision of both Banyan and their partner Thrane and Thrane.”

The AVIATOR 200 enables pilots and passengers to use WiFi enabled PDA devices including Blackberry®, iPhone® and iPads to access a multitude of applications; such as, email, internet browsing, smart phone connectivity and voice communications.

GULFSTREAM AIRCRAFT APPROVED TO OPERATE AT MAXIMUM ALTITUDES Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. recently received approval from Transport Canada for the company’s large-cabin, long-range Gulfstream G450 and G350 aircraft to operate at their maximum cruise altitude of 45,000 feet.

Transport Canada normally restricts flight to 41,000 feet or below, unless special conditions have been met to ensure against rapid depressurization of the aircraft cabin.

Gulfstream’s Automatic Emer-gency Descent Mode (AEDM) was key to obtaining this higher operational altitude. AEDM mitigates the risk of occupant injury due to rapid depressurization by automatically lowering the aircraft to the appropriate altitude. Should the pilots become incapacitated due to depressurization, the AEDM automatically turns the aircraft 90 degrees and lowers it to 15,000 feet (4,572 m) altitude and 250 knots air speed. This maneuver allows the flight crew to regain consciousness and assume control of the aircraft.

FLYING COLOURS DELIVERS FIRST CHALLENGER 850 TO CHINA

BELL HELICOPTER AND PHI SIGN AGREEMENT FOR TWO BELL 407s

Flying Colours Corp., a global aviation services company with concentration in completions and maintenance recently delivered their first Bombardier Challenger 850 to China for a Hong Kong based client. The new aircraft arrived at Flying Colours Canadian based facility in the late 2nd quarter of 2010 and was delivered to the customer prior to year end. The aircraft will be operated and managed by Hong Kong based, Metrojet.

Bell Helicopter has sold two Bell 407 helicopters to PHI, one of the world’s leading helicopter services companies, for use in the transportation of oil and gas workers in the Gulf of Mexico.

PHI has experience in over 43 countries, operating a fleet approaching 250 aircraft. The company’s core business is in offshore operations supporting worldwide petroleum exploration and production. PHI also offers services to the Onshore Mining, International, Air Medical, and Technical Services industries.

“This sale continues the commitment made when PHI started its initial operations in 1949 using Bell Helicopters in the Gulf of Mexico. The Bell 407 is a proven, state-of-the- art helicopter, which fits in perfectly with PHI’s long term commitment to quality and safety”, said Larry Roberts, Senior Vice President, Commercial Business, Bell Helicopter.

10 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

One brand: One global MRO network that safeguards you and your investment Midcoast Aviation rebranded as Jet Aviation Strength, stability and skill: three benefits you gain when working with Jet Aviation. And now with the rebranding of our St. Louis operation to Jet Aviation (formerly Midcoast Aviation), a move designed to simplify and harmonize our growing MRO presence in North America, you can rely on one global brand. Solid ownership, 44 years of experience and an unsurpassed level of talent – available at 17 independent MRO centers of excellence worldwide – our team offers you and your aircraft global support delivered with our uncompromising dedication to quality, safety and service. Whatever your aircraft type or size, whatever the work scope – routine inspection, unscheduled or heavy maintenance, overhaul or even structural repair or AOG services – we can help. Personalized to Perfection. www.jetaviation.com/maintenance

EMEA & Asia Basel l Dubai l Dusseldorf l Geneva l Hannover l Hong Kong l Jeddah l Kuala Lumpur l London Biggin Hill l Moscow Vnukovo l Riyadh l Singapore l Zurich North & South America l Boston/Bedford l Sorocaba, Brazil | St. Louis l Teterboro

PIPER GROWS SIGNIFICANTLY IN 2010 Piper Aircraft has said that it significantly strengthened its position as a global airplane manufacturer in 2010. “During 2010, the first full year since Imprimis acquired Piper, the company made memorable and notable progress in a number of important areas,” said Piper CEO Geoffrey Berger.

“We delivered considerably more aircraft, introduced and stepped up development of an all-new single-engine business jet, and readied the company for an unprecedented global push in 2011.”

Production activity at the company’s Vero Beach, Fla., manufacturing campus during 2010 was up by more than 75 percent compared to 2009.

CESSNA AND BELL HELICOPTER MAKE GAINS IN Q4 2010

Textron Inc, parent company of Cessna and Bell Helicopters has reported that Cessna's revenues increased $105 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 year on year reflecting higher overall volume, including the delivery of 79 business jets vs. 68 the previous year.

Cessna backlog at the end of the fourth quarter was $2.9 billion, down $495 million from the end of the third quarter. Bell's revenues increased $173 million in the fourth quarter from the same period in the prior year. Bell backlog at the end of the fourth quarter was $7.2 billion, up $661 million from the end of third quarter.

EXECUTIVE FLIGHT BECOMES SEATTLE'S PART 145 CERTIFIED REPAIR STATION Executive Flight, received certification for its brand-new Boeing Field facility in December, clearing the way for the company to provide comprehensive, value-added maintenance support to a range of turbine jet aircraft. EFI will showcase the new facility and its capabilities during a March open house.

12 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

FLIGHTSAFETY TO OFFER BOMBARDIER CHALLENGER 605 AIRCRAFT TRAINING FlightSafety International will offer training for the Bombardier Challenger 605 aircraft in Europe. Training is scheduled to begin in early 2012 at the company's London Farnborough Training Center.

"Offering Challenger 605 aircraft training in Europe is a clear demonstration of our desire and ability to respond to the needs of our customers and to provide them with the outstanding quality, value and flexibility they deserve," said Scott Fera, Vice President, Marketing, FlightSafety.

STANDARDAERO IMPLEMENTS PW100 CAPABILITY IN WINNIPEG, CANADA StandardAero has implemented full PW100 engine maintenance, repair, and overhaul capability in Winnipeg, Canada.

StandardAero’s Winnipeg facility has been fully approved by Pratt & Whitney Canada as a PW100 Designated Overhaul Facility (DOF).

“The implementation of the PW100 product line into our Winnipeg facility will provide us with the ability to move people and resources throughout our extensive Winnipeg site,” said Manny Atwal, vice president, Turboprop Programs, StandardAero. “The European Service Center (ESC) team in Tilburg, The Netherlands, continues to support our customers with PW100 and PT6A hot-section level work scopes, including full accessory capability, a comprehensive test cell, and substantial field service support. From these locations, we can support all of our PW100 and PT6A customers anywhere in the world in a timely and effective manner.”

AP MALTA OBTAINS EASA PART M Subpart G APPROVAL AP Malta a subsidiary of the Maintenance Centre Munich Group, obtained their EASA Part M approval number MT.MG.04 from the regulating authority, Transport Malta. A statement from the group said: “This is MCM Group’s next step in improving the services provided in the aviation industry in Malta following the construction of a hangar and receiving a base maintenance approval in June of this year.”

AP Malta Ltd. is the first company in Malta to offer a variety of services for commercial and private aircraft operators including: airworthiness reviews, issuing and recommendations of Airworthiness Review Certificates (15a or 15b) and others.

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GENERAL DYNAMICS PERFORMS WELL IN Q4 2010 General Dynamics, the parent company of Gulfstream and Jet Aviation reported 2010 fourthquarter earnings from continuing operations of $729 million, or $1.91 per share on a fully diluted basis, compared to 2009 fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations of $618 million, or $1.58 per share fully diluted. Full-year 2010 earnings from continuing operations were $2.63 billion.

Aircraft sales of $244 million at Gulfstream during the fourth quarter of 2010 impacted GD's order backlog which was $59.6 billion.

AVIDYNE DFC90 AUTOPILOT RECEIVES EASA CERTIFICATION Avidyne Corporation have received Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for retrofit installation of the DFC90 attitude-based digital autopilot in European-registered Cirrus aircraft.

“There is a large installed base of Entegra-equipped aircraft in Europe, and this EASA certification allows our European-registered Cirrus customers to take advantage of the significant performance and safety enhancements of our DFC90 autopilot,” said Patrick Herguth, Avidyne’s Chief Operating Officer. “The DFC90 has particular value to European pilots with its enhanced attitude-based guidance that significantly improves non-GPS overlay approaches such as VORs and NDBs still prevalent in Europe.”

JetFlight INTERNATIONAL ENJOYS 2010 GROWTH

CESSNA DELIVERS TWO CARAVANS TO AIRGEO

JetFlite International (JFI), a leading provider of aircraft management and charter services worldwide, reported growth in 2010 with a 37 percent increase in charter revenues compared to 2009 and is projecting a greater than 30 percent growth this year.

“Having major facilities now on both coasts and international flights accounting for nearly 55 percent of JFI’s total aircraft charter business has contributed to this growth,” said JFI President Albert C. Pod. “Larger cabin aircraft compose a greater segment of our charter flights than most charter companies,” he said. “Among those is the addition last year of a new Gulfstream G200 to go along with a Lear 60. JFI has a managed aircraft fleet that spans the nation.

Cessna has delivered two new Grand Caravans to AirGEO, a leading Russian operator of passenger and cargo services.

Pana Poulios, Cessna’s European sales director for propeller aircraft, said: “We’re delighted AirGEO has chosen these aircraft, which will be based at Krasnoyarsk Yemelyanovo Airport in Siberia and used to support the community through passenger and cargo transportation and other special missions. Grand Caravans are ideal for the needs of such a large region. Caravans are reliable, versatile and economical a proven success for rigorous missions across the world.”

CAE TO ACQUIRE CHC HELICOPTER’S TRAINING OPERATIONS CAE and CHC Helicopter have signed an agreement pursuant to which CAE will acquire CHC Helicopter’s helicopter flight training operations including four full-flight simulators located in Norway, United Kingdom and Canada. Upon closing, CAE will become CHC’s long-term partner and will provide training to its more than 2,000 helicopter pilots and maintenance engineers.

The training partnership also includes general training, pilot provisioning and certain search and rescue training in support of CHC’s global fleet.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. After closing, CAE’s global training network will include new training locations in Stavanger, Norway and Aberdeen, UK, as well as increased training capacity in Vancouver, Canada.

14 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

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CESSNA ADDS MOBILE SERVICE UNITS IN US AND EUROPE Cessna Aircraft Company is adding three new maintenance trucks to its international ground-based Mobile Service Unit (MSU) fleet serving Citations across North America and Europe.

The latest mobile additions to the Citation Service Center support network become active this month. They are positioned in Colorado and Indiana in the United States and in Lyon, France. These MSUs will be joined soon by more MSUs in North America, including five in the US and one in Canada, and another unit in Europe.

The units commissioned this December include one positioned at Centennial Airport’s TAC Air facility near Denver, one at Montgomery Aviation at Indianapolis Executive Airport to serve Indiana and parts of Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky, and the third, the first European MSU, will be positioned at Aéroport de Lyon-Bron to cover southern France, northern Spain, northern Italy and Geneva, Switzerland.

STANDARDAERO SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH PEL-AIR AVIATION FOR PT6 ENGINE SUPPORT StandardAero announced that it has signed a 10-year maintenance agreement with Pel-Air Aviation. The maintenance agreement covers Pratt & Whitney PT6A-42 engines on their fleet of King Air B200 aircraft, which will be used to supply fixed-wing air transport to Ambulance Victoria. Included in the agreement is the option for an additional two-year service extension. All work will be conducted at StandardAero facilities in Sydney or Winnipeg, Canada.

“Today’s announcement represents another major contract win for StandardAero in Australia and underscores the strength of our reputation as a quality service provider in the global turboprop market,” said Ian Smart, senior vice president, Airlines & Fleets, StandardAero.

16 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

HAWKER BEECHCRAFT REACHES AGREEMENT WITH STATE OF KANSAS Hawker Beechcraft has reached a formal agreement with the State of Kansas that significantly incentivizes the company to maintain its presence in Wichita over the next 10 years. Chairman and CEO Bill Boisture and Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson announced the agreement alongside Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer and Sedgwick County Commissioner Karl Peterjohn at an event at the National Center for Aviation Training. The State’s incentive package requires Hawker Beechcraft to maintain its current product lines in Wichita and retain at least 4,000 jobs over the next 10 years.

The $40 million incentive package from the State of Kansas is part of the IMPACT program available through the Kansas Department of Commerce.

FLIGHTSAFETY’S FALCON 7X SIMULATOR QUALIFIED TO LEVEL D BY THE FAA, GACA AND EASA FlightSafety International has announced that its new Dassault Falcon 7X full flight simulator has been qualified to Level D by the US Federal Aviation Administration, the General Authority of Civil Aviation of Saudi Arabia, and the European Aviation Safety Agency. Training will begin in January 2011 at FlightSafety’s Dallas/Fort Worth Learning Center.

“Qualification of our Falcon 7X simulator by the FAA, GACA and EASA demonstrates our advanced design and high quality manufacturing capabilities,” said Bruce Whitman, President & CEO. “We are proud to have served as a factory authorized training provider for Dassault Falcon for over 40 years and of our mutual commitment to provide professional training that enhances safety and offers the highest quality and best overall value.”

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PEOPLE Aircraft Electronics Association The Aircraft Electronics Association has appointed Geoff Hill director of communications and editor of Avionics News.

ARGUS ARGUS International, Inc. has welcomed Richard G. Smith, III to the ARGUS Board of Directors. Smith has a background in aircraft maintenance and operations and aviation safety.

Cessna Cessna has promoted Kelly D. Reich to Vice President of product support in the Customer Service organization and Peter J. McKernan to Director of Sales and Program Administration for Cessna Service Parts and Programs.

Reich is responsible for providing post-delivery support to customers of Cessna’s entire aircraft product line ranging from the Cessna 140 to the Citation X, the world’s fastest business jet in production.

Chromalloy Chromalloy announced that Steve Schultz, Principal Engineer, has received special delegation from the Federal Aviation Administration as a Repair Specification Designated Engineering Representative (RS DER).

COMLUX Comlux The Aviation Group has appointed Andrea Zanetto as the CEO of Fly Comlux, the division in charge of VIP aircraft operations.

Andrea Zanetto has experience working for more than 20 years in the operations of Commercial and Business Aviation and most recently as the Chief Operating Officer of Meridiana Fly in Italy.

18 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

CRS Jet Spares CRS Jet Spares has named Kirk Meissner to the position of Colorado Sales Representative.

Meissner’s role is to build relationships, support customers and spread recognition for the company within the state.

CRS has also increased the role of Stephanie Wilson within the CRS Jets Spares organization. Ms Wilson’s previous role with CRS was as dedicated Marketing Manager. Her new role will now include Outside Sales Manager responsibilities.

Miguez has been promoted to Manager of the company’s Detroit Metro/Toledo Learning Center.

And FlightSafety International has announced that Mark Malkosky has joined the company as Assistant Director, Maintenance Training Business Development and Sales.

FlightSafety FlightSafety International has named David Glass Manager of the company’s Learning Center in Houston, Texas. The company also has announced that Fabio

Robert Lee

Mark Malkosky

David Glass

Helicopter Association International The Helicopter Association International has named Jim McKenna as its new director of communications, responsible for all public relations and communications initiatives of the world’s leading helicopter trade association.

JetFlite International JetFlite International (JFI) announced an addition to its management team with the hiring of Michael Rogers for the new position of Vice President, Customer Service.

Fabio Miguez

Million Air Robert Lee has joined Million Air as the General Manager of Million Air Houston.

Landmark Aviation Lanmark Aviation has appointed Jeff Miller as General Manager of DAL, ADS and SPS locations.

Jeff comes to Landmark with 30 years of aviation experience.

The company has also announced Karen A. Twitchell as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Pilatus Pilatus Business Aircraft, Ltd. has announced the appointment of Charles D. Mayer as Vice President, Marketing.

PremiAir Global PremiAir, has appointed two new Aircraft Sales Managers Craig Lammiman and Gordon Potter - as it moves to focus increased activity on the fixed wing pre-owned business aircraft market in addition to its well established executive helicopter services. The appointments are effective immediately with both Craig and Gordon being based at PremiAir Global’s offices in the main terminal building at Farnborough Airport.

PrivateFly.com Richard Smith h a s j o i n e d online private jet booking service, PrivateFly.com, in the new role of business development manager. This follows Alex Nott's appointment as website manager in July, and continues PrivateFly's UK team expansion - on the back of its successful first round investment funding earlier this year.

Smile

Everyone’s happy with online EU-ETS emissions reporting and verification from Universal.

Completing your EU-ETS emissions reporting and verification couldn’t be simpler. Everything you need to meet the March 2011 small emitter deadline is available in one convenient, cost-effective, and easy-to-use online portal. For one flat fee, you can access historical flight planning data, upload your own data, run customisable reports, and submit them for accreditation. You and your member state will be happy in the knowledge that you’ve complied in plenty of time. And happier still that you’ve saved hassle and money along the way.

For solutions, tools, and to subscribe, visit us at eu-ets.aero.

For more information, contact Haylie Mason at +44 (0) 7748 183 483, e-mail eurosales@univ-wea.com, or visit universalweather.com.

EUROPEAN UPDATE

EU-ETS: THE STRETCH RUN

The European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) emissions reporting deadline for all operations into, from or within the EU in 2010 is March 31, 2011 for most countries and even earlier for some. Although just weeks away, many operators are still confused about what they need to do to comply and what their next steps should be.

Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. Supervisor of Regulatory Services Adam Hartley fields calls daily to help operators demystify the process, understand what they need to do to comply, and provide the questions they need to ask when choosing support companies. As the deadline approaches he’s been receiving many questions and he shared some of his answers with BART. We’re now in the stretch run for the first year of EU-ETS, with the deadline of March 31, 2011 for the majority of EU Member States just weeks away. The good news is that for most small emitters, which make up the vast majority of Business Aviation operators, there is still time to complete their emissions report for 2010 in time to meet the deadline.

However, I say that with the caveat that those operators have already identified their assigned Member State and have an approved CO2 monitoring plan. Operators who have not completed these preliminary steps, should not panic, however, but should contact their Member States immediately as a good

20 - BART:FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

faith effort to help avoid any penalties for not meeting the deadline.

At this point in the game, most operators are at least aware of EUETS. Most of those who have not filed a monitoring plan are not willfully avoiding the directive from the EU, but rather are in a state of limbo because they have not yet been assigned a Member State.

Unfortunately, even nearly two years into the process, this remains an issue as the European Commission’s latest List of Operators was still being approved as of January 2011.

Why is the Operator List still being refined just months before the deadline?

The most recent Operator List was due to be released no later than Jan. 31, 2011, giving very little lead time for some operators. One reason for this is because many operators were incorrectly filed under the name of the service provider that filed their flight plans.

At one time, there were 1,500-plus operators incorrectly assigned to Universal. Even today, Universal has more than 100 operators and 500-plus legs incorrectly listed under our name because we filed the flight plans with EuroControl. It’s taken the European Commission quite a while to sort through this and produce an accurate list and assign those operators a Member State. This will be an ongoing process.

What is actually required to be submitted to my Member State by the deadline?

The directive requires an operator to submit a verified historical report of all flights to, from, and within EU Member states during 2010. This report must be verified by a 3rd party that is accredited in the operator’s Member State. A list of approved verifiers for a variety of different Member States can be found at www.eu-ets.aero.

Are there different deadlines for Member States?

Yes. The majority of Member States, including the UK, France, Ireland, and Germany among others, are all requiring submission by the directive stated deadline of March 31, 2011. Some Member States have chosen to move their submission dates up. For example, Spain is requiring submission by Feb. 28, 2011, and the Czech Republic by March 15, 2011, just to name a few. It’s important to check with your specific Member State to confirm its requirement.

How do I produce an annual emissions report?

An operator should collect all historical flights for 2010 to, from, and within EU Member states and any data available to validate those legs. For example, copies of flight plans, log books, and scheduling software reports. This information can be applied to a generic reporting template available at www.eu-ets.aero. Member States have a variety of processes for reporting. Contact your Member State to ensure the proper template and method is being used.

When reporting emissions for 2010, should I use the Small Emitters tool?

While it’s true that the Small Emitters Tool has been proven to be inaccurate for many aircraft types at this point, EU-ETS for aviation is currently reporting for 2010 and monitoring 2011 both of which are pre-trading periods. This means that although the Small Emitters CO2 estimate may be inaccurate, operators are not buying credits this year or next based on these estimates.

Do all operators have to get their reports verified?

Although associations like the National Business Aviation Associations and the European Business Aviation Associations have worked feverishly to try and reduce the burdensome requirements of EU-ETS such as 3rd Party verification, the Directive that was adopted by the EU Member States and implemented currently still requires verification. Even operators using the Small Emitter Tool provided by Eurocontrol for fuel consumption estimations will still have to receive a Certificate of Verification to send with the completed report to their Member State prior to the posted deadline.

Will historical data and records produced by Eurocontrol’s ETS Support Facility take the place of verification?

No. The ETS Support Facility will be used initially as another source of validating data that operators can provide to their 3rd Party verifier. The different Environmental Authorities in Member States will also use this data to cross check verified reports that have been submitted by operators. The ETS Support Facility’s role in ETS reporting will assuredly continue to expand in future monitoring years, but currently does not relieve the reporting or verification requirements of operators both large and small.

How do I know if a verifier is approved for my Member State?

Some Member States have released specific lists of 3 rd Party Verifiers that have gained EU-ETS for Aviation Activities accreditation in their country. Other Member States have chosen to approve verification companies that hold accreditation in their home Member State. The most prevalent example of this is the multitude of countries accepting UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) accredited verifiers for the reporting process. Universal has compiled lists and guidance for these scenarios at www.euets.aero.

I have received many advertisements. How do I choose an accredited 3rd Party Verifier?

The verification market for EU-ETS can be a tough one to navigate.

It’s important to talk to more than one verifier and have them explain their background and processes prior to making a commitment. With issues such as possible site visits at the operator’s cost being left up to the verifier in many cases, it is important to have a level of trust and understanding with your selected verifier. Relying on your trip support service company for a recommendation would be a great place to start.

More information on EU-ETS is available in the EU-ETS Reporting Resource Center at www.eu-ets.aero. For questions on EU-ETS, you can contact Universal’s Regulatory Services Team at Worldwide: (713) 378-2734, N. America Toll-Free: (866) 864-8415 or e-mail: leverington@univ-wea.com or ahartley@univ-wea.com.

✈ BART:FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 - 21

EBAA

UPDATE

EBAA “ONE EUROPE” FORUM O

n 21 January 2011, the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) concluded a highly successful “One Europe” Regional Forum. The forum was sold-out with one hundred participants in attendance. Of chief concern was the unlevel playing field that exists within Europe.

“The forum was subtitled “A Roadmap for Aligning East and West,” commented Rodolfo Baviera, Chairman of the European Business Aviation Association, “but as the discussions progressed, it became clear that there was also still much to do to align East with West.”

Issues included the lack of harmonized rules (most notably in respect of runway performance requirements and Flight Time Limitations) for commercial and non-commercial operations. This often puts AOC holders at a disadvantage, which in many ways contributes to operators choosing to label their activities as private when they are in fact commercial. And indeed, from country to country, the very definition of commercial and non-commercial can carry multiple interpretations.

Access, particularly to Russia, Kazahkstan and Belarus, was another focal point. To that end, the Russian United Business Aviation Association provided updates on new legislation expected to be passed within the coming months that could ease impediments such as the importation of spare parts and ambiguous customs rules.

Participants agreed that industry standards such as IS-BAO, plus EBAA’s Emergency Response Planning Manual and FBO and Handling Code of Practice, are highly effective tools. As such the group debated whether or not more quality standards should be created for vendors, such as for example insurance companies and brokers.

Lack of harmony across European States extends to tax, VAT and financing as well, and participants shared how tax rules are enforced in

22 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

their own countries, demonstrating how complex legislative compliance can be when rules tend to vary every several hundred kilometers.

“This meeting was not all talk and no action, though,” emphasized EBAA CEO and President Brian Humphries. “The most critical part of the event took place during the final session when we reviewed all of the issues that had been tabled over the course of the two days, and drafted concrete action points to address these challenges.”

Within the coming weeks, small focus teams of EBAA members will be assigned to each action point.

These teams will be responsible for addressing the challenges put to them and for drafting official positions to be approved and adopted by the EBAA on behalf of the European Business Aviation community.

Thereafter, EBAA members and National Associations, working in concert with the EBAA secretariat, will be encouraged to communicate and lobby these positions towards National and EU Authorities.

“We’ve demonstrated in the past – for example with tailored Flight Time Limitations rules for Business Aviation - that it is vital that we help officials understand how Business Aviation differs in so many ways from the airlines and why it requires tailored rules,” says Humphries.

“This argument is of course supported by the European Parliament’s Agenda for Sustainable Future in General and Business Aviation, which highlights our role in providing “tailored, flexible, door-to-door transportation for individuals, enterprises and local communities, increasing mobility of people, productivity of business and regional cohesion.”

“But we still have a way to go, at both EU and National level. This forum and the work that will follow is an important step towards achieving suitable rules and enabling Business Aviation to benefit from uniform enforcement across the region.”

EBAA CONFRONTS ILLEGAL CHARTER FLIGHTS The European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) has launched a campaign for operators, brokers and passengers to curtail illegal charter flight activity within Europe.

The operation of illegal charters has been a top agenda item for EBAA over the past year, and the Association is taking this forward into positive action in 2011. Operating without a valid Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) and failing to comply with traffic rights are key concerns for many within the Business Aviation community. To help eliminate such practices, EBAA has published “Is My Flight Legal. Ensure the Safety and Legality of the Business Aircraft you Charter”, which provides guidance to operators and brokers on the subject.

“It is in the reputational and commercial interest of all in Business Aviation to ensure that the flights advertised and arranged are legally permissible and in compliance with the regulatory safety standards demanded of AOC holders,” stresses Brian Humphries, EBAA President and CEO. “EBAA has therefore compiled a document that clearly stipulates what activities fall within the realm of permissible flight activity within Europe, which do not.

This electronic document is addressed to operators and brokers, and has been distributed to all EBAA Members. Furthermore, we encourage operators and brokers to forward copies of it to as many colleagues as they can to ensure the widest reach possible for this important campaign.”

Additionally, EBAA has published a printed brochure entitled “Is My Flight Legal. Your Rights as a Business Aircraft Charter Passenger”, to help passengers and all non-specialist interested parties better understand the rules and the risk of non-compliance.

The Association is urging operators, handlers and brokers to pass these out to their clients to ensure that passengers are aware of the hazards of booking illegal flights.

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RUSSIAN HELICOPTERS, JSC CONSOLIDATES ASSETS

Russian Helicopters, JSC, part of UIC Oboronprom, consolidated control stock of all Russia’s rotorcraft-building enterprises. A statement from the company said that this meant that it had finalized the formation stages of a united Russian holding that deals in helicopter design, manufacture and servicing.

Russian Helicopter acquired 1,202,973,854 ordinary registered shares of Rostvertol, PLC which brings its ownership of company’s equity from 22.76 percent to 75.06 percent.

In 2008-09 Russian Helicopters, became the management company of all enterprises that make part of RH holding.

Current changes in the Russian Helicopters ownership of assets are linked to the company’s plans on further development and perspective projects’ implementation. The company’s strategic aim is to strengthen its positions on the global rotorcraft market.

$

HAWKER BEECHCRAFT SEES GROWTH IN THE MIDDLE EAST Hawker Beechcraft believes there will be

strong growth in the private aviation sector in the Middle East over the next few years.

The company says one of its largest growth areas in the region is its special mission applications, which range from maritime patrol and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance to commercial applications

such as photographic, air ambulance, flight inspection, weather modifications and transportation for government officials.

“We have made a number of strides in our Middle Eastern market – most notably with delivery of special mission aircraft,” said Sean McGeough, Hawker Beechcraft president, Europe, Middle East and Africa. “In addition to special mission aircraft deliveries, we have a large number of Hawker Beechcraft products in the region already performing a wide variety of special missions every day.”

Hawker Beechcraft, which over the past three years has delivered the largest share of business turbines and turboprops in the region with approximately 34 percent and 88 percent respectively, believes there are several factors fueling the growth in the region. These include the increasing economic strength of the region; a heightened focus on privacy and security; an influx of companies that offer corporate jet services to their senior executives; and a growing number of secondary airports in less populated areas in the region making travel to remote areas easier – a benefit especially valued by oil and gas companies.

“To succeed in the Middle East market, you also need a world class customer service organization,” McGeough said. “It is not sufficient to just provide the aircraft; you also need strong aftermarket sales support and a robust parts infrastructure. As part of our commitment to this, we have recently placed dedicated sales and support personnel in the region and signed a new contract with ExecuJet to provide service for Hawker products in Dubai and other locations around the world.”

$

EMBRAER CLOSES OUT 2010 WITH 246 JETS DELIVERED

Embraer delivered 92 jets during the fourth quarter of 2010 (4Q10), 30 of which to the commercial aviation market, 61 to executive aviation, and one to the defense segment.

Thus, the Company closed out 2010 with 246 jets delivered. The firm order backlog, at the end of the year, came to US$ 15.6 billion, which is 2 percent higher than the amount recorded on September 30, 2010.

The last quarter of the year was marked by the certification and beginning of operations of a new Embraer executive jet. The large cabin Legacy 650 is based on the successful Legacy 600 platform. Its spacious and comfortable cabin can carry 14 passengers and is able to fly nonstop from São Paulo, Brazil, to Miami, Florida, in the US Eight Legacy 600 and Legacy 650 jets were delivered from October to December. Also, production of the Phenom jets accelerated.

In 2010, 100 were delivered, which is seven more than the previous year, besides 26 Phenom 300s. Embraer also announced an agreement with US-based NetJets, which resulted in firm contract for the sale of 50 Phenom 300s, and another 75 options.

Meanwhile Embraer’s Phenom 100 entry level executive jet was the most delivered jet in 2010, with 100 deliveries. Together with the other airplanes of Embraer Executive Jets’ portfolio, the Phenom 100’s success is also reflected in the Company’s increasing market share, which is the fastest growing in Business Aviation in terms of units delivered.

$

24 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

YOU’LL WANT TO BE PART OF WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS OCTOBER 10, 11, 12, 2011

64TH ANNUAL MEETING & CONVENTION

Don’t Miss Business Aviation’s Return to the West Coast • Over 1,000 Exhibits • 100+ Education Sessions and Maintenance & Operations Sessions (M&Os)

• Over 100 Aircraft on Static Display • More than 25,000 Members of the Business Aviation Community

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REPORT Economic turbulence has rocked the Business Aviation industry for the past three years, and 2010 was another unsettled year. But OEM’s and operators alike have made the adjustments needed to see out this recession.

Our analysis of this year’s fleet report indicates that the Business Aviation industry will experience a marked recovery at the very least by 2012.

B

MOVING ON

George Galanopoulos, Managing Director London Executive Aviation, says the worst of the recession has past.

THE WORST IS BEHIND US

by Paul Walsh

ack in 2007, London Executive Aviation (LEA) enjoyed brisk trade and bourgeoning demand.

George Galanopoulos Managing Director of the company told Bart International: “2007 was booming year, we were heavily recruiting and we had big plans for expansion,” one of the company’s few complaints was the short supply of pilots. That charmed period seems very distant now, and in the wake of a chastening recession, operators like LEA are hesitant about expanding their businesses.

Guy Lachland of the British Business and General Aviation Association (BBGA) said: “Twice shy operators have been bitten badly over past two years and will think very carefully about buying new aircraft.”

BART International’s 2011 Business Aviation fleet report confirms that reluctance among operators, companies and private individuals to order new planes is putting the brakes on fleet growth. A large used aircraft inventory and banks’ unwillingness to lend is adding to the malaise.

The global Business Aviation fleet, which now totals 31,110 units, is growing, but at a slightly slower pace than last year. In 2010 the worldwide fleet grew by 3.7 percent; down from 4.8 percent in 2009. The worldwide Turboprop fleet grew from 12,499 to 12,874 units (3 percent) while the worldwide jet fleet grew from 17,382 to 17,872 units (2.81 percent).

This year North America’s fleet grew by 0.9 percent after growing by 0.34 percent last year. The European fleet grew by a disappointing 5 percent in 2010 down from 9.7 percent in 2009.

26 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

2010 BUSINESS AIRCRAFT FLEET

TOP TEN BUSINESS FLEETS BY COUNTRY United States

17937

Brazil

1225

Canada

1117

Mexico

1035

Germany

664

United Kingdom

639

Venezuela

587

Australia

480

South Africa

464

France

424

The most heartening news in the report comes from South America, where the Business Aviation industry appears to have ducked the more severe effects of the global recession. In 2010 the South American fleet grew by 14.9 percent after growing by 10.10 percent and 13.3 percent in 2008 and 2009 respectively. The Oceania market, which is largely propelled by a booming Australian economy, has grown by 14.37 percent, much higher than the 3.8 percent growth which it posted last year.

Though markets in Asia and Africa show promise, on both continents fleet growth is more sluggish than 2009. The Asian fleet grew by 12 percent in 2010, down considerably from 27.1 percent in 2009. In Africa fleet growth is impressive at 8.5 percent but the figure is still down on 2009 when the continent’s Business Aviation fleet grew by 15.3 percent.

A Brighter Future This year’s fleet report contains some dispiriting results but we shouldn’t forget that from Vnukovo to Villaroche operators like LEA are expanding their fleets, - LEA has grown its fleet by one aircraft a year since 2008 - and drop by drop confidence returning to the industry.

Galanopoulos said that as far as his company is concerned, the worst of the recession has past and many in the industry agree. Rolland Vincent, a Business Aviation analyst said that growing company profits and increased Business Aviation flights show that “the darkest days of this current downturn” appear to be over.

Brian Foley another analyst has predicted there will be a new surge of orders in 2011.

Worldwide economic growth bodes well for the industry. From March 2009 to June 2010 the MSCI world index, an aggregate stock market index and a decent estimate of wealth creation, grew by 20 percent.

The S&P 500, a measure of 500 publicly traded US equities, has rebounded and is up 86 percent from a low in March 2009. The IMF predicts that world output will grow by 4.4 percent in 2011.

Business Aviation traffic - another indicator for the Business Aviation industry growth – is starting to pick up. In 2010 a report by Eurocontrol showed that European Business Aviation traffic grew by 11 percent in March 2010 and the organization’s medium term forecast predicts that traffic will grow by 5 percent in 2011.

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JET SUMMARY BY MODEL BY WORLD AREA MFG/MODEL AIRBUS A300 AIRBUS A310 AIRBUS A318 ELITE AIRBUS A319CJ AIRBUS A320 AIRBUS A320 PRESTIGE AIRBUS A340 ASTRA 1125 ASTRA 1125SP ASTRA 1125SPX AVRO RJ-70 BAC 1-11 BAE 146-100 BAE 146-200 BEECHJET 400 BEECHJET 400A BOEING 707-120B BOEING 707-320 BOEING 707-C BOEING 707-E BOEING 727-100 BOEING 727-200 BOEING 737-100 BOEING 737-200 BOEING 737-300 BOEING 737-400 BOEING 737-500 BOEING 737-700 BOEING 747-300 BOEING 747-400 BOEING 747SP BOEING 757 BOEING 757-200 BOEING 767-200 BOEING 767-300 BOEING 777-200ER BOEING BBJ BOEING BBJ2 BOEING BBJ3 CANADAIR RJ CHALLENGER 300 CHALLENGER 600 CHALLENGER 601-1A CHALLENGER 601-3A CHALLENGER 601-3R CHALLENGER 604 CHALLENGER 605 CHALLENGER 800 CHALLENGER 850 CHALLENGER 870 CHALLENGER 890 CITATION 500 CITATION 525 CITATION BRAVO CITATION CJ1 CITATION CJ1+ CITATION CJ2 CITATION CJ2+ CITATION CJ3

TOTAL 1 21 16 56 7 4 11 32 36 58 1 18 6 4 60 344 4 28 4 5 47 24 1 34 14 5 3 7 1 12 11 4 17 8 6 2 114 19 2 28 290 78 61 132 59 361 123 3 54 3 2 268 349 333 197 100 237 166 348

EUROPE 0 12 6 31 1 0 2 0 1 3 1 1 4 1 1 25 0 5 0 0 3 3 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 0 17 5 0 4 60 6 7 14 3 77 40 0 28 1 0 33 84 78 53 33 74 62 82

MFG/MODEL TOTAL CITATION CJ4 16 CITATION ENCORE 163 CITATION ENCORE+ 61 CITATION EXCEL 365 CITATION I 24 CITATION I/SP 293 CITATION II 581 CITATION II/SP 73 CITATION III 194 CITATION MUSTANG 333 CITATION S/II 154 CITATION SOVEREIGN 296 CITATION ULTRA 275 CITATION V 258 CITATION VI 36 CITATION VII 118 CITATION X 300 CITATION XLS 329 CITATION XLS+ 65 DIAMOND I 4 DIAMOND IA 69 DORNIER ENVOY 3 52 ECLIPSE EA500 256 EMBRAER LEGACY 600 170 EMBRAER LEGACY 650 4 EMBRAER LEGACY SHUTTLE 11 EMBRAER LINEAGE 1000 8 EMBRAER PHENOM 100 186 EMBRAER PHENOM 300 22 EMIVEST SJ30-2 4 FALCON 10 146 FALCON 100 33 FALCON 200 33 FALCON 2000 231 FALCON 2000DX 4 FALCON 2000EX 25 FALCON 2000EX EASy 129 FALCON 2000LX 50 FALCON 20C 87 FALCON 20C-5 20 FALCON 20D 31 FALCON 20D-5 3 FALCON 20E 36 FALCON 20E-5 15 FALCON 20F 83 FALCON 20F-5 78 FALCON 20G 5 FALCON 50 240 FALCON 50-40 6 FALCON 50EX 100 FALCON 7X 96 FALCON 900 34 FALCON 900B 142 FALCON 900C 25 FALCON 900DX 24 FALCON 900EX 117 FALCON 900EX EASy 119 FALCON 900LX 1 FOKKER 100 7

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2010

EUROPE 2 13 6 64 8 30 71 19 14 94 9 47 15 19 5 13 23 104 19 1 3 21 23 63 3 1 1 29 0 1 16 11 5 50 1 7 52 19 23 5 7 0 14 9 9 5 5 39 0 16 49 11 35 9 12 31 45 0 3

MFG/MODEL TOTAL FOKKER 70 1 FOKKER F28 2 GLOBAL 5000 92 GLOBAL EXPRESS 148 GLOBAL EXPRESS XRS 122 GULFSTREAM G-100 22 GULFSTREAM G-150 84 GULFSTREAM G-200 230 GULFSTREAM G-300 13 GULFSTREAM G-350 11 GULFSTREAM G-400 23 GULFSTREAM G-450 188 GULFSTREAM G-500 9 GULFSTREAM G-550 277 GULFSTREAM G-II 160 GULFSTREAM G-IIB 39 GULFSTREAM G-III 182 GULFSTREAM G-IV 210 GULFSTREAM G-IVSP 286 GULFSTREAM G-V 186 HAWKER 1000A 44 HAWKER 1000B 7 HAWKER 125-1A 17 HAWKER 125-1AS 9 HAWKER 125-1B 11 HAWKER 125-3A 3 HAWKER 125-3A/RA 7 HAWKER 125-3A/RAS 3 HAWKER 125-3AS 2 HAWKER 125-3B 9 HAWKER 125-3B/RAS 1 HAWKER 125-3BS 1 HAWKER 125-400A 16 HAWKER 125-400AS 49 HAWKER 125-400B 14 HAWKER 125-400BS 3 HAWKER 125-600A 20 HAWKER 125-600AS 12 HAWKER 125-600B 2 HAWKER 125-600BS 1 HAWKER 125-700A 170 HAWKER 125-700B 32 HAWKER 4000 40 HAWKER 400XP 244 HAWKER 750 39 HAWKER 800A 227 HAWKER 800B 61 HAWKER 800XP 421 HAWKER 800XPI 52 HAWKER 850XP 99 HAWKER 900XP 132 JET COMMANDER 1121 10 JET COMMANDER 1121B 7 JETSTAR 6 2 JETSTAR 731 12 JETSTAR 8 7 JETSTAR II 24 LEARJET 23 13 LEARJET 24 35

EUROPE 1 0 26 37 52 2 10 30 0 0 0 16 0 66 1 1 1 11 12 17 4 3 4 0 9 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 1 0 0 10 18 3 43 14 3 14 43 25 16 24 0 1 0 3 0 1 1 1

World Fleet

TURBOPROPS MFG/MODEL LEARJET 24A LEARJET 24B LEARJET 24D LEARJET 24E LEARJET 24F LEARJET 25 LEARJET 25B LEARJET 25C LEARJET 25D LEARJET 25G LEARJET 28 LEARJET 29 LEARJET 31 LEARJET 31A LEARJET 35 LEARJET 35A LEARJET 36 LEARJET 36A LEARJET 40 LEARJET 40XR LEARJET 45 LEARJET 45XR LEARJET 55 LEARJET 55B LEARJET 55C LEARJET 60 LEARJET 60XR LOCKHEED L-1011-500 MDD DC8 MDD DC9 MDD MD80 PREMIER I PREMIER IA SABRELINER 40 SABRELINER 40A SABRELINER 40EL SABRELINER 40EX SABRELINER 40R SABRELINER 40SE SABRELINER 50 SABRELINER 60 SABRELINER 60A SABRELINER 60AELXM SABRELINER 60EL SABRELINER 60ELXM SABRELINER 60EX SABRELINER 60SC SABRELINER 60SCELXM SABRELINER 60SCEX SABRELINER 65 SABRELINER 80 SABRELINER 80A SABRELINER 80SC WESTWIND 1 WESTWIND 1123 WESTWIND 1124 WESTWIND 2 Total Jets © AVDATA/JETNET

TOTAL 4 25 66 15 9 29 68 13 136 4 5 3 35 208 43 469 15 38 40 85 237 162 116 8 13 311 69 3 1 11 14 126 145 23 27 7 2 4 1 1 41 3 1 3 32 4 2 1 1 75 26 3 7 104 6 53 79 18,054

EUROPE0 0 1 0 0 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 4 13 0 43 0 4 15 13 35 13 15 1 2 51 21 0 0 0 2 23 36 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2,913

MFG/MODEL AVANTI P180 AVANTI II CARAVAN 208 CARAVAN 208B CHEYENNE 400 CHEYENNE I CHEYENNE IA CHEYENNE II CHEYENNE III CHEYENNE IIIA CHEYENNE IIXL CONQUEST I CONQUEST II GULFSTREAM G-I JETSTREAM 31 JETSTREAM 32 JETSTREAM 41 KING AIR 100 KING AIR 200 KING AIR 200C KING AIR 200T KING AIR 300 KING AIR 300LW KING AIR 350 KING AIR 350C KING AIR 350i KING AIR 350iC KING AIR 90 KING AIR A/B90 KING AIR A100 KING AIR A200 KING AIR A90 KING AIR A90-1 KING AIR B100 KING AIR B200 KING AIR B200C KING AIR B200CT KING AIR B200GT KING AIR B200SE KING AIR B200T KING AIR B90 KING AIR C90 KING AIR C90-1 KING AIR C90A KING AIR C90B KING AIR C90GT KING AIR C90GTi KING AIR C90GTx KING AIR C90SE KING AIR E90 KING AIR F90 KING AIR F90-1 MERLIN 300 MERLIN IIA MERLIN IIB MERLIN III MERLIN IIIA MERLIN IIIB MERLIN IIIC

TOTAL 98 99 397 1,423 40 171 17 366 80 53 75 207 317 66 113 123 89 63 704 31 20 212 19 659 29 32 8 29 12 111 234 77 122 122 1,094 107 9 110 5 23 113 442 40 225 425 98 120 18 16 292 188 30 9 2 36 27 35 58 24

EUROPE 44 37 32 87 7 15 4 46 9 15 6 16 9 3 9 8 3 1 62 2 2 4 7 51 3 4 0 1 0 4 1 4 2 0 128 6 0 21 1 1 5 38 0 18 31 9 16 3 0 18 11 3 2 0 4 1 4 5 2

World

Europe

World

Europe

World

Europe

Turboprops Fleet

World Turbine Fleet

MFG/MODEL TOTAL MERLIN IV 9 MERLIN IV-A 23 MERLIN IV-C 22 MITSUBISHI MARQUISE 94 MITSUBISHI MU-2B 3 MITSUBISHI MU-2C 16 MITSUBISHI MU-2D 1 MITSUBISHI MU-2F 39 MITSUBISHI MU-2G 6 MITSUBISHI MU-2J 40 MITSUBISHI MU-2K 43 MITSUBISHI MU-2L 19 MITSUBISHI MU-2M 19 MITSUBISHI MU-2N 26 MITSUBISHI MU-2P 32 MITSUBISHI MU-2S 17 MITSUBISHI SOLITAIRE 42 PILATUS PC-12 776 PILATUS PC-12 NG 230 PIPER MALIBU JETPROP 222 PIPER MERIDIAN 416 SOCATA TBM-700A 111 SOCATA TBM-700B 91 SOCATA TBM-700C1 8 SOCATA TBM-700C2 94 SOCATA TBM-850 208 STARSHIP 2000A 5 TURBO COMMANDER 1000 100 TURBO COMMANDER 690 47 TURBO COMMANDER 690A 186 TURBO COMMANDER 690B 191 TURBO COMMANDER 840 105 TURBO COMMANDER 900 34 TURBO COMMANDER 980 73 Total TurboProp 13,112 Grand Total © AVDATA/JETNET

31,166

EUROPE 1 4 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 0 3 0 2 0 1 91 46 60 67 37 23 4 10 38 0 3 1 10 4 6 1 3 700 1,135

REPORT

NORTH AMERICA

Shipments GAMA’s 2010 third quarter report on shipments shows that the decline in general aviation shipments is starting to level out. In first nine months of 2010, total general aviation airplane shipments fell 14.5 percent, from 1,588 units in 2009 to 1,357 units this year. Billings for general aviation airplanes totalled $13.47 billion in the first nine months, down 2.5 percent.

EUROPE Country Total Executive* Jet Austria 269 1 238 Belarus 1 0 1 Belgium 103 2 60 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3 0 2 Bulgaria 28 1 19 Croatia 9 0 6 Cyprus 15 0 14 Czech Republic 55 0 32 Denmark 100 0 67 Estonia 10 0 9 Finland 50 0 30 France 424 4 216 Germany 664 8 430 Gibraltar 3 0 3 Greece 57 2 38 Hungary 8 0 6 Iceland 5 0 1 Ireland 40 1 30 Isle of Man 63 0 53 Italy 247 0 169 Latvia 10 0 8 Liechtenstein 3 0 2 Lithuania 5 0 3 Luxembourg 75 1 39 Macedonia 2 0 2 Malta 14 0 13 Moldova 1 0 1 Monaco 6 0 4 Montenegro 5 0 5 Netherlands 90 1 51 North. Ireland 3 0 3 Norway 53 0 15 Poland 37 0 18 Portugal 194 0 187 Romania 19 2 14 Russian Federation 143 5 119 San Marino 4 0 3 Scotland 1 0 0 Serbia 24 0 19 Slovak Republic 17 0 11 Slovenia 16 0 12 Spain 183 4 133 Sweden 87 0 55 Switzerland 332 5 237 Ukraine 43 1 34 United Kingdom 639 13 448 Total 4,160 51 2,860

Turb.

30 0 41 1 8 3 1 23 33 1 20 204 226 0 17 2 4 9 10 78 2 1 2 35 0 1 0 2 0 38 0 38 19 7 3 19 1 1 5 6 4 46 32 90 8 178 1,249

*Executive aircraft are airliner aircraft converted to private business use, excluding models originally meant for business use.

30 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

Country Total Antigua and Barbuda 1 Aruba 13 Bahamas 25 Barbados 10 Belize 17 Bermuda 46 Canada 1117 Cayman Islands 26 Costa Rica 32 Dominica 1 Dominican Republic 39 El Salvador 8 Greenland 1 Guadeloupe 2 Guatemala 73 Haiti 4 Honduras 13 Jamaica 6 Martinique 1 Mexico 1035 Netherlands Antilles 4 Nicaragua 8 Panama 100 Puerto Rico 60 Saint Kitts and Nevis 1 Saint Lucia 1 Saint Vincent-Grenadines 2 Trinidad and Tobago 1 Turks and Caicos Islands 4 United States 17937 Virgin Islands (British) 15 Virgin Islands (U.S.) 9 West Indies 4 Total 20616

Executive* Jet 0 0 1 10 1 8 0 9 0 1 1 42 9 440 1 21 0 11 1 0 0 18 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 25 2 0 0 4 0 5 0 0 10 687 0 2 0 0 0 30 0 27 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 119 10861 0 12 0 6 0 4 146 12231

Turb.

1 2 16 1 16 3 668 4 21 0 21 5 1 2 48 2 9 1 1 338 2 8 70 33 0 1 0 0 2 6957 3 3 0 8239

*Executive aircraft are airliner aircraft converted to private business use, excluding models originally meant for business use.

SOUTH AMERICA Country Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela Total

Total Executive* Jet 262 1 123 18 0 4 1,225 3 593 90 2 31 250 0 26 30 0 15 10 0 0 32 1 8 38 1 6 5 0 0 11 0 4 587 1 214 2,558 9 1,024

Turb.

138 14 629 57 224 15 10 23 31 5 7 372 1,525

*Executive aircraft are airliner aircraft converted to private business use, excluding models originally meant for business use.

While nothing to celebrate the figures are a considerable improvement on 2009 when general aviation shipments fell by 46.8 percent and total industry billings were down 23.5 percent.

And GAMA’s president and CEO Pete Bunce is optimistic: “Despite another drop in total shipments and billings, we believe that the longer-term outlook for general aviation is positive. We are encouraged by the sales announcements and a more positive outlook overall as discretionary spending starts to pick back up on a global level,” he said.

AFRICA Country Total Executive* Algeria 34 1 Angola 57 4 Benin 3 0 Botswana 34 0 Burkina Faso 5 1 Cameroon 6 1 Canary Islands 3 0 Central African Republic 3 0 Chad 9 1 Congo 8 0 Cote d''Ivoire 7 1 Dem. Republic of Congo 18 4 Djibouti 1 1 Egypt 48 3 Equatorial Guinea 4 0 Eritrea 1 0 Ethiopia 5 0 Gabon 12 0 Gambia 2 1 Ghana 2 0 Guinea 3 0 Guinea-Bissau 1 0 Kenya 96 0 Liberia 2 0 Libya 21 3 Madagascar 14 0 Malawi 3 0 Mali Republic 8 6 Mauritania 3 1 Mauritius 3 0 Morocco 39 1 Mozambique 3 0 Namibia 28 0 Niger 2 1 Nigeria 57 1 Reunion Island 0 0 Sao Tome and Principe 2 1 Senegal 7 1 Seychelles Islands 2 0 South Africa 464 6 Sudan 7 0 Swaziland 1 1 Tanzania 55 0 Togo 6 1 Tunisia 5 1 Uganda 16 0 Zambia 15 0 Zimbabwe 10 0 Total 1,135 42

Jet 9 22 3 3 0 2 2 0 2 2 2 7 0 39 3 0 0 9 1 1 1 0 6 0 12 3 1 0 0 3 19 1 7 0 46 0 1 0 1 171 4 0 1 1 4 1 1 2 393

Turb.

24 31 0 31 4 3 1 3 6 6 4 7 0 6 1 1 5 3 0 1 2 1 90 2 6 11 2 2 2 0 19 2 21 1 10 0 0 6 1 287 3 0 54 4 0 15 14 8 700

*Executive aircraft are airliner aircraft converted to private business use, excluding models originally meant for business use.

AUSTRALIA & OCEANIA Country Australia Fiji French Polynesia Guam New Caledonia New Zealand Papua New Guinea Tahiti Vanuatu Total

Total Executive* 480 1 3 0 3 0 4 0 5 0 48 1 13 0 0 0 1 0 557 2

Jet 163 0 0 4 1 17 1 0 0 186

Turb.

316 3 3 0 4 30 12 0 1 369

*Executive aircraft are airliner aircraft converted to private business use, excluding models originally meant for business use.

ASIA Country Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Brunei Burma Cambodia China Georgia Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Macau Malaysia Mongolia Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Syria Taiwan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Vietnam Yemen Total

Total Executive* 2 0 6 0 19 5 6 0 3 3 1 0 1 0 112 7 1 0 51 0 224 3 85 4 39 3 8 0 78 15 225 3 25 4 21 1 13 3 1 0 2 0 19 1 12 1 60 1 3 0 2 0 7 3 33 2 53 0 17 2 158 25 31 0 37 1 2 0 2 0 11 1 52 4 112 0 5 2 127 8 2 0 4 3 1,672 105

Jet 1 6 11 1 0 1 1 82 1 49 137 19 19 1 28 73 15 15 10 0 0 17 11 35 0 0 4 22 26 15 117 26 25 0 2 7 16 87 3 103 0 1 987

Turb.

1 0 3 5 0 0 0 23 0 2 84 62 17 7 35 149 6 5 0 1 2 1 0 24 3 2 0 9 27 0 16 5 11 2 0 3 32 25 0 16 2 0 580

*Executive aircraft are airliner aircraft converted to private business use, excluding models originally meant for business use.

BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 - 31

REPORT

2010 BUSINESS AIRCRAFT FLEET

“I am especially encouraged by the resources general aviation manufacturers are expending on the research and development of new products,” said Bunce. “Recovery indicators continue to fluctuate, but one positive indicator - the investment in new airplanes and technology – is solid. GA manufacturers are clearly looking toward the future and will be poised for a strong return when the economy fully recovers.”

12 MONTH WORLD WIDE TURBINE FLEET Worldwide United States Asia North America S. America Europe Africa Oceania

2009 29,998 17,905 1,508 20,425 2,226 3,959 1,046 487

Slow Growth in the US The North American Business Aviation industry has started to show signs of life. In 2010, the Canadian fleet grew by 4.5 percent to 1117 units and Mexico’s grew by 7.8 percent. In 2010, the US fleet grew by 0.17 percent to 17937 units after shrinking by 1 percent in 2009.

Analyst Brian Foley notes that buyers from outside North America have been active on the US market and that this is partially responsible for the slow growth in the country’s fleet. Foley added: “The next phase (this year) will be a resurgence of new aircraft orders led by a now much-recovered US, particularly since the pre-owned market will have been largely picked over leaving few alternatives except to buy new.”

George Tsopeis an analyst with Zenith Jet said: “In the last business cycle, the prominence of the international market garnered whatever demand was available for that period further impacting the US INNOVATIONS Investment in installed fleet.”

Tsopeis added that 2010 was the new airplanes and technology trough year and that 2011 will see a is solid. marginal rise in unit deliveries.

32 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

2010 31,110 17,937 1,672 20,616 2,558 4,160 1,135 557

Unit Change 1,112 30 194 191 332 201 89 70

Growth 3.70% 0.16% 12% 0.90% 14% 5% 8.50% 14.37%

Europe While commentators sometimes seem giddy about the prospects for growth in places like Brazil and China, it would be foolish to overlook the potential for growth that still exists in Europe. In 2010 many European countries like Russia, Italy and France posted impressive results.

Germany is at the top of the European leader board with a combined Turboprop and Jet fleet of 664 aircraft, (no change from last year) the UK’s fleet has grown by 4.6 percent from 611 in 2009 to 639 in 2010.

France posted growth of 6.5 percent, going from 398 units in 2009 to 424 units in 2010. Other European countries with large and growing fleets include, Switzerland 332 (up 19 or 6 percent), Austria 269 (up 2 or .4 percent) Italy 247 (up 17 or 7.5 percent) Russia 143 (up 15 or 12 percent) and the Isle of Man 63 (up 21 or 50 percent).

Brian Humphries of the EBAA acknowledged that 2010 was a very tough year for the European industry but said that the figures look encouraging. He told Bart International that a large backlog of unsold aircraft is holding things back but that “we expect growth to resume.”

And Rob Wilson, President, Business and General Aviation, Honeywell Aerospace pointed out that the “strong major trading partner currencies, such as the Euro, Pound, Swiss Franc and the Ruble, against the dollar, act as a purchase incentive for new aircraft.”

Wilson sees a bright future for Business Aviation in Europe. “The dollar is projected to show secular declines against most of these currencies for some time, as interest rates remain low and deficits are sizable. This trend should result in some potential tailwind for new jet demand, driven by improving rates of growth and business expansion expected in Eastern Europe and Russia after 2010.”

South America, Africa and Asia The South American industry has weathered the recession better than any other continent. Brazil’s fleet swelled by 215 units and is now 21 percent larger than last year.

Venezuela’s fleet grew by 27 units (4.8 percent), Argentina’s fleet grew by 29 units (12.4 percent), Columbia’s grew by 22 units (9.6 percent) and Chile’s grew by 12 units (15.3 percent).

On the African continent, South Africa still boasts by far the largest Business Aviation Turbine fleet with 464 units, up 20 units (4.5 percent) on last year. African countries which have posted impressive growth in 2010 include Kenya where the fleet expanded by 9 units (10.3 percent) and Egypt where the fleet grew by 6 units (14.2%).

The total Business Aviation turbine fleet in Asia now stands at 1672 units up from 1508 units in 2009. Japan

still has the largest fleet in Asia with 225 units, up 2 units on last year, India is in second place with 224 units up 23 units (11.4 percent) on last year. China’s fleet is still growing steadily, although not at the rate that some of the recent hype about the country would suggest. Its fleet grew by 27 units so that its fleet now totals 112 units.

The Business Aviation industry in the Middle East appears to be back on track, as was evidenced by a strong showing at MEBA last December. The Saudi Arabian fleet grew by 7.4 percent in 2010 and the UAE’s fleet grew by 10.4 percent.

Manufactures like Dassault are confident about the potential for growth in the area. Dassault plans to grow its Middle Eastern fleet by 30 percent over the next three years, thanks to a solid aircraft order book from regional buyers.

“The Middle East business environment still remains challenging but confidence levels appear to be rising,” said John Rosanvallon, President and CEO of Dassault Falcon. “Dassault has seen much greater demand over the last two quarters of the current financial year, with larger cabin jet sales and prices holding up better than smaller jets.

The indicators for recovery are starting to show but even if this is not a true rebound, business has certainly resumed.”

In Oceania 62 new aircraft been added to the Australian fleet, a jump of 14.8 percent on last year.

Growth in New Zealand’s fleet, which went from 41 units to 48 units, was also strong.

Jet versus Turboprop/ Models and Makes The turboprop market has shown steady results for 2010. Last year the worldwide turboprop fleet grew by 375 units (3 percent) down from 3.06 percent in 2009. The worldwide jet fleet grew by 754 units (4.4 percent) to 17872 units.

In terms of which jet makers are dominating the market, there is little change at the top. Cessna maintains peak position, with 5932 jets in the worldwide fleet, up from 5769 in 2009. The success of Cessna’s Citation Mustang entry level jet is doing much to support the compa-

ny’s growth. In 2010 Cessna’s Citation Mustang fleet grew by 77 units (30 percent) and now totals 333 units.

Like last year Bombardier is in second place with 3,802 units up from 3672 units in 2009. Bombardier’s varied portfolio has helped to shield the company from the economic downturn. The Learjet 40XR’s fleet has grown well (up 11 units) so too has the Learjet 45XR’s (up 7 units) and the Learjet 60XR’s (up 15 units).

Hawker Beechcraft is in third place with 2423 units, up from 2,113 units in 2009. The Hawker 900 XP is doing well with 21 units added to the global fleet in 2010 and the 750 is up four units. Gulfstream is in fourth place with 1986 units up from 1852 in 2009. The G-550 is up 38 units on last year and the G-200 is up 9 units.

Dassault has 1913 units in the worldwide fleet up from 1834 in 2009.

Embraer, while still in sixth place in the Business Aviation OEM rankings, is carving out market share for itself at a very impressive rate. In 2009 it had 254 jets in the worldwide fleet but now the company boasts a striking 401 jets. 186 of these are Phenom 100s while 170 of these are Legacy 600s. Embraer delivered 92 jets during the fourth quarter of 2010, 61 to executive aviation, and Embraer’s Phenom 100 was the most delivered executive jet in 2010.

The most popular aircraft on the market is still the Citation II, although its fleet dropped by five this year to 581. And there are other Citations with large fleets too, including the Excel with 365, the Bravo with 333 and the CJ3 with 348. The fleet of Learjet 35A still boasts 469 units and the Hawker 800XP has 421 units in the worldwide fleet, down from 423 in 2009. Other top aircraft include the Challenger 604 which has 361 units and the Beechjet 400A with 344 units.

The Caravan 208B takes up the largest portion of the turboprop fleet with 1423 aircraft up from 1,311 last year. Next in line in the turboprop rankings is the King Air B200 with 1094 units, followed by the Pilatus PC-12 (776), the King Air 200 (704), the King Air 350 (659), the King Air C90 (442) and the Piper Meridian (416).

Shift in Focus This year’s fleet report highlights that the centre of gravity for Business Aviation sales activity is moving away from the US. Hawker Beechcraft says that it expects sales growth outside of North America continue to outpace sales growth within North America. In January 2011 Sean McGeough, Hawker Beechcraft President of Europe, Middle East and Africa said: “We have developed new aircraft that are created with more than just the US market in mind.” He cited the new Beechcraft King Air 250 and Hawker 200 as two examples.

In November 2010 Trevor Esling, Cessna’s vice president for International Sales said international demand will make an important contribution to the business jet market’s gradual recovery and account for an increased proportion of future sales.

He added: “Cessna expects that increased customer demand will first become apparent in certain international markets, and that regions such as Eastern Europe and Russia, Latin America and the Middle East will become more significant markets alongside the United States and European Union.”

In 2011 the shift from mainstays like the US to rising markets will continue at pace. As David J. Wyndham from Conklin and DeDecker said: “Aircraft brokers with strong international connections should be in for a good year.”

✈

RECOVERY

The indicators show that business has certainly resumed in the industry.

BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 - 33

REPORT

While 2010 has been another difficult year for Business Aviation, market indicators suggest that the industry will start to pick up in earnest at the very least by 2012. Forecasts and reports published by Bombardier, Forecast International, Honeywell and Zenith Jet in 2010 have said that factors like wealth creation, increasing globalization of trade and high purchase intentions in Asia, Africa and the Middle East will contribute to the long awaited Business Aviation recovery.

ON TRACK

The long term market drivers for growth remain solid.

Forecast International A 2010 Forecast International report predicts that the drop in business jet production, which began in 2008, will continue through 2011. The report also predicts that from 2010 until 2019 manufacturers will produce a total of 11,437 business jets with an estimated value of $217.5 billion.

34 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

MARKET ANALYSIS

EXIT STRATEGY

BUSINESS JET INDUSTRY 20-YEAR DELIVERIES OUTLOOK Source Bombardier Forecasting Model

A statement from Forecast International said that the worst of the industry downturn is over but that real market improvement has yet to begin. The group said that economic growth won’t immediately translate into growth in the Business Aviation industry. “Corporate profits, normally a prime leading indicator of improved business jet sales, are on the rise.

However, corporations are opting to hold onto their profits, as they are hesitant to make major expenditures in a time of economic instability and uncertain government policies.” The message from Forecast International’s report is that people in the Business Aviation industry need to be patient. “Continued economic improvement....will help free up some of the huge amounts of cash now being safeguarded in corporate coffers, with business jet sales being one of the beneficiaries.”

Bombardier’s Business Aviation Outlook Bombardier Aerospace’s 20-year outlook said that from 2010 to 2029, there would be a return to growth in Business Aviation. It’s outlook estimated that business jet manufacturers will deliver a total of 26,000 business jets in all segments in which Bombardier competes (from light to large categories but excluding very light jets).

The 26,000 deliveries forecasted over the 20-year period represent total revenues of approximately $661 billion for the industry, of which 10,500 deliveries worth $254 billion are anticipated in the period from 2010 to 2019, and 15,500 deliveries worth $407 billion in the period from 2020 to 2029.

A statement from Bombardier said that despite continuing economic challenges, the long-term market drivers of growth for the business jet industry remain solid. It added that toward the second half of calendar year 2009, these indicators began showing signs that the market segment was stabilizing.

Barry MacKinnon, Director of Market Development, Bombardier Business Aircraft told BART International: “We believe that 2010 was probably a trough year for business jet deliveries into the US market as a result of the depth of the recession of 2008-2009.”

He said that there are encouraging signs that the US has started to show sustained growth during late 2010.

“According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis the US economy grew by 2.5 percent year-over-year during the 3rd quarter of 2010. We believe that business jet deliveries will follow the growth trend in the economy in 2011 and beyond,” he said. “Bombardier’s 2010 Business

Aircraft Market Forecast predicts that the North American (which is mainly the US) business jet fleet will grow from 9,635* aircraft (*excluding very light jets and large corporate airliners) in 2009 to 11,300 aircraft by 2019. This constitutes a 2 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the fleet, net of retirements.”

He also said that the economic recovery in Europe is lagging that of the U.S., with 1.9 percent GDP growth within the Eurozone being recorded during the 3rd quarter of 2010. But he added that: “Bombardier’s forecast indicates that the European business jet fleet will resume growing significantly in the coming years. Bombardier predicts that the European business fleet will grow from 1,780* aircraft in 2009 to 3,700 aircraft by 2019. This represents a fleet growth CAGR of 8 percent, net of retirements.”

Industry Expansion in 2012 In 2010 Honeywell revised its forecasts for business jet deliveries between 2010 and 2020 up by 10 percent, the group now estimates that industry sales will be in excess of $225 billion for that period.

While Honeywell expects that deliveries to fall below 700 in 2011 it expects the market to grow again in 2012.

OPTIMISM

Bombardier Aerospace’s 20 year outlook predicted that from 2010 to 2029 there will be a return to growth in Business Aviation.

BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 - 35

REPORT

MARKET ANALYSIS

REGIONAL 10-YEAR DELIVERY OUTLOOK Units, calendar years, 2010-2019

IMPRESSIVE

Bombardier's outlook says that the Business Aviation market is stabilizing.

Rob Wilson, President, Business and General Aviation, Honeywell Aerospace said: “Despite a torpid recovery, there have been relatively few program cancellations and delays so the pipeline of new high-value models supporting long-term growth remains strong. Our survey indicates that international demand will still remain significant and contribute to longer-term growth.”

He added that the retail value of jet shipments is “registering mid-to-high single digit erosion this year, due to the relative strength of large cabin aircraft,” and that “the industry should begin another period of expansion by 2012.”

Zenith Jet Sees Potential for 2011 Recovery Zenith Jet, a Business Aviation consultancy based in Canada is more optimistic about the immediate future of the industry. It says that the industry has reached a trough and will recover at a steady pace over the next ten years.

According to the group improving economic conditions will result in growing deliveries of aircraft, these will then steadily increase to a 9 percent compounded annual growth rate in the years between 2010 and 2019. The 36 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

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REPORT

MARKET ANALYSIS

group added that unit deliveries will reach 11,000 units representing $208 billion in revenues for that period.

Zenith Jet believes that Brazil, Russia, India and China are likely to be strong contributors to OEM order books, especially given the appreciation of their respective currencies against the US dollar. But the group adds that capital must be invested in aviation infrastructure in these countries if they are to contribute to a global Business Aviation recovery.

And the group is confident that the North American market will rebound once corporate profits in the region start to show signs of discernable growth.

OEM Highlights

PREDICTIONS

Consultancy Zenith Jet predicts that Cessna will relaunch the Columbus program soon (top).

Lear 45 (center).

Zenith Jet has also put its neck on the line and listed a series of OEM highlights which it thinks will take place between 2010 and 2019. It says that Bombardier will stop producing the L40XR & the L45XR by 2014 and withdraw from the light and super light segments. Zenith Jet comments that the Lear 40 & 45 have not had the sales success Bombardier expected, especially internationally and that the Learjet 85 will allow Bombardier to wipe the slate clean and breathe new life into Learjet.

Based in part on the frenzied engine development activity in the 10k to 12k lbs thrust range Zenith Jet predicts that Gulfstream will

38 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

develop a clean sheet large aircraft which they will in turn stretch into a super large model to be ready for entry-into-service in 2015. And Zenith Jet notes that H a w k e r B e e c h c r a f t may design a super light product. A statement from Zenith Jet said: “A stand-up cabin, 2,000 nm range (based on 4 passengers) and a true lav wrapped up in a sleek airframe would present a serious challenge to Cessna’s long-inthe-tooth straight-winged XLS+.”

Zenith Jet says Cessna will re-initiate the Columbus program.

“Despite this uncertainty, Cessna will secure the largest unit deliveries market share over the forecast period ie 35 percent.”

Although Dassault will bring their super midsize program to market, Zenith Jet anticipate a slow launch, development and entry into service cycle. “Our forecast has 2018 slated as the timeline for its first deliveries. With periodic upgrades to its other aircraft programs i.e. their F2000 & F900 variants and their newer ultra long range F7X, Dassault’s unit deliveries should translate into an average of 68 annual aircraft deliveries over the forecast period, but not much more,” the group said. On Embraer Zenith Jet is optimistic. It says that Embraer will solidify itself as the sixth major Business Aviation OEM in coming years securing the #2 spot in terms of unit deliveries market share with 18 percent.

✈

AMSTAT MARKET UPDATE

As the leader in providing researched market information to the industry, AMSTAT once again takes the opportunity to provide some insight into the state of the Business Aviation market.

PROMISING SIGNS

By Tom Benson

BUSINESS AIRCRAFT RESALE RETAIL TRANSACTIONS

(as % of Worldwide Fleet)

As of this January, 14.7 percent of the worldwide fleet of business jets is for sale, compared with 15.5 percent just a quarter ago. This represents one of the steepest single quarter drops we’ve seen in this metric in recent history. Although still high compared to its 20-year average of 12.5 percent, this metric seems to be picking up steam after a recent flattening trend in which improvement had nearly stalled.

PRE-OWNED BUSINESS AIRCRAFT FOR SALE INVENTORY

(as % of Worldwide Fleet)

For turboprop aircraft, 11.9 percent of the worldwide fleet is currently for sale, compared with 12.0 percent last quarter. While the decrease for turboprops is less pronounced, the recent improvement has been steady, and this metric is now less than one percent above its 20-year average of 11.2 percent.

The fourth quarter of 2010 also gave us the historically typical spike in resale retail transaction activity. For business jets, just over 2.6 percent of the worldwide fleet changed hands, which represents the most transaction activity since the third quarter of 2008. For turboprops, retail resale sales represented 2.5 percent of the fleet, which was also the most activity seen for this category since 2008. Although these figures are still well below their historical quarterly

activity and a lacklustre 2010. It is certainly possible that 2011 will follow a similar pattern, and the recovery we all yearn for will remain elusive.

However, because in Q4 2010, we witnessed not only the expected increase in transaction activity, but also a significant drop in pre-owned for sale inventory, we may be entering 2011 in better shape than we’ve entered any of the past few years. In fact, the last two times the business jet market experienced both a fourth quarter transactions spike and a significant drop in for sale inventory were Q4 of 2006, which was in the middle of the best run the market has ever seen, and Q4 of 2003, which turned out to be the beginning of the true recovery from the last market downturn. The fact that we saw similar conditions in Q4 of 2010 could be entirely coincidence, or it could be the most promising sign that the market has given us in a while.

✈

averages of 3.4 percent, the improvement in transaction activity seen in Q4 is nonetheless welcome news.

As we have mentioned previously, the Business Aviation market nearly always experiences an increase in preowned aircraft sales in fourth quarters.

At the end of 2009, we saw a spike in pre-owned aircraft sales that was then followed by a significant drop in Q1

This AMSTAT Market Analysis article was written by Tom Benson, Executive Vice President of AMSTAT. AMSTAT is the leading provider of market research information and services to the corporate aviation industry.

Founded in 1982, and based in Tinton Falls, NJ, AMSTAT introduced the concept of providing researched information to corporate aviation professionals.

GOOD OMENS

A drop in sale inventory and a transactions spike in Q4 2010 could be a very good sign for 2011.

BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 - 39

REPORT

CHARTER INDEX

A RETURN TO FORM Once again BART International teams up with Avinode, an independent European online charter network to give an overview of the charter market.

This year’s report shows that the market is buoyant after a sharp fall in charter requests in 2009.

NUMBER OF CHARTER REQUESTS SENT PER MONTH

2 UPTURN

Events like the South African World Cup created improved demand for Business Aviation in 2010.

010 saw a dramatic recovery in the charter industry. After a disappointing 2009 when 473,572 charter requests were sent, brokers and operators sent a total of 891,377 requests in 2010, an impressive 88 percent increase. Charter requests climbed steadily from a low of 43,475 in January 2010 to a peak of 101,441 in July before leveling off at 84,451 in December. Magnus Henriksson Business Manager at Avinode told BART International that the charter

40 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

YEAR

MONTH

2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

TOTAL SENT REQUESTS 43,475 48,787 62,772 75,992 69,884 86,241 101,441 90,702 75,835 76,814 74,983 84,451

market has slowly recovered after a catastrophic year in 2009. “Events like the Icelandic ash chaos and the FIFA world cup in South Africa have caused a big demand for Business Aviation,” he said.

He added that operators are now more willing to try new business models with one way pricing and floating fleets, which has also contributed to the increase. “This is a strong trend especially in the US but something we’ve also started seeing in Europe,” he said.

Avinode data shows that demand for heavy jet charter services has gone up considerably on last year. In

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REPORT

DISTRIBUTION OF REQUESTS PER AIRCRAFT CATEGORY

January 2010 40 percent of charter requests were sent for heavy jets, compared to around 34 percent in January 2009. And in November 2010, demand for heavy jets hit 44 percent, compared to 36 percent in 2009. Requests for turboprop charter services as a percentage of total charter services have dropped slightly on last year. December 2010 demand for turboprops dropped to 5 percent.

London and Moscow are the two of the most requested regions for departure airports. In 2010 8.7 percent of requests for departure airports were for the London area, a drop of 0.2 percent on last year and 18.3 percent of charter requests were for the Moscow area, up 0.5 percent on last year. The most popular departure airports in the turboprop sector tend to be in western and northern European cities.

DISTRIBUTION OF REQUESTS PER AIRCRAFT CATEGORY Requests 2010

Heavy Jet Light Jet Midsize Jet 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

40% 40% 40% 43% 36% 36% 34% 34% 37% 42% 44% 43%

35% 35% 36% 34% 39% 39% 42% 41% 38% 33% 31% 32%

15% 17% 16% 17% 17% 19% 18% 19% 18% 19% 20% 20%

DEPARTURE AIRPORTS PER REQUEST

Turbo Prop 9% 8% 8% 7% 8% 7% 6% 6% 7% 6% 6% 5%

UUWW

17.8%

LFPB

4.2%

LFMN

3.9%

EGGW

3.5%

LSGG

2.6%

EGLF

2.1%

KTEB

1.7%

LSZH

1.7%

OMD

1.5%

LIML

1.2%

POPULAR

London and Moscow are two of the most requested regions for departure airports.

42 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

EBACE2011

BUSINESS AVIATION – LINKING COMMUNITIES AND ECONOMIES

REPORT

CHARTER INDEX In the mid-sized jet and heavy jet section Moscow’s Vnukovo airport is the most popular departure airport, taking 24.8 percent of all requests for midsized jets and 28.3 percent of all requests for heavy jets. Dubai is also developing as a mid-sized jet destination, taking 2.2 percent of requests for departure airports compared to 2.0 percent last year. Most of the popular light jet destinations are within western Europe, whereas popular heavy jet destinations have a more international spread; the top ten includes Teterborough, Geneva and Dubai.

SEASONAL

Charter demand was significantly higher during the summer of 2010 than the rest of the year.

DEPARTURE AIRPORTS PER REQUEST AND AIRCRAFT CATEGORY Turbo Prop LFPB EGGW LSGG EHAM LFMN EGKB EHRD EGLF EBAW EBBR

6.1% 2.5% 2.5% 2.2% 2.2% 2.1% 2.0% 1.7% 1.5% 1.1%

Light Jet LFPB EGGW LSGG LFMN UUWW EGLF LSZH EGKB LIML LFMD

5.5% 4.5% 3.9% 3.9% 2.7% 2.7% 2.3% 1.8% 1.7% 1.4%

Mid Size Jet UUWW EGGW LFMN ULLI KTEB OMDB LFPB UKBB LSGG

24.8% 2.9% 2.8% 2.8% 2.6% 2.2% 2.0% 1.7% 1.5%

Heavy Jet UUWW EGGW LFPB KTEB LFMN LSGG EGLF OMDB ULLI

28.3% 4.2% 3.1% 2.8% 2.8% 2.0% 1.8% 1.7% 1.7%

Vnukovo is still the most popular airport for arrival requests. It took 4.2 percent of arrival requests in 2010 down from 4.8 percent in 2009.

And like last year southern European airports like Cote d’Azur (3.5 percent), Malaga (1 percent) and Linate (1 percent) are proving popular, usually with flights arriving from northern European destinations.

Henriksson said: “We saw a surprisingly strong demand during the summer months for flights to typical holiday destinations such as Nice, Olbia, Linate and so on.” He added that demand was significantly higher during the summer of 2010 than the rest of the year.

✈

44 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

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REPORT

2010 WORLD HELICOPTER FLEET

GETTING READY FOR RECOVERY

By Marc Grangier

EXPANSION

More than 140 Eurocopter helicopters operate throughout Russia and the CIS countries.

Last year, in our analysis of the 2009 World Helicopter Fleet we said: “2009 had been a bad year in terms of world helicopter fleet increase, as it had grown by only 5.6 percent”. Unfortunately 2010 has been much worse than last year. The world helicopter fleet grew by only 2.7 percent, from 25,480 to 26,175 units, the piston helicopter fleet shrunk by 0.3 percent, from 8,833 to 8,807 and the single turbine fleet grew by 2.9 percent, from 10,696 to 11,012. The strongest of the three categories was the multi turbine fleet, which swelled by a phenomenal 7.2 percent, from 5,925 to 6,356 units, a sign that big helicopters are still in demand, especially in the oil exploration industry.

46 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

PISTON VS TURBINE BY WORLD AREA World Area Africa Asia Central America Europe North America Oceania South America Unknown Total

Pistons 533 374 212 2,273 3,746 1,289 592 0 8,807

Single 469 802 539 2,052 5,736 727 987 239 11,012

“It looks like we’re coming out the other side”

B

ART International asked Matt Zuccaro, president of the Helicopter Association International (HAI), for his opinion about the state of the industry. He said: “As I travel and talk to people in the US and internationally, the general sense I get is that things are stable.

There have been pockets where people have had difficult times. This has been the case with air tours as a result

As of end 2010

Multi 249 1,253 223 1,973 1,949 260 560 112 6,356

Total 1,251 2,429 974 6,298 11,431 2,276 2,139 351 26,175

of a drop in international travel.

Corporate flight activity was reduced, and corporate acquisitions meant some mergers of flight departments and cuts in equipment and staff. Public service flying was down as a result of the economic bad times facing state, county and municipal governments.

Electronic newsgathering flight activity also dropped off.”

Zuccaro said that the helicopter industry has gotten through the economic downturn reasonably well, and he thinks that this has had a lot to do

HELICOPTER SUMMARY BY MODEL PISTON MFG/MODEL TOTAL ENSTROM 280 SHARK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 ENSTROM 280C SHARK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126 ENSTROM 280F SHARK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 ENSTROM 280FX SHARK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108 ENSTROM F-28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 ENSTROM F-28A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124 ENSTROM F-28C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 ENSTROM F-28C-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 ENSTROM F28F FALCON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100 ROBINSON R22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 ROBINSON R22 ALPHA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 ROBINSON R22 BETA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1208 ROBINSON R22 BETA II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1487 ROBINSON R22 HP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 ROBINSON R22 MARINER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123 ROBINSON R22 MARINER II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 ROBINSON R44 ASTRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .603 ROBINSON R44 RAVEN I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1087 ROBINSON R44 RAVEN II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2661 SCHWEIZER 300CB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 SCHWEIZER S-300C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .515 SCHWEIZER S-300CBI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177 Total Piston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8,807

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

EUROPE . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . .35 . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . .29 . . . . . . . .0 . . . . . . .26 . . . . . . .11 . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . .10 . . . . . . .16 . . . . . . . .4 . . . . . .346 . . . . . .335 . . . . . . . .6 . . . . . . .27 . . . . . . .14 . . . . . .160 . . . . . .316 . . . . . .685 . . . . . . .23 . . . . . .194 . . . . . . .33 . . . . .2,273

SINGLE TURBINE MFG/MODEL TOTAL AGUSTA/WESTLAND A119 KE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 AGUSTA/WESTLAND A119 KOALA . . . . . . . . . . . .90 BELL 204B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 BELL 205A-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135 BELL 206A JETRANGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 BELL 206B JETRANGER II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.024 BELL 206B-3 JETRANGER III . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.970 BELL 206L LONGRANGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102 BELL 206L-1 LONGRANGER II . . . . . . . . . . . . .429 BELL 206L-3 LONGRANGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .495 BELL 206L-4 LONGRANGER IV . . . . . . . . . . . . .373 BELL 210 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 BELL 214B BIGLIFTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 BELL 407 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .942 AB-206A JETRANGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 AB-206B JETRANGER II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84 AB-206B-3 JETRANGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 ENSTROM 480 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 ENSTROM 480B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88 EUROCOPTER AS-350B ECUREUIL . . . . . . . . . .344 EUROCOPTER AS-350B-1 ECUREUIL . . . . . . . . . .57 EUROCOPTER AS-350B-2 ECUREUIL . . . . . . .1.052 EUROCOPTER AS-350B-3 ECUREUIL . . . . . . . . .882 EUROCOPTER AS-350BA ECUREUIL . . . . . . . . .529 EUROCOPTER AS-350D ASTAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 EUROCOPTER EC-120B COLIBRI . . . . . . . . . . .550 EUROCOPTER EC-130B-4 ECUREUIL . . . . . . . . .316 EUROCOPTER SA-315B LAMA . . . . . . . . . . . . .218 EUROCOPTER SA-316B ALOUETTE III . . . . . . . . .151 EUROCOPTER SA-318C ALOUETTE II . . . . . . . . . .78 EUROCOPTER SA-319B ALOUETTE III . . . . . . . . . .32 MD MD 500E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .354 MD MD 520N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 MD MD 530F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90 MD MD 600N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 ROBINSON R66 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 SCHWEIZER 330 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 SCHWEIZER S-333 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Total Single Turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11,012

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

EUROPE . . . . . . .22 . . . . . . .17 . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . . .9 . . . . . . . .5 . . . . . . .74 . . . . . .212 . . . . . . .10 . . . . . . .26 . . . . . . .24 . . . . . . . .9 . . . . . . . .0 . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . .71 . . . . . . .15 . . . . . . .67 . . . . . . .68 . . . . . . .18 . . . . . . .16 . . . . . . .67 . . . . . . .25 . . . . . .164 . . . . . .320 . . . . . .136 . . . . . . . .8 . . . . . .269 . . . . . . .61 . . . . . .115 . . . . . . .64 . . . . . . .31 . . . . . . .10 . . . . . . .71 . . . . . . .15 . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . .12 . . . . . . . .0 . . . . . . . .5 . . . . . . .12 . . . . .2,052

MULTI TURBINE MFG/MODEL TOTAL EUROPE AGUSTA/WESTLAND A109A 62 28 AGUSTA/WESTLAND A109A MK II . . . . . . . . . . . .97 . . . . . . . .53 AGUSTA/WESTLAND A109C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 . . . . . . . .25

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2010

AGUSTA/WESTLAND A109E POWER . . . . . . . . .346 AGUSTA/WESTLAND A109K2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 AGUSTA/WESTLAND A109S GRAND . . . . . . . . .143 AGUSTA/WESTLAND A109SP GRANDNEW . . . . . .13 AGUSTA/WESTLAND AW139 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .258 BELL 206LT TWINRANGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 BELL 212 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .483 BELL 214ST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 BELL 222A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 BELL 222B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 BELL 222SP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 BELL 222UT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 BELL 230 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 BELL 412 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127 BELL 412EP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .415 BELL 412HP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 BELL 412SP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 BELL 427 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 BELL 429 GLOBALRANGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 BELL 430 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122 BELL/AGUSTA AB-412 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 BELL/AGUSTA AB-412EP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 BELL/AGUSTA AB-412HP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 BELL/AGUSTA AB-412SP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 EUROCOPTER AS-332L SUPER PUMA . . . . . . . . .66 EUROCOPTER AS-332L1 SUPER PUMA . . . . . . . .66 EUROCOPTER AS-332L2 SUPER PUMA . . . . . . . .48 EUROCOPTER AS-355E ECUREUIL II . . . . . . . . . . .2 EUROCOPTER AS-355F ECUREUIL II . . . . . . . . .138 EUROCOPTER AS-355F-1 ECUREUIL . . . . . . . . . .58 EUROCOPTER AS-355F-2 ECUREUIL . . . . . . . . .159 EUROCOPTER AS-355N ECUREUIL II . . . . . . . . .152 EUROCOPTER AS-355NP ECUREUIL II . . . . . . . . .30 EUROCOPTER AS-365C DAUPHIN 2 . . . . . . . . . .54 EUROCOPTER AS-365N DAUPHIN 2 . . . . . . . . .112 EUROCOPTER AS-365N-1 DAUPHIN 2 . . . . . . . .35 EUROCOPTER AS-365N-2 DAUPHIN 2 . . . . . . .123 EUROCOPTER AS-365N-3 DAUPHIN 2 . . . . . . .146 EUROCOPTER BK-117A-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 EUROCOPTER BK-117B-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 EUROCOPTER BK-117B-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 EUROCOPTER BK-117C-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 EUROCOPTER EC-135P1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 EUROCOPTER EC-135P2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145 EUROCOPTER EC-135P2I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243 EUROCOPTER EC-135T1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 EUROCOPTER EC-135T2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143 EUROCOPTER EC-135T2I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123 EUROCOPTER EC-145 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .370 EUROCOPTER EC-155B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 EUROCOPTER EC-155B1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 EUROCOPTER EC-225LP SUPER PUMA . . . . . . . .72 EUROCOPTER/KAWASAKI BK-117A-1 . . . . . . . . .12 EUROCOPTER/KAWASAKI BK-117B . . . . . . . . . . .83 EUROCOPTER/KAWASAKI BK-117C-1 . . . . . . . . . .9 MD MD EXPLORER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110 SIKORSKY S-76A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132 SIKORSKY S-76A+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 SIKORSKY S-76A++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 SIKORSKY S-76B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 SIKORSKY S-76C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 SIKORSKY S-76C+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143 SIKORSKY S-76C++ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190 SIKORSKY S-92A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123 Total Multi Turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,356

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . .122 . . . . . . .19 . . . . . . .61 . . . . . . .12 . . . . . . .73 . . . . . . . .3 . . . . . . .59 . . . . . . . .0 . . . . . . . .5 . . . . . . . .4 . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . . .4 . . . . . . . .3 . . . . . . .17 . . . . . . .38 . . . . . . .16 . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . .11 . . . . . . . .0 . . . . . . .12 . . . . . . .26 . . . . . . .17 . . . . . . . .3 . . . . . . . .7 . . . . . . .25 . . . . . . .27 . . . . . . .24 . . . . . . . .0 . . . . . . .55 . . . . . . .26 . . . . . . .53 . . . . . . .89 . . . . . . .25 . . . . . . .29 . . . . . . .42 . . . . . . .15 . . . . . . .31 . . . . . . .64 . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . .33 . . . . . . . .9 . . . . . . .27 . . . . . . .16 . . . . . . .59 . . . . . .110 . . . . . . .54 . . . . . .101 . . . . . . .83 . . . . . .101 . . . . . . .19 . . . . . . .34 . . . . . . .31 . . . . . . . .0 . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . . .0 . . . . . . .56 . . . . . . . .7 . . . . . . . .6 . . . . . . . .3 . . . . . . .19 . . . . . . . .4 . . . . . . .12 . . . . . . .22 . . . . . . .38 . . . . .1,973

Grand Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26,175 . . . . .6,298 © AVDATA/JETNET BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 - 47

REPORT

EASTWARD

Sikorsky Aircraft delivered nine new S-76 (top) and S-92 helicopters to China in 2010.

with the diversity of missions people can fly with helicopters. He noted that when there is a downturn in one segment, it’s possible to move equipment and personnel around to work in another segment that isn’t doing as badly.

Zuccaro also emphasized that the flexibility of helicopter operations gives them a real advantage over other industry segments: “Single-missionprofile segments of aviation, such as fixed-wing corporate aviation or airlines, don’t have that flexibility to generate revenue. If the price of fuel goes up and passengers drop on airlines, or the demand for corporate jets change for whatever reason, operators tend to all suffer the same. There’s nothing more they can do with the personnel and equipment other than to scale down. With helicopters, we have multiple options for using the assets and the people.”

For Zuccaro the good news is that all of the helicopter segments that were suffering are now recovering well.

“Tour operators are getting ready to hire seasonal staff in most areas, just as they normally do. The public service segment is seeing some increased activity and starting to acquire and

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2010 WORLD HELICOPTER FLEET

TOP TEN BUSINESS HELICOPTER FLEETS United States Canada Australia Brazil United Kingdom France South Africa Italy Japan Germany

8,090 2,133 1,548 1,204 1,168 865 796 728 690 671

upgrade aircraft again. That is evidenced by the orders announced at shows in the last year, such as the Airborne Law Enforcement Association show in July and the Air Medical Transport Conference in September. Likewise, manufacturers have made some announcements about delivering new aircraft to corporate operators. There’s definitely an increase in activity. I believe the industry has seen the bottom of the downturn. It looks like we’re coming out the other side.”

When it comes to worldwide trends across helicopter segments, it is worth noting the percentage change in sales transactions. The percentage of turbine helicopters for sale in 2010 averaged 7.2 percent up 0.4p on last year’s figure. By contrast, the percentage of piston helicopter for sale dropped from 7.2 percent to 7 percent in 2010.

According to Michael Chase, research analyst for JETNET LLC, all business aircraft categories took longer to sell in 2010, ranging from 34 to 79 more days in the YTD comparisons. The pre-owned piston helicopter segment was the only aircraft market sector where sale transactions fell (they dropped by 8.1 percent).

BUSINESS HELICOPTER FLEET AS OF DECEMBER 2010

EUROPE Albania 1 Andorra 1 Austria 164 Belarus 4 Belgium 171 Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 Bulgaria 14 Croatia 15 Cyprus 9 Czech Republic 88 Denmark 102 Estonia 7 Faeroe Islands 1 Finland 82 France 865 Germany 671 Gibraltar 3 Greece 91 Hungary 42 Iceland 9 Ireland 144 Isle of Man 6 Italy 728 Latvia 13 Liechtenstein 1 Lithuania 10 Luxembourg 13 Macedonia 2 Malta 5 Monaco 23 Netherlands 95 Northern Ireland 5 Norway 221 Poland 116 Portugal 76 Romania 49 Russian Fed. 190 San Marino 6 Scotland 16 Serbia 10 Slovak Republic 31 Slovenia 33 Spain 464 Sweden 192 Switzerland 292 Ukraine 43 UK 1,168

SOUTH AMERICA Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador French Guiana Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela

ASIA

167 16 1,204 177 152 35 2 5 7 78 3 9 284

NORTH AMERICA Antigua & Barbuda Aruba Bahamas Barbados Belize Bermuda Canada Cayman Islands Costa Rica Dominica Dominican Rep. El Salvador Greenland Guadeloupe Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Martinique Mexico Neth. Antilles Nicaragua Panama Puerto Rico Trin. and Tobago Turks and Cai. Isl. United States Virgin Isl. (British) Virgin Isl. (U.S.) West Indies

3 3 3 2 2 6 2,133 6 23 69 69 28 24 4 168 1 17 17 1 632 3 2 102 61 21 1 8,090 7 4 3

Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Brunei Cambodia China Georgia Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Laos Lebanon Malaysia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Taiwan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan UAE Vietnam

9 10 14 6 10 180 6 35 233 104 30 15 46 690 7 26 6 3 4 125 1 20 21 78 145 33 47 32 98 28 20 127 91 5 111 10

AUSTRALIA & OCEANIA Australia Fiji Guam New Caledonia New Zealand Norfolk Island Pap. New Guinea Solomon Islands Tahiti Vanuatu

1,548 3 2 19 618 2 76 2 2 4

AFRICA Algeria 23 Angola 54 Benin 1 Botswana 11 Burkina Faso 2 Burundi 2 Cameroon 10 Canary Islands 2 Comoros 1 Congo 2 Cote d''Ivoire 6 Dem. Republic of Congo 5 Egypt 39 Equatorial Guinea 5 Ethiopia 5 Gabon 4 Ghana 3 Kenya 25 Lesotho 1 Libya 18 Madagascar 5 Malawi 4 Mauritius 4 Morocco 9 Mozambique 11 Namibia 18 Niger 49 Nigeria 104 Reunion Island 16 Rwanda 3 Senegal 2 Seychelles Islands 9 Sierra Leone 2 South Africa 796 Swaziland 1 Tanzania 10 Togo 3 Tunisia 11 Uganda 10 Zambia 7 Zimbabwe 7

Š AVDATA/JETNET

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REPORT

2010 WORLD HELICOPTER FLEET

Fleets by continents Looking at helicopter fleets by continents, it’s clear that Europe’s fleet was stable. However it has only grown by 15 units, from 6,283 to 6,298, a meager 0.2 percent. The big loser was the US: North America’s fleet fell by 1.1 percent, from 11,564 to 11,431 units, the US’s fleet fell by 2.6 percent, from 8,303 to 8,090, while Canada’s fleet grew by 3.2 percent, from 2,067 to 2,133 units.

In all other continents fleets have grown: Africa saw its fleet grow from 1,136 to 1,251 units (+10.1 percent), Oceania’s fleet went from 2,153 to 2,276 (+ 5.7 percent). The big winners were Asia and South America, where fleets grew by 11.8 and 13.2 percent or from 2,172 to 2,429 units and from 1,888 to 2,139 units respectively.

Country rankings

GROWTH

China's fleet is regularly increasing and last year it gained 43 units.

A109 Power (top), EC135 (center) .

The list of the top ten helicopter fleets looks roughly the same as last year. The US remains on top with 8,090 units, followed by Canada with 2,133 units. Australia which is third on the list enjoyed an 8.8 percent fleet increase last year, from 1,422 to 1,548 units. Thanks to a 15.6 percent increase, Brazil has overtaken the UK to move into fourth place. The UK’s helicopter fleet plunged by 10.4 percent. In sixth place, France now boasts 865 helicopters, a 5.4 percent fleet increase, while South Africa’s

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fleet increase was nothing to write home about– 793 to 796 units. Italy had a 4 percent increase (700 to 728), while Japan dropped a unit (691 to 690). Germany’s fleet, number ten on the list, grew by 1.2 percent, from 663 to 671 units. Mexico may make it into the top ten next year, it recorded a 10.6 percent fleet increase in 2010, from 571 to 632 units. It is also clear that the oil exploration industry is boosting the size of fleets. For example Norway saw its helicopter fleet grow by 9.4 percent, (202 to 221 units) last year.

Russia’s fleet continues on its upward trend, it grew by 13 percent, from 168 to 190. More than 140 Eurocopter helicopters are currently operating throughout Russia and the CIS countries – bringing the Eurocopter Group’s share of the Russian and CIS gas turbine market for Western turbine-engine helicopters to more than 70 percent.

China’s fleet is regularly increasing, and last year, it gained 43 units (+31.3 percent), from 137 to 180. This may be quite a small fleet compared to other countries, but it shows that the “Sleeping Giant” is awakening. For example, Sikorsky Aircraft delivered nine new S-76 and S-92 helicopters to China in 2010 through a steady stream of deliveries that include two S-76C++ search and rescue (SAR) helicopters to the Ministry of Transport (MOT) and two S-76C++ to Eastern General Aviation Company (EGAC). Another example of the helicopter’s popularity in China is the recent delivery of a Eurocopter EC225 for police operations and firefighting water bomber missions. Today, there are 22 Super Puma helicopters in China, this figure will grow to 27 by the end of next year, and 10 of these will be the EC225 version. There are already 21 Bell helicopters in operation in China and last September Bell Helicopter received its first 429 customer order in the country.

✈

ANALYSIS

BUSINESS HELICOPTER OPERATIONS

OFFERING VERSATILITY AND CONVENIENCE LIKE NEVER BEFORE International (HAI) has set up noise abatement programs that encourage pilots to adopt a “Fly neighborly” attitude. Accident rates have also dropped, thanks in part to the HAI’s safety enhancement programs.

According to the latest US civil helicopter statistics, there were 19 accidents in the first quarter of 2010, compared to 29 in the first quarter of 2009), and the accident rate per 100,000 flying hours was 2.45, compared to 3.58 in the first quarter of 2009. Matt Zuccaro, President of HAI, states “that the industry should strive for no accidents, and not adopt a philosophy that in any activity involving man and machine, accidents are a statistical certainty”.

MANNERS

We must fly neighborly in the best interest of everyone says Matt Zuccaro.

Corporate and VIP Flights Corporate and VIP flights represent a growth area for helicopter operations and of late specially designed corporate and VIP helicopters have entered the market. Since June 2010 Spedition & Helicopterservice Linke GmbH, a Northern Germany-based logistic comBy Marc Grangier

People from all areas of corporate life are waking up to the value of a business helicopter. It is now common for an executive to hop from a business jet to a helicopter in the same day and with many charter companies offering the two services, doing so is getting easier. On top of this rotary-wing aircraft now offer an array of services to different industries; they are popular in the corporate and VIP domain, they serve the oil/gas industry and assist in medical and surveillance endeavors.

I

t is true that the problems associated with excessive noise along with accident rates have curbed the growth of business helicopter operations. But manufacturers have responded by reducing the noise of their propulsion systems. As well the Acoustics/Environmental Committee of the Helicopter Association

pany, has operated a VIP-configured EC145 Stylence helicopter for corporate transport missions. And at EBACE last year, Eurocopter announced that it had teamed up with Mercedes-Benz to develop a special edition of the EC145 twin-engine turbine helicopter with a high-end interior, which will be available from the fourth quarter of 2011.

CORPORATE

EC145 operated by Helicopterservice Linke for corporate transport missions.

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ANALYSIS

BUSINESS HELICOPTER OPERATIONS

Based at Geneva International Airport, Swiftcopters has a fleet of ten helicopters (Eurocopter EC120 B, AS350 B2, SA365N1, SA330 Puma, and AgustaWestland A109C), that are mostly devoted to corporate and VIP missions. Helicopters fly to Gstaad, St Tropez, Monaco, Courchevel, Zermatt and Davos almost every day, and sometimes several times a day, catering for customers who want a quick, reliable yet stylish way to move around.

In spite of his company’s success, Fabiano Forte, Director of Swiftcopters, worries about the State of Geneva’s designs to limit flights over Geneva’s

territory. Every winter, residents in the vicinity of Geneva airport complain about low and noisy overflights by helicopters that take clients directly from the airport to up-market ski stations.

The problem highlights a point made recently by Matt Zuccaro President of the Helicopter Association International: “Flying safely and in compliance ARRAY with regulations is not enough. We Sikorsky S-76++ must also fly neighborly, it is in the or the UK Royal best interest of everyone.”

Travel Office (top). VIP Flights in the UK Eurocopter At the end of 2009 Sikorsky delivered EC120 operated a new S-76C++ helicopter to the Royal in london by Travel Office for use by the British Cabair Royal Household. According to Helicopters (left). Captain Christopher Pittaway, Dauphin 2 Manager and Chief Pilot of The operated by Queen’s Helicopter Flight: “The new Geneva based S76C++ provides the Royal Family Swiftcopters with a high quality and efficient heli(right). copter travel service.”

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Cabair Helicopters, headquartered at Elstree North London, began serving the City of London in 1978, providing helicopter charter services. Today, the company operates four AS355s, one AS350, two EC120 Colibris (one of which is floated), one Bell JetRanger B206 and two R44 Clippers (one floated). Cabair provides flights for heads of state, pop stars, film and television personalities and company directors all of whom can fly directly to and from their destination. The company often allows its clients to land in car parks or on the lawn beside a specific venue. But like in Geneva helicopter noise often grates with residents in London. According to observers: “There are pockets of intense activity associated with Wycombe Air Park, East Midlands Airport, Harpenden/Luton, Biggin Hill and Fair Oaks, as well as continued disgruntlement in those London Boroughs affected by the Heliport at Battersea, and heli-

copter overflights around Heathrow and Stansted. But not many offers by operators to reduce helicopter movements.”

Also in the UK, Sloane Helicopters recently signed a contract for ten additional helicopters including AgustaWestland AW109 Power and GrandNew models. This order will benefit Sloane’s VIP and corporate customers. Overall, almost 150 customers have placed orders for around 290 helicopters from the Grand series.

Vinair Aeroserviços Last October, Vinair Aeroserviços S.A. of Cascais/Portugal took delivery of an AgustaWestland GrandNew light twin helicopter. A provider of private VIP/corporate transport services, Vinair has a mixed rotary and fix winged fleet to meet a large range of customer transport requirements connecting Cascais and nearby Lisbon to a number of destinations in Europe.

For VIP transportation, AgustaWestland recently delivered two GrandNew helicopters in France and Monaco. These two deliveries follow the appointment of SMS as an authorized AgustaWestland Service Center. SMS has a hangar facility at the heliport in Monaco and a base in Archamps, close to Geneva. SMS’s parent company SkyGroup owns several affiliated companies, including SkyCam of France (which operates and manages approximately 15 single and twin-engine helicopters), and Monacair, headquartered at the Monaco Heliport.

Aerogulf Services, based at Dubai International Airport, has been providing offshore helicopter support since 1976. But in recent years, it has

ced the sale of three AW119 to Indian businessmen who plan to float an aviation company together to cater for growing air transportation needs.

Last July the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior (MOI) signed a contract to procure 12 S76DTM helicopters with Sikorsky for corporate transport and security functions. The ministry also took options to acquire eight additional S-76Ds. Delivery of the first helicopter is scheduled for early 2012.

VIP and corporate services are developing rapidly in Russia. Recently, UTair Aviation signed a contract with Eurocopter for the acquisition of 20 AS350/AS355 helicopters. Deliveries will begin in mid 2011 and continue through to Spring 2013. UTair‘s fleet

begun offering touring services and has become a key player in the local tourism industry. Although shaken by an economic crash Dubai is still a key leisure and five star luxury destination. Aerogulf believes that showcasing the region from the skies boosts local tourism revenues. The company operates six Bell helicopters: one Jet Ranger, one Long Ranger and six 212.

In India, Span Air, headquartered in New Delhi, operates single-engine Bell 407s, and received its first 429 at the end of last year. Its second 429 is scheduled for delivery in early 2011.

For Capt. S.K. Malik, head of Span Air, its company serves business executives and VIPs who need to travel to remote sites in comfort and privacy and to major cities on their own schedules. The company also serves exclusive holiday destinations. Last December AgustaWestland announ-

of 233 units currently includes an AS350B3, AS355N and BO105. Its operations enjoyed stable growth in January-October 2010, having logged 79,804 flight hours, 23.1 percent more than for the same period in 2009.

During that 10 month period, its fleet carried 370,195 passengers, 27 percent more than for the same period last year.

Eurocopter also signed a contract with Vinacopter for four helicopters to develop the corporate helicopter market in Vietnam and serve as the launch fleet for its newly created subsidiary, HeliVietnam, a new charter venture. The fleet, which will consist of one AS355NP, two AS350B3 aircraft and one EC135, will be used for tourism and VIP transport. Delivery of the AS355NP took place in mid 2010 while the remainder of the fleet will be delivered in the second half of 2011.

Air Ambulance and Evacuation Missions “When lives hang in balance, a helicopter air ambulance may be the difference between life and death”, an emergency doctor working for International SOS told BART International. Large US medical organizations clearly understand this and in contrast to their European counterparts, operate impressive fleets of helicopters for air ambulance and evacuation missions. At the last Air Medical Transport Conference, Air Medical Group Holdings (AMGH), one of the largest independent providers of helicopter emergency medical services in the world, announced the purchase of 16 Bell 206L4 LongRanger IVs. The aircraft will be operated by AMGH subsidiary Air Evac Lifeteam, with deliveries in 2012 and 2013. Air Evac Lifeteam is a West Plains, Missouri-

VERSATILITY

MEDEVAC Air Ambulace (top), Private VIP/Corporate transport (center left) or ferrying workers offshore, helicopters are multi-mission machines.

BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 - 53

ANALYSIS based provider of air ambulance services operating over 100 medically equipped Bell 206 LongRangers. It has flown more than 220,000 patients since its foundation in 1985.

During an official ceremony in mid 2010, Eurocopter presented a certificate to ÖAMTC Air Ambulance Services, for accomplishing 100,000 flight hours with its EC135s. Based in Vienna, Austria, ÖAMTC is one of the largest private operators of the EC135, with a fleet of 28 aircraft. With a vast number of flight hours and about 15,000 operacopters (mainly from Eurocopter), carries out a lot of corporate and VIP flights, though for the last 20 years, it has also specialized in photo, TV and filming missions. Several of its helicopters are equipped with Wescam and Spacecam gyro-stabilized imaging systems and have been used for films such as James Bond, Purple River, Sky Dance, etc.). In winter, the company also provides medical evacuations missions in the Alps with its AS350 B2 and AS355 N.

DUTY

Mont-Blanc Helicopters specializes in photo, TV and filming missions (top).

Oil and gas industry make the most of helicopter fleet.

First EC 135 delivered to Gazpromavia (center).

tions every year, the company sets benchmarks for successful operations with EMS helicopters. ÖAMTC recently flew its 200,000th mission. An EMS helicopter can be deployed to almost any location in Austria within 15 minutes, greatly improving survival chances.

A week before Christmas, Poland’s public air medical rescue operator LPR received the final two Eurocopter EC135 helicopters of the 23 acquired by the Polish Ministry of Health to modernize the country’s helicopterbased medical evacuation services.

These helicopters are operated from 17 bases across the country. The EC135 has become the helicopter of choice in the world of emergency medical services. More than 800 of these aircraft – including 400 in the EMS configuration – have been delivered to 160 customers in 40 countries since the aircraft was launched in mid1996.

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Film and Photography Flights.

Even if it represents only a small share of helicopter operations, filming and photography flights are often critical for people working against the clock. Last October, Japan’s leading newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, took delivery of an AgustaWestland GrandNew helicopter which will be used for news gathering and aerial photography missions. The aircraft is the first GrandNew to be sold in Japan, and the first of its type to be used for electronic newsgathering. It is configured with six forward facing seats allowing for cameras to be more easily used through the cabin doors and windows. The aircraft, which will be customized in Japan with the installation of a gyro-stabilized camera under the tail boom, will enter operational service in early 2011.

Based in France next to Geneva, Mont-Blanc Helicoptères/MBH, which operates a fleet of over 30 heli-

Helicopters for the Oil and Gas Industry Probably the largest helicopter fleets are used for personnel transportation to and from oil rigs. When it was founded in 1961, Heli-Union wanted to operate corporate missions in France but over the years its scope changed and now the company has a fleet of over 30 helicopters (Eurocopter AS350B3, EC145, AS365N, AS365N3, AS332L1), operated on behalf of oil and gas companies mainly in the Gulf of Guinea and the Angola basin (Western Africa), and also in South America, the Middle East, and Asia.

Last June, it decided to diversify its fleet with the purchase of six S-76C++.

Last September, Eurocopter delivered the first EC135 T2i helicopters to Gazpromavia, part of a purchase contract for eight EC135 helicopters in passenger configuration. This EC135 T2i is the first Eurocopter helicopter equipped with Russian-built mission avionics, produced by Transas Aviation – a Russian avionics manufacturer based in St. Petersburg.

Gazpromavia, the general air carrier of Russia’s Gazprom energy company,

Surveillance Missions The helicopter can serve as the ideal surveillance tool for police forces. In June 2010, the Czech Police Aviation Department logged the 10,000th flight hour with its eight Eurocopter EC135s. The CPAD has broad operational responsibilities – ranging from aerial surveillance and emergency medical airlift to firefighting and search & rescue. In 2004, the Czech Police Aviation Department was the first law enforcement organization in Eastern Europe to select Eurocopter helicopters for this type of mission. The agency also operates two BO-105s.

SPECIALIZATION

Heli-Union AS332 mainly on behalf of oil and gas companies.

has a fleet of 108 rotary-wing aircraft – mainly of Russian origin. EC135 T2i helicopters will be operated throughout Russia.

Last year Pawan Hans Helicopters, the largest civil helicopter operator in India, signed a contract for seven new Dauphin AS365 N3s expanding its fleet to 33 Dauphins. Pawan Hans started operating Dauphins in 1986 and since then, the company has logged over 340,142 flying hours and over 1.58 million landings. Its fleet is used for transportation of personnel to offshore platforms, for shuttle flights between drill barges and for the transport of State officials and VIPs. It also provides charter services for tourists.

Giant companies like Era Helicopters, UTair, CHC or Bristow operate hundreds of machines all over the world.

Bristow itself owns 550 helicopters, with some 40 orders pending. At the

end of last year, its fleet included 49 Bell 206, 26 Bell 212, 47 Bell 407, 87 Bell 412, 35 AS350, 31 AS332L, 112 S-76, 38 S-92 and 19 AW 139, plus a number of trainers and other utility helicopters.

During the 2010 Farnborough Air Show, Eurocopter handed over a new EC135 to West Midlands Police Air Support Unit. The EC135 represents 75 percent of the UK police helicopter fleet in operation. In 2010, the French manufacturer delivered six helicopters to British police services.

Last November, AgustaWestland announced that the police force for the province of Guanxi in China had placed an order for an AW139 medium twin helicopter. This aircraft will be used to perform a number of roles including law enforcement and civil protection/disaster relief across the province. The AW139 adds to the AW109 Power light twin helicopter recently delivered to the Nanning Public Security Bureau, further strengthening the operational capabilities in the area. This is the third AW139 ordered in China for law enforcement duties.

✈

ENFORCEMENT

AW139 operated by the police of Guanxi, China (center). The UK West Midlands police operates a new EC 135 (bottom).

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CABIN CONVERSIONS

ROUND UP

INTERIOR MOTIFS

What’s happening in the elite world of VIP cabin conversions?

Liz Moscrop steps inside

W

DEALING

Completions houses are reporting strong order books.

ill widebody aircraft ever become unpopular with the world’s elite? It seems not, with completions houses reporting strong orderbooks and interest in the latest large aircraft due to hit the market. Although the Boeing 747-8 and A380 hog headlines, there is a great deal of interest in steady workhorses like VIP variants of the B777, the Airbus A320 family (especially since the advent of the new NEO type with better engines and airframe design) and the B737. By all accounts capacity remains tight at OEM and aftermarket completion centers for larger aircraft.

Completions centers, too, are seizing the opportunity to expand into developing markets. The Middle East in particular looks set to be a region of great opportunity. For example, airline MRO specialists SR Technics are muscling in on the rarified space of business jet interiors, in partnership

56 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

with fellow Swiss firm TAG Aviation.

The Zurich-based company has paired with Geneva’s TAG, which will now add completions to its plethora of services to customers. SR Technics is a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi state investment giant Mubadala, which has made no secret of the fact it wants to dominate the world’s MRO sectors – although completions will initially take place in Switzerland.

Toronto-based Flying Colours Corporation has its eye on the lucrative Middle East market, too. At the MEBA show in November it announced that it is currently scouting, evaluating, and has had preliminary discussions with a number of reputable companies about establishing a joint venture “outside of North America.” Given that the announcement came during the MEBA show, it looks likely that the Middle East could be a potential venue.

John Gillespie CEO said: “We have seen a very active growth in our international client base from our green Bombardier Challenger completion

program, which has also led to numerous other maintenance and refurbishment opportunities from clients outside of North America.” He added: “90% of our new green completions are going overseas and we are committed to supporting them.”

Flying Colours said it is “leaning toward” partnering with an established company that is educated about the culture, infrastructure, and workforce in the location in which the JV will take place.

Key Widebody Players Several aircraft manufacturers have their own completion centers. They are also able to direct customers to a list of their recommended partners.

Airbus, Gulfstream, Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft also offer aftermarket completions. In addition to those that cater for green aircraft, there are several world-renowned centers that can revamp older jets.

Airbus Corporate Jet Center (ACJC) set up shop in Toulouse in 2007 at a cost of nearly $4 million and, until the

end of 2009, was a joint subsidiary of Airbus and Zurich-based Comlux Completion. In December ACJC delivered its sixth VIP aircraft – an A320 Prestige - to a Middle East customer.

The company has a growing backlog of orders and is booked out until mid2012. Benoit Defforge, CEO said: “With the brand-new Airbus GSM onboard system, an exceptionally low noise level of significantly less than 50dB in the bedroom, and a cabin lighter than its target weight, this latest outfitting reaffirms our technological know-how and leadership in ACJ cabin completion.” Of the seven ACJ cabins planned, four are currently being outfitted in the center’s facility.

interiors in Dassault Falcon aircraft and has subsequently completed more than 120 of the type.

In December last year it announced that it is launching a new cost-effective cabin refurbishment program. Bernd Heinrich vice president operations said: “Our newly launched “Jet Falcon” program provides Falcon 2000 owners and operators with the choice of upgrading their aircraft during a maintenance cycle at a very competitive pricing.”

The modular process minimizes downtime by offering three standard pre-produced interiors, which can be installed in stages. People upgrading their cabins can also use the time to

Former ACJC investor Comlux was approved as a BBJ Completion Center in early 2010. Comlux America subsequently received a new order for a brand new Boeing aircraft. David Edinger, CEO of Comlux America said: “Our team is highly experienced in Boeing products and is really excited by this new project.” He added: “This is the fourth order for a large cabin VIP completion only two years after the launch of our company at NBAA 2008: we have now one A320 Prestige, one ACJ and one undisclosed Boeing aircraft in our order book, in addition to a 767 VIP refurbishment.”

The company is set to double its hangar space capacity this year.

Rival Jet Aviation’s renowned center at Basel is one of the world’s largest.

Open since 1977, the facility is able to outfit green aircraft, not only for smaller and medium-size jets but also for airliner conversions, such as the Airbus A319/320, A330, A340, A380, Boeing 727, 737, BBJ as well as Boeing 747, 757 and 767. In 1996, Jet Aviation Basel also began installing

paint the exterior, or for airframe maintenance. There are three options from which to choose: “Classic,” “Style” or “Fashion.”

Jet Aviation bought Midcoast Aviation in 2006, which was then acquired by General Dynamics in 2008. As of January 1 this year, the company was rebranded as Jet Aviation, since it is moving in on the narrowbody completions business.

Gore Design Completions is another specialist widebody completions center. Last October the San Antonio, Texas based company took on its first Boeing 777-200LR for completion in its recently expanded hangar. The aircraft, for a central Asian head of state, is the first of its kind to be modified at GDC. Despite being the third aircraft for the same customer, the project stands alone in its design scheme. Coowner Kathy Gore-Walters said: “Every inch of this aircraft was designed from scratch. Knowing the customer’s preferences helps us build an interior that they will love, but at the same time it is important for us to

keep the design fresh and interesting.”

Delivery of the aircraft is slated for late this year.

The company also recently took on its second Airbus A320. The aircraft, designated for a Central Asian head of state, will come to GDC from Airbus with a modified airline configuration.

Delivery to the customer is expected early 2012. The new interior will include a presidential suite and conference room.

Lufthansa Technik (LHT) is one of the world’s biggest players in the completions sector and works on both widebody and narrowbody types. At EBACE last year the Hamburg based company introduced a practical VIP cabin quick-change kit for Airbus and Boeing narrowbody types. The kit allows customers to switch between a VIP and a commercial aircraft cabin configuration overnight using the existing seat tracks. LHT also announced new offerings for its NICE cabin system at the show. One such was “nicemate”, a new small, lightweight, powerful multi-tasking unit,

CHOICE

Jet Aviation's Jet Falcon program (left). Gore Design Completions (right) took on its first Boeing777200LR for completion.

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CABIN CONVERSIONS

ROUND UP

which can host multiple applications simultaneously.

A few months later LHT delivered the third A318 Elite to Swiss business jet operator Fly Comlux. After a completion time of just four months and one week, the German center delivered the tenth Airbus A318 Elite since the start of the completion program in 2006. Richard Gaona, Chairman of the Comlux Group, said: “I would like to thank the Lufthansa Technik employees for the excellent cabin and on time delivery. We are proud to have participated in the development of the cabin of the A318 Elite, as a launching customer of the program.”

Tepe Arizona’s Associated Air Center is another key player in the

widebody arena. In April the Dubai Aerospace Enterprise subsidiary announced a Lower Cabin Altitude package for BBJ aircraft, which hitherto had been certified for an 8,000-foot cabin altitude while flying at a maximum service ceiling of PROMPT 41,000 feet.

Lufthansa Technik has Smaller Players There are several smaller, but delivered a third A318 Elite (top) renowned players around the world. to Fly Comlux. Texas-based Comtran International The Avro converts Dornier 328 jets into execuBusiness Jet tive configurations. The aircraft forms Explorer One number one of the company’s (center) “Revolution Series.” Number two in 58 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

the Revolution Series is the brand new Asian Business Jet (ABJ) a converted McDonnell Douglas MD-87 airliner, which it is building in conjunction with Hong Kong’s Ritz Pacific. First deliveries are due 2011.

Italy’s Delta Interior specializes in interior design, refurbishment, and modifications for business aircraft.

The company provides either design only services, or a design and project managed ‘turnkey’ option.

Michigan based Duncan Aviation specializes in Falcon 50EX revamps.

The company’s “Design Collection” for the 50EX features a shell package that improves passenger comfort by pro-

viding an increase of one and a quarter inches of additional seated headroom.

Geneva based Burnet Interiors has a 5,249 square feet facility in Geneva.

Founded by designer Franck Burnet, the company is increasingly involved in converting smaller airliners, such as Fokker jets and ATR turboprops, into business aircraft.

Two years ago Oberpfaffenhofenbased Ruag Aerospace announced a joint venture with List of Austria to offer customers a one-stop shop for simultaneous maintenance and interior refurbishing of executive aircraft in its facilities in Bern, Geneva, Lugano, Oberpfaffenhofen, Stuttgart and

Zurich. Then last year the company appointed Philip Berner as CEO of RUAG Aviation and board member of RUAG Holding. Berner had formerly been head of the company’s military aviation business unit and a member of its management board.

Design Innovations The completions houses would be lost without their designers. Last year BAE Systems Regional Aircraft and British design consultancy Design Q offered one of the quirkier concepts to hit the market. They introduced concepts for the world’s first camper jets.

The Avro Business Jet Explorer One and Explorer Four are the first of five interiors that BAE has commissioned Design Q to develop for the ABJ. The focal point is a unique viewing platform that powers out from the aircraft

when they are on the ground. The huge cargo side door swings open hydraulically, magically revealing a concealed platform that extends out from the fuselage to become a balcony.

Not to be outdone with innovative thinking Last year Greenpoint Technologies launched a full-size mock-up of its “Aerolift,” a ground-tomain deck elevator for the VIP 747-8.

Greenpoint also provides the “Aeroloft,” which may be installed at the same time as the Aerolift prior to an aircraft’s arrival at a completion centre. The Aeroloft consists of sleeping berths and lounge modules locat-

ed above the main deck in the aft section of the aircraft. Sloan Benson, Greenpoint’s Executive Vice President said: “This program has turned out to be a very popular option among the 747-8 VIP customers.”

Connectivity The office in the sky is what customers want, and last year two of the big players in the bizav sector announced cabin innovations.

Rockwell Collins’ Venue Cabin Management System (CMS), was certified for the Cessna Citation CJ4 under a type certificate achieved by launch customer Cessna. Meanwhile Honeywell received EASA certification for its satellite communications system on the Dassault Falcon 7X. Its MCS-7120 satellite communications system is an integrated system for

both cabin and cockpit comms, which provides fast, reliable, global connectivity via the Inmarsat SwiftBroadband or classic satellite network.

In order to make such calls Thrane & Thrane debuted its next generation wireless handset at the MEBA show.

Designed specifically for in-flight communications, the compact and lightweight Aviator wireless handset offers users an extensive range of advanced features for voice and data communications including echo and noise cancellation to ensure unmatched audio quality.

Looking Ahead While the future looks rosy for the big players in the market, how is it shaping up for the smaller guys? Pretty well, actually, according to Yankee Pacific subsidiary Cabin Innovations.

Owner Ken Goldsmith said: “Our business is steady and robust and we continue to provide engineered products for VIP products.” The company services all the major completions house, offering turnkey solutions that allow production and installation of efficient completions.

With a nod to what is coming round the corner, not just the in-production aircraft, but also the A350XWB and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Goldsmith added: “We are cautiously optimistic about the advent of larger jets and look forward to serving our completions center customers with our products.”

ELEVATING

Boeing 787 Dreamliner (center).

Greenpoint Technologies' ground-to-main deck elevator for the VIP 747-8 (bottom).

BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 - 59

CABIN CONVERSIONS

ROUND UP

LITTLE ROCK ROCKS

wiring, for example, which are totally compliant with the aircraft’s shell.

The raw Falcon fuselage comes directly from 3D definition and is completed using automatic tooling. DFJ has built rigs that can bend metal parts into the exact shape required.

There are other systems that can scan a piece of leather to determine the most efficient cut for its size and thickness. This translates into great efficiency, since cutting leather for a full seat set now takes a few hours, rather than four to five days with scissors.

Not everything is automated at Little Rock. Dassault is careful to maintain the exclusivity and service requirement of the private aviation industry.

There are expert staff on site to help customers choose their options. They

Dassault Falcon Jet’s Arkansasbased Little Rock centre is a fusion of ultra modern technology and ancient craftsmanship, ensuring that multimillion dollar aircraft roll out of the facility in beautiful condition. Liz Moscrop went to see what they do.

SERVICE

Expert staff on site at Little Rock (center).

IMAGINE PUTTING the operating system of your Falcon jet onto your IPAD and it letting you know when something is awry. The technology is not there quite yet, however the aircraft does distil down into chunks of digital data, which Dassault Falcon Jet stores on sophisticated computers at its HQ. This digitization means that the airframer can create interiors that exactly fit the aircraft shell, and is able to repair or modify them in future years.

Although the interiors are bespoke in the sense that they are designed to fit each aircraft individually, to make things more cost efficient for its customers Dassault is offering several default interior choices. Andrew Ponzoni, Dassault Falcon Jet’s senior management communications said: “Generally we urge customers to take the standard option, which is cheaper for them, but there is still a great deal of choice within that.”

He means it. More than 80% of each new aircraft can be customized – whether it is In-flight entertainment,

60 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

or fabrics, or the floorplan or the wood used. Each aircraft has a unique serial number that matches the EASy software that drives it. This means that it is easy to pinpoint exactly where a problem is, should one arise. Another bonus is that despite the ultra-modern technology on offer at Little Rock, the workforce is highly skilled in traditional crafts.

Dassault uses a system called the Product Lifecycle Management process to keep its aircraft in shape.

Designers originally create a completely accurate virtual model, which drives the entire manufacturing process. Since there is a full digital model of the aircraft specification, the OEM is able to build cabinets or install

will offer samples of leathers, carpets, textiles, veneers, cabinetry, and other furnishings, as well as 3D renditions of interiors configurations.

Thanks to the default options on offer it usually takes around four to five months to complete a standard aircraft. However, should a customer want something like eucalyptus on board they would have to wait since there are no two identical sheets, which makes for a time-consuming installation process.

Although the default options are better value for customers, Little Rock is happy to design any interior the customer wants. There’s something to draft on your I-PAD.

✈

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FROM THE COCKPIT

GROUND OPERATIONS

HOW TO BE A WELL-GROUNDED PILOT

By LeRoy Cook

I was lost; I had to admit it. Not that I didn’t have a general idea of where I was, but I certainly didn’t recognize any of the places I was seeing as I rolled past. There were people who were urgently expecting me to arrive on their doorstep, but I didn’t know how to get there. And, worst of all, I wasn’t in my auto, I was in the airplane, taxiing around an unfamiliar airport, and, at this point, I wasn’t even sure if I was on a taxiway...

VIGILANCE

Obstruction to visibility should put us on the alert.

M

ost of us have been there, at one time or another. In the air, we have GPS or DME distanceto-go, bearings, VOR radials, radar vectors and multi-function display maps to keep us oriented, and we generally pay rapt attention to them. On the ground, however, we often try to

62 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

bluff our way through. I mean, how tough can it be, accepting a clearance to follow Taxiway Alpha? Except, as I wander along, all the signs I’m seeing have a yellow “G” in a black square and the lighting seems to be awfully poor out here...where’s that terminal?

For the past several years, there have been semi-official crusades to reduce runway incursions, and while they sometimes come across as wasting resources on a minor problem, there’s no denying that ground-operation blunders do happen, and they can be frighteningly serious. One only has to dredge up memories of the horror at Tenerife on 27 March, 1977 to understand the potential consequences. Calling attention to the challenge, the hazards and the consequences associated with mistakes during ground operations is a good start at reducing these transgressions.

The conventional wisdom is to simply offer fatherly advice to check your airport diagram, use the “safe taxi” software in your MFD, if so equipped, and ask for help if you’re not sure that you are proceeding correctly. Just practice safe taxiing, we’re told, and everything will be fine. The fallacy with these platitudes is that pilots who committed acts of incursion obviously didn’t know they were lost until it was too late. Had they known it, they would have rung up ground control and asked for a DF steer or something instead of blundering out onto an active runway. To get ahead of the game, we need to be a little more proactive in our approach to sensible ground operations, by learning what the red flags look like.

Obstruction to visibility is certainly a whipping red flag that should raise our alert level. Disorientation is another, perhaps the result of darkness or twilight, when your normal sense of direction goes out the window or an overcast day with no sun visible.

Precipitation or low-RVR fog hides

buildings and even signage, easily causing us to lose orientation. On any but severely sunny days, you should watch even more carefully for taxi cues. Some of my worst lost-on-theground scenarios have been on a night arrival at a strange airport. I’ve learned to stop, ask and read, in these cases.

Write down the route given in your taxi instructions, using your own shorthand, to make sure you can refer to it after you’ve read it back. If the ground controller asks “Are you familiar?”, take it as a sign that you look like a stranger in these parts. Be honest, don’t just fire back an “affirmative”; be willing to take some progressive taxi instructions, if there’s even a chance they are needed. You may have been on this airport at one time, ten years ago, but the layout can be different now.

Don’t get too comfortable after you’ve requested progressive taxi instructions. Rather than roll blithely along in the absence of verbal guidance, remain aware of the signs streaming past. The most well-inten-

tioned ground controller has other aircraft to watch and deliver clearances to, and holding your hand might not be his most urgent task. You still have a duty to bring the airplane to halt if there’s the slightest doubt that you’re cleared to proceed. Resolve the situation, then resume.

Don’t just fall into a queue and assume you can follow the herd to your parking spot. Their destination may be far across the field from your own; you should only follow assigned traffic. I once ambled into a nest of cargo gates because I presumed the other general aviation planes were tourists like me.

Electronic or paper diagrams are vital when running a maze of alien taxiways. A GPS-derived depiction of your little airplane running along a moving map’s taxiway is wonderful reassurance; but don’t trust it to avoid missing a vital turning point. The display is for orientation, not steering.

The IFR book’s diagram often requires you to have reading glasses at the ready; match up the signage

CARE

Don't just fall into a queue and assume you can follow the herd to your parking spot.

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FROM THE COCKPIT

GROUND OPERATIONS

you’re seeing out the windshield with what you have in your lap. Turn your approach plate holder into a taxi chart clip. Most importantly, let no sign pass unread.

You may have seen taxi charts with “hot spots” showing where that airport has experienced the most foul-ups.

These are intersections and sneaky runway ends with a particularly bad history. Rather than fixate on each airport’s “hot spots”, however, use the charts to heighten your awareness of what sort of layouts are universally entrapping, so a similar spot will raise a red flag at other airports, even if it lacks the designation. Runway ends that abut each other, taxiways that

RESEARCH

Use taxi charts to heighten your awareness.

curve around ramps, short routes that lead into crossing traffic flow; these are things that appear time and again as “hot spots”, and as you learn the pattern of errors they bring, you can spot a warning flag when you encounter them.

The most often-overlooked tool in the panel for staying oriented during ground operations is the heading indicator. You should know what your approximate heading should be, because most taxiways run parallel to runways, so if you’re not aimed in the right direction it’ll show up on the HSI. Pay attention to your heading.

Such a confirmation would have saved 49 lives at Lexington, Kentucky in the early morning hours of 27 August, 2006, when a Comair CRJ crew hurried to line up on runway 22.

Unfortunately, they chose the

64 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

entrance to the easier-to-locate, but half as long and wide, runway 26. In the semi-darkness, the runway’s signs, size and direction went unnoticed and the jet roared off to destruction at the departure end of the short pavement, which was some 200 feet less than the required length.

Confirmation is particularly important before you launch down the runway. The old “HAT” check during lineup is still worthwhile for every departure; is the Heading right, is the Altitude alert set and is the Transponder enabled? That heading check can save an embarrassing or hazardous departure from the wrong runway. Pilots have also taken off from taxiways by mistake; note the color of the centerline and the edge lights. If something doesn’t look right, don’t go there.

In the foregoing personal scenario, the ground controller and I agreed that I should pull out of line until I could find myself on the airport diagram, trace a safe route to the transient ramp and announce that I was ready to proceed. My waiting passengers would just have to bide their time for one more minute, since we had already taken a detour.

In one of the most-regrettable foulups in recent memory, on 22 November, 1994, a Cessna 441 occupied runway 30R at a mid-field intersection on the St. Louis, Missouri airport, while an airliner was taking off on the same runway. The airliner’s wing decapitated the Conquest’s cabin, resulting in the

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FROM THE COCKPIT

GROUND OPERATIONS

death of the pilot and passenger. As often happens, it was not just one simple mistake that lead to the tragedy, but rather a chain of subtle blunders.

The unfamiliar pilot had just arrived via runway 30R. When departing shortly thereafter, his taxi instructions were to “runway 31”, which was a makeshift G/A departure-only VFR runway that had been, and now once again is, a taxiway. He assumed he would be leaving in the same manner as he arrived, overlooking the subtle change in runway designation. Thus, he taxied out to line up and wait on the adjacent 30R, unseen in the darkness.

Had he been more alert, he would have questioned a ground controller’s authority to issue line-up instructions.

However, the cause of the accident can be equally charged to poor airport design and procedures.

INTERACTION

Make sure the controller and you are on the same page.

Always make sure the controller and you are on the same page of the script.

When making an intersection departure downfield, I’ve been mistaken more than once for the airplane holding at the full-length end. Listen up for miss-identification of your location— you may very well know where you are, but does the controller know? At a busy field, it’s common for look-alike

66 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

airplanes to be moving around. Even twelve-inch-tall registration legends aren’t readily readable from a nauticalmile away, so let the ground controller know you’re the Citation at Alpha 3, not Alpha 1. Take extra care to confirm instructions when there’s a language or accent problem.

Communication is of paramount importance; in its absence, assump-

tions rule, and that can be a very bad thing. A few months ago, I was cleared to line up and wait about 500 feet behind a departing large twin-jet airliner, and like all good G/A pilots wanting to cooperate with the heavy iron, I hastened to comply. That was a bad idea—the preceding air carrier applied its takeoff power while I was still moving broadside to his backside, and despite my best efforts to the contrary I wound up scooting sideways and weathervaning into the gale-force jet blast. I had every right to reply “unable”, but I didn’t want to delay the Boeing behind me. Let the controller know if it won’t work for you, in time for him or her to make another plan.

No controller likes surprises, and a disoriented yet uncommunicative pilot is a surprise waiting to happen. If you show up where you weren’t expected to be, you’ve joined a list of registrations on a watch list, and you really don’t want to gain such status.

What we need to do is to place as much emphasis on navigating on the ground as we do in the air. Staying ahead of the moving airplane, noting all landmarks as they pass and negotiating with ATC in a timely manner are just as important on the surface as aloft.

✈

FROM THE COCKPIT

SAFETY

MANAGING THE SAFETY TRIANGLE

By LeRoy Cook

The dull, dry delivery of a lecture on “How to Fly Safely” is best enlivened by using visual aids and props. For that purpose, I’ve often employed a simple assembly of three lengths of lumber, connected by swivel joints. It illustrates the solid bracing of three physical elements arranged in a triangle, each leg depending on the other two for support.

The cluster sits on a lectern in stable repose—as long as the connectors are attached to one another.

E

ach side of the triangle bears a legend, to be unveiled at key points in the diatribe by rotating the inscription into view. I contend that the supportive elements of flight safety are knowledge, skill and judgment. Each are equally important in the art and practice of aviation, each useless by itself. If I disconnect one of the links joining the legs of the triangle, it falls into a heap, no longer able to support itself. Thus, my point is made—to be safe, we need all three.

This elementary device, my Safety Triangle, may be crude, but it works.

Aeronautical decision making is based on respect for limitations, and understanding limitations requires awareness of these three elements. We face certain hazards when we take an aircraft into the air, and we prepare for those perils by studying their source and making preparation to counter them. It is by employing our Safety Triangle that we manage the risks involved.

Oftentimes, we grow inured to what is really a marvelous conquest of a hostile environment, as we roll down a runway, climb away into the upper atmosphere and settle back for a robotically-guided flight to our chosen destination. Our marvelous automated equipment lulls us into a serene feeling of security—while it works. But, we must never lose sight of what it takes to keep flying a safe endeavor.

An example of a perfectly-flown flight ending in disaster took place several years ago, when a Rockwell Sabreliner business jet landed by mistake at the small Cotton Woods airport instead of the Columbia, Missouri airport ten miles away, on a dark night with good visibility. Both runways were aligned similarly, and the crew simply execut-

ed an approach to the first set of lights acquired during the visual arrival.

Unfortunately, the Woods runway was only 2,400 feet long, instead of the 6,500 feet at the Columbia airport, and the Sabreliner’s brakes and reverse thrust were not enough to prevent an over-run into the open field beyond the runway, resulting in total loss of the aircraft.

The crew’s skill could not be faulted—the jet was landed under perfect control, on target. Their knowledge was ostensibly adequate, because they had briefed the arrival at the correct airport. However, they were not aware of another airport in the vicinity, and by not using an IAP they had little information other than that provided by their eyes. Judgment, then, was the weak link of their safety triangle—it should have waved a caution flag when visual cues didn’t match expectations.

A flight isn’t safe because it follows regulations to the letter, or meets the insurance policy’s provisions, or is conducted in full accordance with the airplane’s flight manual. These are all important, but they don’t guarantee a safe flight. Beyond the framework of established procedures lie the specifics of each flight’s challenges,

CONNECTED

The supportive elements of flight safety are knowledge, skill and judgement.

BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 - 67

FROM THE COCKPIT

SAFETY

some of which don’t fall into rigid categories. What actually supports flight safety is the Safety Triangle of the three interlinked elements in our flight kit: Knowledge, Skill and Judgment.

Limits of Knowledge None of the three elements can support safety on its own. To be sure, knowledge is vital if we’re going to stay out of trouble with an airplane.

We need to read up on the aircraft’s systems, its limitations and the procedures that have been worked out to give the best possible results. Beyond the aircraft, we should keep up on the changing air traffic control environment, the latest improvements to flight planning and the best methods of data

PARAMOUNT

Knowledge is vital if we’re going to stay out of trouble with an airplane.

acquisition. Airports don’t often remain in a fixed state of operable runways and taxiways, so we need to continue in the learning mode by studying not only the airport directory listing but Notices to Airmen and even postings on the local bulletin boards.

Without proper knowledge of even the simplest aircraft’s systems, we are liable to mishandle a minor failure, turning an inconvenience into an emergency. All of our vaunted skills will be unable to save us if we don’t understand the aircraft or environment. Blundering into a crisis because we didn’t have adequate knowledge puts a severe strain on our skills.

As important as knowledge is, it requires integration with the other elements of safety. By strictly focusing on textbook learning you can become, as my self-taught father was wont to say, an educated fool. I knew most of the

68 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

procedures required to operate an airplane when I first walked out to the training aircraft as a blithe 16-year-old.

I’d been soaking up aeronautical trivia for years, none of which aided me when I began my attempts to taxi. I knew lots of stuff, but I was sorely lacking in the application of it. The other two legs of my safety triangle had yet to be developed.

Skill Skill is that hands-on interface between a pilot’s sensors (eyes, ears, touch and visceral movement), data processing center (also known as the brain) and actuators linked to the controls, commonly called hands and feet.

More than just banking and yanking, skill involves the acquisition of feedback from the airplane so we know just how much control input is going to be enough. Our goal is to stabilize

the airplane in the correct attitude with no further adjustment needed. In that way, over time, we learn how to paint the tires on the runway with scarcely a jar or when to massage the autopilot’s modes to minimize detectable wiggles perceived by the passengers.

It’s a humbling experience to watch a master at work with the controls, so smooth and precise are the understated inputs. There is no wasted motion—the airplane responds as if it were pivoting on ball bearings. I have flown with such pilots, always inspired to attempt emulation, never destined to achieve it. Such skill as I have has been attained at the cost of 50 years in a cockpit, plodding through thousands of hours in a tedious quest.

You won’t acquire skill by just reading about it or taking one pass through a practice maneuver. Flying any aircraft is much like gaining proficiency with a musical instrument; progress comes with frequent practice, bit by painful bit. The disgusting attribute of youth, wasted as it is on the young, can be helpful, but we do find that older sets of skills readily transfer to newer ones when we transition into an unfamiliar airplane.

Make no mistake about it, however; skill alone doesn’t assure a safe flight.

Without the dual support of both knowledge and judgment, skill lacks direction. The aircraft can move into hazardous regimes while our skill waits for a signal to act.

Tempered by Judgment The third member of the safety triangle’s support structure is the judgment we need to keep a check on the parameters of our flight. Skill is needed to assure that we can operate the airplane to the best of its ability to perform. Knowledge is required if we’re to use the airplane and operating environment as intended. But judgment is the human element that says “I know how to do it, and my skill will let me try it, but my judgment leads me to think that this is not something I should do.”

Judgment is not necessarily a naysayer, although it frequently does set boundaries that weren’t established by the other two legs of the safety triangle. Judgment can just as easily weigh in with a positive vote, if the flight is within the capabilities of the aircraft, pilot and environment. The comfort level of judgment is dependent on experience; have we flown this trip before, with this equipment, under these weather and time conditions? A first-time venture requires a judgment call, while a routine milk-run will hardly stir a glance from our watchful judgment.

Examples of some attempts to operate with a two-sided triangle abound.

Years ago, I trained a young man for the commercial license who had acquired skills already far superior to my own. He possessed a natural ability to handle an airplane smoothly and precisely. He had also learned the requisite knowledge, well enough to pass the preliminary tests and gain my endorsement. But in the years to follow it was reported he frequently called upon his superior skill to pull him out of situations that judgment should have prevented. He had little common sense to temper the boldness propagated by his skill and knowledge.

Judgment is difficult to teach, or evaluate. Humans, being inventive, can subvert instruction by participating in an approved manner, in order to pass a course, after which they go out and do as they please. Some people are just good at taking tests, but not at applying judgment—even if their skills are adequate and knowledge scores are high, deviations from acceptable performance may arise due to lapses in judgment.

Judgment based on insufficient knowledge, on the other hand, leads to thinking “I don’t see why I can’t make this flight; it feels okay to me.”

This situation arises when there’s weather over the horizon that wasn’t checked out, or the performance charts of the aircraft haven’t yet been proven in actual use. There is book knowledge, and then there is knowledge gained from experience. Much good judgment is gained from experience, it’s been said, while that same experience is gained from bad judgment.

A number of years ago, a commuter airliner made an unscheduled landing at our pastoral general aviation airport, parking at the fuel pit. The Captain had determined that one of his transfer pumps wasn’t working and that his main tank would not have enough fuel

“Skill” leg of your triangle some valuable support. Obtaining the latest information on the area through web sites, association services, handlers, and, most importantly, recent visitors who have made a similar trip will gain the needed insight. Without the support of judgment, you might not make the effort to buttress your knowledge.

Support from knowledge and judgment can also point to a need for improvement in skill. You can read up on high-elevation performance and determine that you should avoid attempting to depart from a high country airport when the temperature exceeds ISA. No matter how adequate your skills, there’s no point in making the attempt if the airplane lacks the power do it. Thus, when you find yourself scheduled to make a trip to the mountains, your other two safety trian-

to reach his destination. He took extreme action by landing at our airport and adding enough fuel to the main tank to assure a successful outcome. Unfortunately, some of the passengers reported the incident to the authorities and he was cited for using poor judgment, supposedly for flying with inadequate fuel—I felt he should have received credit for employing his superior judgment to avoid a hazardous situation.

gle legs will support delaying departure until the temperature declines.

Examples of a broken safety triangle are evident in every accident report. At some point, the pilot in command ignored one of the three pillars of safety, whether it was deciding to take the trip in the first place or to continue when equipment or weather was not supportive of the effort. An accident involving mechanical failure might be the result of using poor judgment regarding maintenance, a lack of knowledge regarding the signs of impending failure, or inadequate skills that would have otherwise kept the airplane flying.

Skill, knowledge and judgment—all three are equally important in the support of flight safety. Don’t try to operate without linking each one to the other two.

Pooling one’s Resources How do you keep your safety triangle intact? By making sure that input is obtained from each side of the triangle before every flight. Are your skills current and appropriate for the challenges of the trip? Perhaps you’ve flown to a certain country years ago, but not recently. Knowledge, obtained from upto-date sources, can lend the weaker

✈

SHORTCOMINGS

Support from knowledge and judgement can also point to improvement in skill.

BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011 - 69

SAFETY SENSE

PROCEDURE

WHEN LUCK RUNS OUT

By Michael R. Grüninger, Markus Kohler and Capt. Giancarlo Buono of Great Circle Services AG (GCS) What Seemed Like a Decent Start

O

COMPLACENCY

If you depend too much on your bag of luck, one day it will really be empty.

n February 12, 2009, a Falcon 10/100 carrying two crew members and one passenger closed in on Samoan (LSZS) its destination airport which is located in the Swiss Alps. The flight had passed without incident and the wintery weather was typical of the area; conditions changed rapidly, there were low clouds, snow and reduced visibility.

LSZS is the highest aerodrome in Europe and lies at 5600 feet AMSL. The airport is non-controlled and may be used only under visual flight rules.

A flight information service officer (FISO) gives information to flight crews, but there is no air traffic controller.

70 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2011

The crew had already cancelled the IFR flight plan and continued under VFR. Snow had fallen recently and the FISO informed the crew that snow clearance work was taking place on the runway, delaying the approach by ten minutes. The pilot in command (PIC) was 69 and very experienced.

He had clocked up over 17,000 hours and was familiar with the airport and its surroundings. Radar tracks showed that, while waiting for the snow to be cleared in the vicinity of the surrounding mountains, he maneuvered in tight turns with very high bank angles. At some point the circuit breaker was pulled and the EGPWS was deactivated. After approximately 15 minutes the crew started the approach into the narrow mountain valley and then things went wrong. It was later found that there were inadequate visual references and that the aircraft was in an unfavorable position for an approach.

Warning Signs The pilot in command (PIC) was flying the plane, and had an incident history. In 1999, he overshot the end of a runway by 220 meters on landing and severely damaged the aircraft. The competent Austrian AAIB concluded that the pilot did not follow the provisions of the flight operations manual regarding training and that he demonstrated a lack of procedural awareness (operating limits, approach speeds, knowledge of AFM and FOM, radio communication procedures). The AAIB also noted that the pilot didn’t seem to have adequate knowledge of the route to be flown or of the aerodrome he was destined towards. The AAIB also said that the pilot didn’t comply with Cockpit Resource Management principles and didn’t initiate a go-around even though the aircraft was not stabilized on final approach.

In 2007, flying the same aircraft, the pilot veered off the runway in Samedan and skidded past the glider aircraft winch. The aircraft came to rest a few meters in front of the tarmac, where other aircraft were parked. The pilot blamed the event on a defective left-hand reverser and an unresponsive nose wheel steering.

But he didn’t mention the incident in the aircraft logs, and no one informed the maintenance organization responsible for this aircraft, about the incident.

Just two weeks later, the same pilot veered off the runway in Samedan once again barely missing the glider winch. Once again, the pilot cited technical reasons for the runway excursion, didn’t record the incident in the aircraft logs, and the company responsible for maintenance was not informed. And as with the incident two weeks prior, functional system checks didn’t reveal any technical discrepancies.

In 2008, one year after these events, the same pilot landing the same aircraft at the same aerodrome touched down short of the threshold on a small asphalted patch. The airport authority confronted him but the pilot said he had a normal landing. Fortunately, thanks to a hefty measure of luck, these incidents only caused material damage and no injuries.

On the fateful flight in 2009, luck ran out. It was reported that the runway was in sight and ten seconds later the aircraft touched down on the runway, 135 m beyond the threshold. The longitudinal axis of the aircraft was pointing 6 to 8 degrees to the right of the centerline axis. The aircraft made first ground contact with the right wingtip some two meters left of the centerline.

The main wheels touched down, but the misaligned aircraft drifted to the left, until the left wingtip scraped a bank of snow running parallel to the runway. As a result, the aircraft rotated around its vertical axis and the right side of the fuselage collided with the corner of a compact snow bank, while still travelling at a speed of approximately 107 kts (200 km/h).

The fuselage broke into two pieces and skidded for some 150 meters before coming to rest. The two pilots died on impact and the passenger and owner of the aircraft suffered serious injuries.

The accident investigation by the Swiss AAIB ruled out technical or medical issues as contributing factors.

But the investigation found numerous weak and strong indications that there was an accident waiting to happen. It seems inconceivable that the extensive aviation safety management and oversight system failed to see these indications. With hindsight, it is hard to believe that there was no mechanism, process or authority that could have prevented the accident.

In terms of the flight, the private operator followed the legal requirements and while competent authorities might have intervened, due to a lack of proper reporting, they didn’t have the necessary information to be

able to. From an operational oversight point of view private operators were not obliged to exercise direct operational supervision. The company which was the registered owner and operator of the aircraft, didn’t engage in any operational activities and exercised no operational oversight. It was merely a contractual partner of companies which provided the services so that the flight could be undertaken. In the company’s opinion, the operational control and responsibility was delegated to the commander of the accident flight. Numerous discrepancies were found over the course of the accident investigation, involving manuals and documents, crew training and qualification, pre-flight and flight procedures, and more.

Obviously, many things went wrong in the system. In this column you may have read about some of the processes that are being implemented to make aviation even safer, such as performance based regulation, safety management systems, safety culture development etc. But quite frankly, this accident illustrates that for these defences to work, all of the relevant stakeholders must work in synch with each other. Defences can completely fail, and a huge amount depends on the pilot.

Bag of Luck – Bag of Experience Piloting involves skill, knowledge, and experience – and a little luck. A well known saying says that every pilot starts out with a full bag of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before the bag of luck is empty.

However, lucky outcomes in certain situations may give a pilot a “can do”

attitude and he or she may begin to look upon procedures and limitations as mere guidelines. Flight crews should consciously interpret significant incidents and “fender benders” as last chance warnings. The real trick is to depend on the bag of luck as little as possible.

Unfortunately, experience does not guarantee expertise. Experience builds up when you have done something many times, expertise is about knowing what you have done.

Learning from experience is an active process and requires mindfulness and a positive attitude to safety issues.

This accident report shows how important it is to learn from one’s own experience, but also to learn from other people’s experience by following recognized safe practices and philosophies, such as approved flight procedures and available guidance.

If you depend on the full bag of experience, while still drawing heavily from the bag of luck, one day it will really be empty.

✈

Michael R. Grüninger is the Managing Director of Great Circle Services (GCS) Aviation Safety Advisors. GCS assists in the whole range of planning and management issues, offering customized solutions to strengthen the position of a business in the aviation market. Its services include training and auditing (IS-BAO) consultancy (IS-BAO, IOSA), manual development and process engineering.

He can be reached at michael.grueninger@gcs-safety.com or +41-79 442 44 89. His column, Safety Sense appears regularly in BART International.

UNISON

If defences are to work all stakeholders must work in synch with one and other.

Source for pictures: AAIB Switzerland Final Report 2074

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THE DOCKET

OWNERSHIP OF A PRIVATE OR CORPORATE JET

TAKING THE PLUNGE

Aofie O’ Sullivan, Partner with Gates and Partners looks at the legal implications of ownership of a private or corporate jet.

T

DECISION

There are a variety of ways in which an aircraft can be acquired.

he demand for flexible and fast business transport around the world is constantly growing.

Businesses have a desire to move key personnel in a cost-efficient, highly flexible and safe manner. In addition, there is an increased recognition of the value of executive time and the motivational aspects of convenient business travel within Europe.

There are a variety of ways in which interests in an aircraft can be acquired – direct ownership by an individual, joint ownership, ownership through a company (onshore or offshore), chartering, fractional ownership etc - the list is long and each option carries its own merits and drawbacks.

This article does not look at the benefits of buying, leasing or taking a share in an aircraft but instead sets out

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the legal implications of outright ownership as opposed to buying either time (e.g. jetcards/chartering) or a shared interest in aircraft (eg fractional ownership).

Some Common Ownership Structures The simplest ownership structure will tend to be an acquisition of an aircraft by an owner (private or corporate) for his or her exclusive personal or business use. For example, some companies will buy an aircraft for use by its senior employees and management. In each case, the owner will need to carry all the costs (including of course the large capital outlay) and will need to hire its own crew and will be subject to regulation by the relevant aviation authority. For a number of reasons, many owners choose to create a specially formed legal entity to hold the asset – whether for tax reasons or corporate structures or in some cases to gain access to an aircraft register.

❍ Outright Ownership It is extremely rare and certainly ill advised in most cases for an individual or a company to own an aircraft in its own name without at least some attempt to ring fence liability and protect other assets of that individual or company.

Ownership of an aircraft carries with it inherent risks associated with both ownership and operation. An asset with inherent risks should be separated from other assets in order to protect them.

Generally, the liability incurred in a total loss of an aircraft results from operations of the operator, not the owner. It is therefore important that the operation of each of the owner and the operator is distinctly separated, so that the negligence of one is not imputed to the other. The same theory applies to aircraft owned and flown by pilots.

Negligence of a pilot will attach to him personally regardless of his employer/employee relationship. It is therefore important that he protect his personal assets by isolating his aircraft ownership from the balance of his assets. In this way and in the event of an accident caused by the owners own negligence as a pilot, other assets should be protected from the hands of creditors and claims. ❍ The Limited Liability Company The corporate concept of incorporating a limited liability company (or special purpose vehicle) is common in aircraft ownership.

Reasons for doing so are varied – in some cases to keep the name of the beneficial owner confidential but in many cases it is intended to use such legal structures as a way of ring-fencing any liability attaching to that aircraft. The idea is that if the aircraft is involved in an accident, the owner of the company is the limited liability company and liability stops at the company (usually only capitalized to a paltry few pounds). The ultimate or beneficial owner (in this case the shareholder), is protected from claims.

As with all good theories however, there is usually an exception and in many cases, many corporate owners are not aware that this shield of limited liability protection can be pierced. Such structures do not for example protect the ultimate owner from operational liability or mandatory compliance with aviation regulation. For example, large corporates who buy one or more aircraft to ferry its personnel will in many cases decide to form a flight department subsidiary for the sole purpose of owning and operating the aircraft on behalf of the parent corporation.

Unless the aircraft is flown well within the confines of private use (or non-public transport), the flight department subsidiary may be deemed to be in the business of providing on-demand charter air transportation, and may be required to possess an air operators certificate. The fact that the sole “charter customer” of the flight department subsidiary is its own parent corporation is not necessarily relevant. In general, the operation of the aircraft must be within the scope of, and incidental to, the business of the company (other than transportation by air). This essentially means that the aircraft must support some other business of the company. It is the de facto use of the aircraft that is examined.

The aviation authority will want to know who is responsible for operating the aircraft and will hold that person to order to ensure compliance

with regulation, particularly if the aircraft is being used for business or commercial use and stretches into the realm of public transport, attaching heightened regulation. Limited liability structures in this case will not protect the owner from investigation by the regulatory authorities.

understand clearly what they are agreeing to. It is also possible to arrange fidelity insurance cover which will protect the beneficial owner in the event that the Trustee commits a breach of trust and sells or mortgages the aircraft without permission.

❍ The Trust Another common structure in aircraft ownership is a trust. A trust is quite simply an agreement between one person (the settlor) who gives to another person (the Trustee) an asset, in this case an aircraft, to hold on certain terms.

In the case of an Owner Trust the aircraft is typically held solely for one beneficiary who is the settlor.

The structure is typically used by non-US citizens wishing to register aircraft on the N Register. All aircraft on the N Register must be owned by US citizens. A US trust with a European ultimate owner will comply with the requirements.

A little known fact however is that the US Trustee has all the rights and powers of an owner and can sell or mortgage the aircraft subject always to the terms of the Trust agreement between the Settlor and Trustee. It is a requirement of the Federal Aviation Regulations that the power of the trustee cannot be “fettered” by the beneficiary. It is very important that any owners wishing to use this structure are very aware of the consent of the trust document and

❍ Group Ownership In cases where there are three or more individual owners of an aircraft it is recommended that one of the owners, or at the most two, be nominated as trustees of group (or any other name that the group may have) on the application to enter the aircraft on the UK Register or to record a change of ownership. In this way any member may leave or join the group without the need to re-register the aircraft on every occasion and thus incurring a fee.

The aircraft must, however, be reregistered if the trustee leaves the group. Two issues arise here – the first being, who is the trustee and what powers has he been granted?

Can he sell the aircraft without the remaining owners consent? This is worth checking. Secondly, the cost sharing involved in the operation of group owned aircraft may mean that, inadvertently, the aircraft is flying for public transport on a private category certificate of airworthiness or the EASA equivalent of a private category certificate of airworthiness.

This is in direct breach of EU regulation and may expose the trustee to investigation and possibly sanction.

Aircraft Finance and its Implications on Ownership Aircraft finance in the business and private jet world remains relatively straightforward. On an international basis there tends to be two options – straight loan finance or leasing. The security granted to the bank tends to be similar in both cases but the legal effect of the two structures is entirely different and indeed varies from case to case. In the context of straight loan finance, the bank finances the purchase of the aircraft by way of a loan facility – the money is granted to the buyer and the buyer uses the money to buy an aircraft. The buyer becomes the full legal owner of the aircraft and the bank is granted security in the form of an aircraft mortgage and other

arrangements. If the buyer defaults on payments, the bank will move in to enforce its security. The bank will not have an immediate right to own the aircraft and will usually have to apply to the courts for an order allowing it to repossess the aircraft and to sell the aircraft to recoup any costs or lessees.

In a leasing arrangement however, it is the bank that buys the aircraft directly from the seller. The bank then leases the aircraft to the buyer. The buyer never becomes the legal owner of the aircraft but is instead a lessee with a right to possession of the aircraft. Security is still granted to the bank but in this situation the bank enforces its security by way of recovery of possession of the aircraft under the lease and security.

The most common lease is the operating lease, in which the lessor retains title to the aircraft, but gives possession of the aircraft to the lessee.

Leasing can be as costly as full ownership, both in terms of operating expenses and commitments of time and energy to manage the aircraft. A lessee generally must arrange for, and pay for, all fuel, maintenance, hangar, pilot employment, and insurance to the same extent as an owner.

Of course, lessees may avail themselves of the services of an aircraft management company to the same extent as an owner. The major risks of owning the aircraft – such as legal liability and risk of loss from damage or theft – are also just as applicable to a lessee.

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THE DOCKET A dry lease or an operating lease in the context of private jets is typically one in which the owner of an aircraft leases the aircraft to a professional operator who assumes full responsibility and control of the aircraft. In corporate structures for example a parent or SPV acquires the aircraft and leases to third party operator. In order to carry passengers, cargo or mail for payment, an operator of an aircraft must carry an operating license. For instance, in order to qualify for an operating license in the UK, an operator must meet a number of requirements, including those in respect of its safety and insurance arrangements and its nationality of control; for operators of larger aircraft with 20 or more seats, there are also financial criteria to be met.

Taxation Anyone thinking of buying an aircraft should get comprehensive advice on the taxation implications of the proposed structure and acquisition of the aircraft. Getting it wrong can be extremely expensive and very hard to unravel. In January of this year for instance, the United Kingdom finally (after much pressure from its EU member states) banished the ability for importers of aircraft to import an aircraft into Europe at a zero per cent rate. This means that all aircraft operated in Europe (and carrying European passengers) are potentially liable to Value Added Tax (or VAT).

The VAT charge is a charge imposed on the owner of the aircraft at the time of the import but if not paid or accounted for, it will remain a liability attaching on the aircraft. Every member state in the EU has the power to ground an aircraft that has not been declared for VAT and may impose VAT on the owner.

CORRECT

The purchase of an aircraft is not complete without proper and effective transfer of title.

Insurance On 30th April 2005, EC Regulation EC 785/2004 on insurance requirements for air carriers and aircraft operators came into force. The Regulation was subsequently amended on 6th April 2010. The Regulation, as amended, specifies the minimum levels of insurance required by aircraft operators and air carriers in respect of third party cover, passenger cover and cover for risks of war and terrorism.

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It is the aircraft operator’s responsibility to ensure that insurance cover, in accordance with the regulations, exists for each flight. The regulation defines aircraft operator as follows: ‘aircraft operator’ means the person or entity, not being an air carrier, who has continual effective disposal of the use or operation of the aircraft; the natural or legal person in whose name the aircraft is registered shall be presumed to be the operator, unless that person can prove that another person is the operator.

Proof of Aircraft Ownership A purchase of an aircraft is not complete without proper and effective transfer of title. Transfer is typically done by way of an aircraft bill of sale.

The bill of sale will record the title transfer for registration purposes (but will not reveal the entire terms of the commercial transaction). The buyer’s lawyer should check that the seller has proper title to sell the aircraft – many jurisdictions will enable title searches but in most cases the buyer will need to rely on the seller to produce evidence of title by way of bills of sale. The seller should be asked to produce evidence of title by way of a chain of bills of sale, in many cases back to birth.

Searches should be carried out on the aircraft at the registry where the aircraft is currently registered. If the registry has a mortgage registry attached, searches should be carried out to ascertain whether or not a charge attaches to the aircraft. Not all registries have mortgage registries and in many cases the buyer will have to rely on the seller’s assurances as to whether or not any charges or encumbrances exist on the title.

The Cape town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the Protocol on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment (2001) (the “Capetown Convention”) provided for the establishment of an international registry (Aviareto in Ireland) for the registration of international interests in aircraft. The treaty’s Protocol applies to aircraft which can carry at least 8 people or 2750 kilograms of cargo, aircraft engines with thrust exceeding 1750 pounds or 550 horsepower, and helicopters carrying 5 or more passengers.

The registration of an international interest in the registry is intended to give public notice to all third parties of the existence of a charge and to give priority to that registered charge over any charge subsequently registered.

Corporate Governance – Directors’ Duties and Responsibilities The common law imposes on all directors’ fiduciary duties and a duty of care and skill. Statutes and regulations create additional offences and many of them impose strict liability. These duties are owed to the company. The common law fiduciary duty of the directors towards the company is a duty to act honestly and in good faith in the best interests of the company, and to use the powers granted to them for the purposes for which they were conferred. (The extent to which the directors are authorised to manage the company’s affairs will be set out in the company’s articles of association.) The fiduciary duty includes a duty to take proper care of the assets of the company; not to make a personal profit (unless permitted in the articles or approved or ratified by the company); to avoid conflicts with the company and not to compete with the company.

Statutory duties of directors are contained in the Companies Acts and in other legislation. They include administrative duties (mainly found in the Companies Acts) such as the duty to keep the statutory books up to date and the duty to file annual returns.

The liability for breach of these duties usually attaches to the company and to all defaulting officers of the company. Other legislation that imposes criminal and civil liability on directors includes the Insolvency Act 1986 (for example where a director continues to trade when he knew or ought to have known that there was no reasonable prospect of the company avoiding insolvent liquidation or if he knowingly continues to carry on business with the intention of defrauding creditors in the knowledge that there was no reasonable prospect of the creditors being paid by the company); health and safety regulations and environmental legislation (if it is shown that the director contributed to a breach through consent, connivance or neglect); the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (if a director acts while disqualified); as well as competition and securities law.

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (2007 Act) received Royal Assent in the UK on 26 July 2007, over ten years after the Law Commission proposed a new “corporate killing” law to close what was previously regarded as a legal loophole which allowed larger organisations to escape liability for manslaughter in consequence of death caused by serious industrial negligence. Justice Minister Maria Eagle said that until now it has been “virtually impossible to prosecute large companies for management failures leading to deaths”.

The new legislation, which came into force on 6 April 2008, is intended to make it easier for the authorities to successfully prosecute larger organisations where a corporate management failing has led to death, by introducing a new test; that of a substantial senior management contribution to the company’s breach of duty. The new law is primarily aimed at larger businesses, and the government has said it expects to bring around ten prosecutions each year.

Criminalisation of Aircraft Accidents All owners and operators of aircraft should ensure businesses need to have systems of reporting and response in place to defend themselves against both civil and criminal liability.

Recent examples of prosecutions include the action against representatives of Dassault in Greece following the turbulence incident in 1999 involving the Falcon aircraft which killed the Greek Minister in charge of European Affairs, the prosecution of a Continental engineer in France in relation to the Concorde accident in 2000 and the simultaneous prosecutions in Greece and Cyprus of various directors and officers of Helios following a pressurisation incident involving the 737 which led to the aircraft crashing near Athens in 2005.

There is an increasing trend to criminalise aircraft accidents within the EU. A balance needs to be drawn between the promotion of aviation safety and the prosecution of those with a connection to an accident particularly where the information used in support of the prosecution comes either from confidential reporting or the air accident investigation and information gathered by investigators in the course of the official investigation. The whole point of safety management systems and reporting is to encourage operators to put practices in place to avoid accidents – learning from mistakes and spotting and correcting errors as they arise. The use of these reports in subsequent prosecutions of those who have made them clearly inhibits the future of voluntary reporting in the industry.

Indeed, serious aviation accidents are investigated in accordance with Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention 1944 which specifically prohibits the use of the report for fault finding and which also emphasises that the sole purpose of the report is the avoidance of future accidents and the promotion of air safety. Notwithstanding these very clear provisions, accident reports are routinely used in civil law countries as the basis for prosecution of individuals in criminal cases. Despite the fact that the investigations are undertaken by quasipublic authorities with no criminal investigative experience, the conclusions in accident reports can be very persuasive so far as the criminal courts

of many civil law countries are concerned. By using the accident reports in this way, the very basis of producing the report in the interests of preventing future accidents is compromised.

Important lobbying work in this area must continue for the protection of safety for everyone.

There are various pre-accident protection measures that any aircraft owner or operator should consider which include a wholescale review of their aircraft hull and liability insurance, the purchase of a TLO (Total Loss Only) provision that would provide for some funds in the event of the total loss of an aircraft, and directors and officers liability insurance which more often than not is overlooked. In addition a robust emergency response plan should be in place in order for appropriate training to be given to the individuals expected to participate in the event of an emergency involving multiple loss of life.

The plan should also make provisions so that an appropriate PR response can be given to the media.

Conclusion Own or share a jet…dry lease, wet lease…go for a fractional share…use an aviation management company: different structures appeal to different buyers. The best advice is to get early advice. Equip yourself with a team who has experience in aviation and can direct you in the right way. Initial outlay on getting the right structure and procedures in place will go a long way to prevent you having to unravel an unworkable structure and incur unnecessary associated costs. The purchase of an aircraft in an international forum is not without its complications and it is important to have the right team on board from the outset.

✈

Aoife O’Sullivan is a partner in the Aircraft Finance Department at Gates and Partners, London. Gates and Partners is an aviation specialist law firm with offices in London, Singapore, Paris and Brussels. The firm was recently voted one of the top ten law firms in the world by Air Finance Journal 2010 and was granted a Finance Monthly Global Award for Achievement 2010 as Aerospace Law Firm of the Year – UK. Contact aosullivan@gatesandpartners.com T: 0844 692 4966 M: 07709 432 350

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REPORT

MEBA 2010

TRIPLE TRIUMPH FOR MEBA

From healthy order books to commitments to develop the industry to a brand new regional interiors shop – MEBA 2010 was a success.

Liz Moscrop reports.

T

his year’s MEBA show created a stir on many fronts at the world’s third busiest airport, Dubai International. There was some 40 percent growth on the 2008 event, with 350 exhibitors up from 250 and 7,000 expected visitors rather than 5,500 who showed up last time.

DIGNITARY

President Dubai CAA, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saed Al Maktoum inaugurates the show (center).

Visiting a Royal Jet BBJ with Shane O'Hare, president and CEO of the company (bottom)

First time attendee Saudi Private Aviation (SPA) breezed into the Dubai Airport Expo talking of a record shopping spree underlying its ambition to run a fleet that will represent ten percent of the country’s total aircraft which is expected to grow to 1,200 by 2020. The company is a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian Airlines, but will soon become an entity in its own right. It was specifically looking for mid size jets, but said it was also eyeing business aircraft with between 25 and 40 seats, with a view to acquiring between two and four, according to boss, Wajdi Alidrissi.

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The Jeddah-based company is looking to plug the gap between its six Hawker 400XPs and four Dassault Falcon 7Xs. Alidrissi said: “At this stage we are looking at mid-sized aircraft and would expect to sign something next year. We also need between two and four aircraft in the 25-40 passenger category.” According to Alidrissi, SPA flew around 270 customers in its first year of trading.

Alidrissi also said he expected SPA to need two additional Hawker 400 XPs in 2011.

Bombardier had a great show, too.

On day one it cracked open the champagne to toast sales of nine aircraft.

Two Global 7000s went to Comlux The Aviation Group, while Munich-based Jet Air Flug announced an estimated $155 million order for five mid-size Learjet 85s and two large-cabin Challenger 605 jets.

The Global 7000s will enter into service in 2016. Comlux president Richard Gaona said: “Remember we are not buying aircraft for ourselves, but for our customers,” he said.

Comlux’s fleet includes Challenger

ordered by FAS in November 2007 at the Dubai Air Show, together with commitments for more Embraer executive aircraft. Colin Steven, Embraer vice president, marketing and sales, Europe, Africa and Middle East, Executive Jets said: “FAS customers will appreciate the luxurious interior and premium comfort of the ultralarge jet, configured with the largest in-flight accessible baggage compartment of any executive jet.”

And who would have thought there would be a market for one of the smallest very light jets in the heavy metal heartland of Saudi Arabia? Ekim Alptekin, executive vice president of Eclipse Aerospace, did. He was promoting the new Total Eclipse – the upgrade and completion of the stalled Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ) program. Alptekin envisions a rosy future for the aircraft in the Gulf region – in particular Saudi Arabia – as more entrepreneurs realize the value of using small aircraft for journeys that take several hours in a car.

He said he was “very happy” that his company was one of the few to experi-

The company will use its existing facility in Dubai to launch new offerings.

Among the products and services featured at the Goodrich Interiors stand were a new mood lighting system based on LEDs claimed to yield “the most appealing colors on the market” and integrated touch-screens.

Meanwhile the first full VIP completions centre in the Middle East is to open in the near future. MAZ Aviation held a special event to announce an agreement with MRO specialists Alsalam Aircraft that is designed to put the latter at the forefront of the global VIP completions business, offering an alternative to the providers in Europe and the USA. MAZ chairman Mohammed Al Zeer said: “We design interiors for our VIP customers and have achieved a high level of penetration in that market. Alsalam Aircraft’s range of interiors capabilities, as demonstrated by the VIP C-130 that they handed over to the customer, is unique in this region.”

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) also announced a plan to reduce its charges at Al Bateen

605, Challenger 850, Global 5000 and Global Express XRS jets. The Global 7000 aircraft complements its existing VIP wide-body fleet and contributes to the company’s plan to become the leading wide-cabin and long-haul VIP charter and aircraft management provider in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.

Rival Embraer also opened the bubbly when it handed over the first ultralarge Lineage 1000 to Abu Dhabi based charter company Falcon Aviation Services (FAS). The aircraft is the first of two Lineage 1000 jets

ence growth over the last 16 months, especially in light of the battering Eclipse Aviation took when it filed for bankruptcy after producing some 270 of its VLJ. Now the resurrected company provides engineering, service and support for the existing fleet of twin-engine jets.

Executive Airport, the only dedicated Business Aviation airport in the region, by 35 percent on landing fees and by 17 percent on the current parking fees for all aircraft. Stephen Jones, the airport’s newly appointed General Manager said: “We created a lot of awareness at the recent Grand Prix by offering free landing and parking services which strengthened our belief in prioritizing the offering of best levels of services at competitive prices.”

ADAC is projecting almost 12,000 commercial movements at the airport by 2014.

Interiors On the interiors front US giant Goodrich acquired DeCrane Aerospace in September 2010 and was at Dubai to introduce the newly-branded Goodrich Interiors to the Middle Eastern market.

SALES

Comlux signed a firm order for two Global 7000 jets.

Left to Right: Bob Horner, Senior VicePresident, Sales, Bombardier Business Aircraft, Richard Gaona, President, Comlux (left).

Sergio Frias, Embraer Executive Jets Contracts VP hands the key of a Lineage 1000 to Saif M A Al Mugheiry COO Abu-Dhabi based Falcon Aviation services (right).

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REPORT

MEBA 2010

Another show coup came from trip support planning company Universal Weather and Aviation, which announced that it will start to offer European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) reporting services in time for operators to comply with the March 31, 2011 deadline to submit their verified 2010 emissions data.

Randy Stephens, UV’s division vice president, product management and specialty services, said his company had received many requests from clients to develop such a facility since the mandatory reporting is expensive, time consuming and has to comply with strict parameters. He added that this would “make compliance with EUETS as painless and cost-efficient as possible.”

Universal is able to streamline the reporting process by leveraging existing historical flight planning data it has from clients’ trips into EU member states. This will then be accessible online. Customers will also be able to upload their own data and run customizable reports based on their own criteria, which they can submit to their own third-party verifier if required.

THRIVING

MEBAA is fostering an environment in which Business Aviation can flourish and the MEBA show is making a major contribution.

Show Stoppers Yet another significant event took place in December in Dubai. The International Business Aviation Council met in the region for the first time the day after the MEBA show.

The meeting was a real coup for the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA), which has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2007. It is something of

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a triple triumph, too, for the third Middle East Business Aviation show, which has become the third largest private aviation tradeshow in the world in its third outing.

There are now 148 MEBAA members, up by 100 since the last MEBA show in 2008. MEBAA’s founding chairman Ali Ahmed Al Naqbi said: “This is good growth despite what is going on in the market. We are seeing good recovery in the Business Aviation sector, with an increase in flying hours. People who put their operations on hold are now coming back.”

While MEBAA is fostering an environment in which Business Aviation can flourish, the MEBA show is also making a major contribution. All the major OEMs took part again, with major first time faces being Honeywell, RUAG and Emerald Jet

from the Lebanon, which took a chalet. Other bookings included companies such as CAE, Amjet Executive, Avicom, OnAir and Jeppesen, with the return of Happy Design Studio and JCB. UK and Qatar-based Rizon exhibited for the first time.

There are several other new entrants from the Middle East region. Alison Weller, Managing Director of F&E Aerospace, which organizes the show said: “We’re seeing a growing trend of flight support services companies exhibiting as the industry grows.”

There was also an extra hall this time in addition to the East and Central halls, so the show felt bigger. Weller highlighted the ease of access to the show. She said: “People confuse us with the Dubai Air Show when we are much smaller and more accessible.

There is ample car parking space and plenty of taxis.”

Both Al Naqbi and Weller stressed that they would ideally like to see MEBA move around the region. Al Naqbi said: “I would like to see MEBAA have an office in all the GCAAs in the region, but we have limited resources as a non-profit organization.” Weller pointed out that many countries are as yet unable to host such a large event. She said: “We will consider taking it around the region if facilities allow it – this forms part of our long term plan. Dubai at the moment is willing to host it.”

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PREVIEW

BUSINESS AIRPORT WORLD EXPO

LONDON CALLING

The first edition of the Business Airport World Expo is taking place soon in London.

Liz Moscrop checks out who is going.

T

his March sees a brand new show arrive at TAG Farnborough Airport in the UK. From the 1st to the 3rd of the month the Business Airport World Expo (BAWE) 2011 will play host to an international crowd of executive jet owners and operators, gathering to discover new routes, destinations, and partners.

Participants are coming from places as far flung as Canada, Tanzania, and Russia, with visitors from all over Europe and the USA to boot. So far more than 100 exhibitors have signed up for the inaugural event. At the time of writing organizers said: “Over 100 companies are expected to exhibit, with more executive jet handlers, FBOs, refueling companies, ground handlers, and VIP aviation centers booking their booths at this dedicated expo every week.”

TAG Farnborough Airport is perhaps Europe’s most iconic Business Aviation airport thanks to its striking terminal designed by Reid Architecture and Buro Happold. The airfield has modern passenger terminals, hangars, and maintenance facilities, plus a luxury hotel onsite, which has proved to be extremely successful.

Manager of the hotel the Aviator Michael Hellig said that 2010 was a positive year with first quarter demand “beyond expectation.”

The BAWE show has attracted an interesting mix of exhibitors. Several international airports have chosen to come. For example, Rheinland Air Service (RAS), which is doubling up with Germany’s Munich Executive (Oberpfaffenhofen) Airport.

Oberpfaffenhofen is an executive aviation only airfield with a 7,500ft runway, and an instrument landing system (ILS), which caters purely for Business Aviation. RAS operates the airport’s terminal and facilities include crew and passenger lounges, a crew snooze room, a conference room, and a large sundeck. RUAG Business Aviation Maintenance has a presence at the airport and services Cessna

Citation and Bombardier types. 328 Support Services is also on site, which maintains Dornier 328s, both turboprops and jets.

Northern Ireland’s Enniskillen Airport has also taken a booth, which may appeal to golfing fans visiting the show. Situated in the lake district of Northern Ireland, Enniskillen is only 30 minutes by helicopter to Belfast or Dublin. The airfield will doubtless be promoting the beautiful golf courses and fivestar hotels within easy reach.

Airports coming from further afield include Portsmouth International Airport, which is situated on the historic coast of New Hampshire, USA. On site FBO Port City Air is located at the end of an 11,321ft runway. Port City Air will be plugging itself as the ideal port of entry for transatlantic tech stops. The company says: “When it comes to aircraft handling, we are as full-service as it gets. And we do it right, at our modern and spacious 35,000 square foot FBO and heated hangar facility.” With 24/7 customs and immigration located on the field, Port City can cater for aircraft of any size.

STRIKING

The iconic terminal at TAG Farnborough Airport.

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PREVIEW

BUSINESS AIRPORT WORLD EXPO

Caribbean-based IAM Jet Centres will be showing off its two full-service FBOs in Barbados (at Grantley Adams International Airport) and Montego Bay, Jamaica (at Sangster International Airport). The company has 21 years experience providing dedicated handling and jet fuel services to Business Aviation operators throughout the region.

Closer to home Lyon-Bron Business Airport will have a presence. The French airfield has long promoted the economic value Business Aviation brings to the community surrounding the airport. In May 2009 the European Business Aviation Association awarded the airport for its outstanding con-

OPERATORS

Cotswold (Kemble) Airport England, home to several operators (top).

Ocean Sky, a private aviation company headquartered in London, (center).

Execujet Aviation Group's (bottom) services include aircraft sales and management.

tribution to Business Aviation. EBAA board chairman Rodolfo Baviera noted the hard-won effort by Lyon-Bron airport officials to develop a constructive dialogue with residents in the area surrounding the airport. He said: “With this award, we recognize the leadership shown by these airport officials in reaching out to the surrounding community.”

Homegrown airports exhibiting include London Oxford Airport in the UK, which will promote itself as a viable London alternative for Business Aviation operators, with ongoing investment in facilities and infrastructure. The airport has invested £20 million (US$31.7 million) in the last five years, with hangarage increasing by 80 percent, the construction of a new main runway and an FBO, along with the installation of an instrument land-

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ing system. It recently upgraded its 5,052ft runway to a Code 3C, meaning operators can use the entire length of the runway. Opening hours are 06:30hrs to 22:30hrs, seven days a week, and it boasts enhancements such as Cat 6 RFF and pet importation approval. The airport is an hour from West London by road. All the investment has paid off. Business development director James Dillon-Godfray said: “We saw a 40 percent growth in movements last year. While we don’t expect such a big hike this year, we still expect to see some growth.”

Another one to watch is Cotswolds (Kemble) Airport. The field is growing dramatically and is home to several operators and engineering firms, as well as charity fly2help. As well as looking for international business Kemble is looking at developing local relationships. It recently announced a new partnership with local catering firm Relish aimed at transforming on site AV8 bistro into a focal point for the community. Cotswold Airport manager Nick Howard said: “We’re really keen to turn AV8 into a venue which will become a focal point for the community, as well as looking after the needs of everyone who works at Cotswold Airport and their clients.”

Operators The show has also attracted worldclass executive aviation fixed base operators (FBO) providers and operators. Ocean Sky, for example, is one of Europe’s fastest growing private aviation companies. Headquartered in

London, the company has offices in Zurich and Moscow, plus has FBOs at Luton, Manchester, and Prestwick in the UK; plus Ibiza, Valencia, and Mahon in Spain. The firm also provides brokerage, private jet charter, maintenance, interiors, management, sales and acquisitions, and financial services. It has its own fleet of private jets.

The ExecuJet Aviation Group has taken a booth to show off its varied range of services, which include aircraft sales and management charter, maintenance, and completions management. It also operates six FBOs – in Berlin, Zurich, Paris, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Dubai, and Kuala Lumpur. Last year Execujet opened a new facility in Paris Le Bourget along with Advanced Air Support. The FBO offers two passenger lounges, a pilot lounge and separate relaxation room for crew, two bedrooms with en suites for crew and passengers, WiFi, satellite TV, catering, parking, meeting rooms, and a complete concierge service.

Fellow provider Signature Flight Support is determined to continue to forge a strong presence in Europe, so much so that the Florida-headquartered company has taken a stand in order to demonstrate its dedication to the region. Chief operating officer David Best said: “We have a network of 103 locations and offer people an end to end service. We are familiar with local customs and can provide local connections in Europe, the USA, Africa and Asia.” Best added: “We also support our ground staff, who need to be able to handle aircraft of 747 and 777 size, so we have all the operational equipment required on site.”

Signature has a tried and tested strategy in Europe, with strong networks particularly in Greece, Germany, and most recently France with its ground handling coordination service.

Other Companies Present Hadley Executive Chauffeurs are the driving force behind many an executive trip, and the company has taken a booth to win more business. It says when it has clients in the air it “continually monitors flights to determine arrival times, to ensure no time is wasted and clients reach their destination on time.” Meanwhile, the lifeblood of an airport is fuel and

that. This will incorporate best practices for buying and leasing aircraft, plus fleet/aircraft management techniques, tools, and systems. There is also a workshop aimed at how to choose the right partner – ie understanding landing and handling fees, and discovering suitable maintenance, repair and overhaul stops, and what to expect from an FBO. The BBGA will be advising attendees on European security regulations for Business Aviation and the effect they have on operational efficiency, and the Department of Transport will discuss

worldwide provider Global Fuel has taken a stand at the show. Global Fuel provides fuel via a combination of fuel cards and pre- arranged services.

Workshops To complement the exhibition, there are free workshops on site, hosted by the European Business Aviation Association, the Baltic Air Charter Association, ACC AvServ, and the British Business and General Aviation Association. Topics covered include aircraft safety and risk management.

One session will address crew fatigue, route planning, and MRO procedures/ schedules and facilities. Another will cover new routes and airspace restrictions – a vital resource for operators wishing to fly the most efficient route between airfields. The workshop will also look at how to win new business and optimizing flight planning.

Operators will naturally want to know the most cost effective way to acquire and manage an aircraft, and there is a session addressing exactly

the UK’s implementation of EC300 security rules. BBGA Chief Executive, Guy Lachlan stressed the importance of understanding safety and security legislation, which may negatively impact small airfields. He said: “If we don’t keep our eye on the ball the security restrictions that could be imposed on small airfields could be unaffordable.”

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PARTICIPATION

David Best (top) COO at Signature Flight Support (center).

Guy Lachlan Chief Executive of the BBGA (bottom) says security restrictions could be unaffordable for small airfields.

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INSIGHT

HAWKER BEECHCRAFT/ W.W. (BILL) BOISTURE Jr.

RIDING OUT THE RECESSION Bill Boisture landed squarely in the “hot seat” as Chairman and CEO of Hawker Beechcraft in April 2009, during the economic downturn.

A graduate of the US Air Force Academy and the elite US Air Force and U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons (“Top Gun”) schools, he has led several major companies; most prominently Gulfstream Aerospace and NetJets.

Senior Writer, Jack Carroll, checks up on his progress in guiding Hawker Beechcraft through this stubborn recession.

BART: Hawker Beechcraft was recently awarded an incentive grant of some $45 million by the State of Kansas and local government to keep the company in Wichita. How will the grant affect the company?

Boisture: The funds coming in over the next five years will be directed to two major areas: First, providing continuing education and training for our people. And secondly, to drive and support the product development process for new programs.

We’ll be using Wichita State University and other local institutions for continuing education, while the training portion will be handled by the National Center for Aviation Training near our headquarters. Our objective there is to broaden our workers’ skills across a wide range of manufacturing areas.

FUTURE

Bill Boisture does not intend to rest on his laurels.

BART: You joined Hawker Beechcraft at a less than opportune time, in the depths of the Business Aviation downturn. How are you coping?

Boisture: From the outset we’ve been very upfront and direct with our people in regard to our decision to become a smaller, more agile and efficient company. We’ve already taken action to significantly shrink our physical “footprint” and by the end of this year will have closed more than a mil-

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lion square feet of real estate at our primary location in Wichita.

BART: What is your own take on the state of the industry?

Boisture: I think the recession is pretty much at the bottom and we’ve seen some positive signs at year end, especially the new tax incentives that allow accelerated depreciation, which is already creating increasing interest in buying new aircraft. But I expect we’ll see a few months or more of holding in this recessionary pattern.

In the meantime and with regard to Hawker Beechcraft I think price and volume have to come up together or we’re not going to have a very healthy market. We still have an excessive used aircraft inventory to clear out and when that’s finally done there should be an upward lift for new aircraft pricing. We’re looking for reasonable pricing coupled with increased volume and when that happens we’ll probably see compound growth in the five to eight percent range, versus the 12 to 16 percent range that we had in 2006 through 2008.

And we continue to develop variants and improvements within our existing product line. We’ve greatly improved the performance of the KingAir C90, 350i, and the new Hawker 200, which is derived from the Premier IA. We’re also developing new performanceenhancing products for the Hawker 400, and 800 series. These new component packages keep our aircraft current with new technology.

BART: To prepare for the upturn, will you be expanding in the product support/service area?

Boisture: We already maintain the industry’s largest service network, with over 100 company-owned and authorized service centers. But we’re continuing to explore and evaluate a number of select locations. For instance, we recently entered into an agreement with the ExecuJet Group, which will greatly expand our international product support capabilities.

BART: Your Hawker 4000 flagship has grown both in terms of customer appeal and orders since certification.

How is it progressing?

Boisture: In the past 18 months we’ve invested additional funds in that program and are now up to serial numbers in the 50s. In fact, we are actually selling ahead of what we have in stock, so the next aircraft availability will be late 2011. We’ve delivered four Hawker 4000s in China this past year and we see tremendous potential there for the 4000, as well as our other products.

BART: Is the military/trainer/special missions market helping you dampen the effects of the recession?

Boisture: Trainer and special mission aircraft sales are definitely helping us weather this recession. If you take trainers and special mission aircraft sales, plus their after-market contribution, it adds up to nearly half the company's total revenues. We've delivered over 600 T-6 and T-6B trainers, and have plenty of prospects in the pipeline, such as the Indian Air Force Trainer Program, with a potential of 75 aircraft.

BART: After nearly a year in the job, what’s your overall feeling at this point and for the future?

Boisture: Well, you can’t rest on your laurels. But I see our installed base of some 36,000 aircraft as having a great potential for growing our service business, which had been mainly left to distributors and third parties.

We have a great team of people, the right products and reasonable economics, to build a strong future for this company and that’s precisely what we’re doing.

✈

HAWKER BEECHCRAFT GLOBAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT.

DEDICATED TO YOUR AIRCRAFT AND TO YOUR SUCCESS. “The real value in the Hawker we purchased is the relationships that come with it. This is absolute customer dedication, and another example of the simply stellar support we have received post-delivery on this aircraft.”

—Eric Norber, Founder and Pilot of ELJ Aviation

LOWER OPERATING COSTS. INCREASED VALUE. ENHANCED OWNERSHIP. As lightning struck and an AOG threatened to cancel a critical mission, ELJ Aviation founder and pilot Eric Norber learned firsthand how the Hawker Beechcraft Global Customer Support team defines commitment. Field service representative Tim Mau orchestrated Hawker Beechcraft Services and RDO engineering resources to find a solution for Mr. Norber that others would have called impossible. Working through the night, the GCS team had the aircraft ready for dispatch—on time—by sunrise.

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