New small jets spur concerns

new generation of small jets is threatening to clog congested airline routes and is raising safety concerns, according to air-traffic controllers and airline pilots.
By Alan Levin, USA TODAY

So-called very light jets (VLJs) began commercial service in the Southeast last year. Companies using them say they will revolutionize air travel by making it more practical and affordable.

However, the jets have created problems for controllers. The new planes are so much slower than larger airline jets that controllers must keep them out of the normal highways in the skies whenever traffic is heavy, said Steven Wallace, the local president of the National Air Traffic Controllers’ Association at Miami Center…

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Eclipse Goes Ahead With Single, Hikes Price Of Twin

Eclipse Aviation formally announced its intention to begin production of a $1.35 million single-engine jet called the Eclipse 400. The announcement was made earlier today at the company’s annual “E-rrival” event in Albuquerque. At the same time, Eclipse announced it was boosting the price of its twin-engine 500 model by more than $550,000 from $1.595 million to $2.15 million. The announcements came as Eclipse was celebrating the tenth anniversary of the company. In both cases, Eclipse founder and CEO Vern Raburn said they were ideas whose time had come.
Regarding the 400, Raburn said there was overwhelmingly positive response to the single-engine “Concept” jet unveiled at EAA AirVenture last year. The four-place aircraft is claimed by Eclipse to be the “world’s most fuel-efficient jet aircraft” and will be powered by a PW615F engine. Deliveries are planned for the end of 2011. Existing Eclipse 500 owners get first crack at one and a $125,000 discount if they order by July 25. It goes on the general market at EAA AirVenture. As for the price increase, Raburn said it costs more to build the Eclipse 500 than they thought it would and they aren’t able to build them in the kind of volume they thought they could so they had to increase the price. “Eclipse’s cost-driven pricing model requires Eclipse to re-examine aircraft pricing if actual costs change significantly from projections,” the company said in a news release.

Source: AVweb

Flight Options Cuts Staff

Flight Options, a fractional operator based in Cleveland, Ohio, has laid off about 200 workers across the country, including about 75 pilots, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on Wednesday. The company blamed high fuel prices and overall economic conditions for a reduction in demand over the last few months, and said in a statement that “we anticipate that prevailing economic conditions will continue.”

Pilots for the company joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters two years ago, but no contract is yet in place, the Plain Dealer reported. Some pilots complained that the job cuts were not based on seniority. The company said “productivity” drove the decisions, but some pilots said union activists were targeted. Flight Options operates a fleet of over 130 aircraft, including the Hawker 400XP, Hawker 850XP, Citation X and Embraer Legacy.

The company was founded in 1998, and in 2005, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Raytheon. In 2007, the company was acquired by H.I.G. Capital LLC, a global private equity firm.

Source: AVweb

Online Charter Booking System Launched

It was about 11 years ago that Alaska Airlines took the first online flight booking and now most of us arrange our aluminum tube travel that way. Booking private charters is naturally more complicated but CharterX says it’s achieved a software breakthrough called RealQuote that allows customers to book conveniently online with launch operators Segrave Aviation and its affiliate Pegasus Elite. “There have been a variety of roadblocks that have prevented the air charter industry from realizing the time and cost efficiencies that e-commerce has provided commercial travelers for the past decade,” said CharterX President Jim Betlyon. “It’s been a pleasure working with Segrave over the past several months to overcome these obstacles and deliver e-commerce capability to our joint customers.”

The company says RealQuote “bypasses manual, time-intensive quoting and booking processes; it delivers true e-commerce capability.” Charter operators receive trip requests electronically from air charter buyers and are able to respond directly with quotes that run through BART and CTA/FOS scheduling and quoting software used by most operators. Jim Segrave, the founder of Pegasus and Segrave, said online booking is one more way to improve efficiency. “Our ongoing investments in technology, e-commerce and digital business systems, continue to drive our company’s rapid growth,” he said.
Source – AVweb

“Real Quote streamlines the quoting process which allows us to deliver more accurate quotes in real time,” explains Kevin Godlewski, President of Executive Charter Services and Charter X customer.

Safety Rules for Lithium Batteries on Aircraft

US DOT Hazmat Safety Rule to Place Limits on Lithium Batteries Carried by Passengers Aboard Aircraft Effective January 1, 2008

Passengers will no longer be able to pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage beginning January 1, 2008, once new federal safety rules take effect. The new regulation, designed to reduce the risk of lithium battery fires, will continue to allow lithium batteries in checked baggage if they are installed in electronic devices, or in carry-on baggage if properly protected from short circuiting in their original packaging or by placing them in individual plastic bags or a protective travel case.

Common consumer electronics such as digital cameras, cell phones, and most notebook computers are still allowed in carry-on and checked luggage. Moreover, any number of spare batteries for these devices will be allowed in carry-on baggage if they are properly protected from short circuiting and do not exceed 8 grams (~100 watt hours) of equivalent lithium content. Most lithium-ion cell phone and standard notebook computer batteries are below 8 grams (~100 watt hours) of equivalent lithium content. Batteries not installed in electronic devices are not permitted in checked baggage.

Private jet travel company, Executive Charter Services distributed information about the new rule to attendees of the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show this week. “The Consumer Electronics show is the first and one of the largest trade shows of the year and we provided the information as a professional courtesy to private and commercial travelers who were not aware of the new rules,” explains Kevin Godlewski, President of ECS. “It’s our responsibility to keep travelers informed about FAA safety rules that impact the way they travel.”

The rule limits passengers to not more than two large spare rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in carry-on baggage. This applies to batteries that exceed 8 grams (~100 watt hours) of equivalent lithium content and less than 25 grams (~300 watt hours) [see attached illustration]. Batteries with more than 25 grams (~300 watt hours) are not allowed in either checked or carry-on baggage.

“Doing something as simple as keeping a spare battery in its original retail packaging or a plastic zip-lock bag will prevent unintentional short-circuiting and fires,” said Krista Edwards, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Lithium batteries are considered hazardous materials because they can overheat and ignite under certain conditions. Safety testing conducted by the FAA found that current aircraft cargo fire suppression system would not be capable of suppressing a fire if a shipment of non-rechargeable lithium batterieswere ignited in flight. This rule aims to reduce the risk of fires involving lithium batteries in the cabin of passenger aircraft.

“This rule protects the passenger,” said Lynne Osmus, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) assistant administrator for security and hazardous materials. “It’s one more step for safety. It’s the right thing to do and the right time to do it.”

In addition to the new rule, PHMSA is working with the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the battery, consumer electronics and airline industries, airline employee organizations, testing laboratories, and the emergency response communities to increase public awareness about battery-related risks and developments. These useful safety tips are highlighted at the public website: http://safetravel.dot.gov.

Private jet sales breaking barrier

Dominic O’Connell-Sunday Times

THE private-jet boom is soaring to new heights with Honeywell, the American aerospace group that is a key supplier, saying orders are up 100% and forecasting record sales for the next decade.

“Industry growth has moved into unparalleled territory,” said Rob Wilson, president of business and general aviation at Honeywell Aerospace, which makes engines and avionics for business jets. He expects deliveries of business jets to exceed 1,000 this year for the first time, up from 861 aircraft delivered last year.

Manufacturers in the first half of this year achieved more than 900 orders, 100% up on the same period last year, and Honeywell forecasts that 14,000 aircraft � equivalent to the world’s entire fleet today � will be delivered in the next decade. That market will be worth $233 billion (£114 billion).

Such is the demand for large, long-range jets like the Dassault Falcon 7X and Bombardier Global Express that there are delays of up to six years for delivery.

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Execs skip air delays, pilot themselves

By LAUREN SHEPHERD
Associated Press
NEW YORK

When a meeting with clients runs late, Andy Davidson doesn’t have to worry that his plane will leave without him.

Instead of impatiently waiting in mile-long security lines or silently waging war over a shared airplane armrest, Davidson can walk straight to his own six-seater, climb into the cockpit and take off.

Davidson, the owner of a New York-based financial consulting business, is a member of a small but growing group of businessmen who have taken their passion for flying and turned it into a more convenient — if less economical — form of transportation.

Most of these executives either buy or lease small planes, called single-engine pistons, with seating room equivalent to a family sedan and the ability to fly up to about 1,000 miles. With many airlines cutting back flights to smaller destinations, small business owners and midlevel executives are realizing that flying themselves might actually be feasible.

According to the Federal Administration Association, the number of hours single-engine piston planes are flown each year is expected to rise 17 percent by 2020, with growth of about 1 percent per year. Although some of that increase may be due to pilots who fly for recreation, FAA spokesman Hank Price said the government anticipates that business use of private aircraft will grow faster than leisure use.

Anecdotal evidence seems to confirm that more businessmen are seeing personal aviation as a transportation option. Flying clubs, where pilots can share ownership of a plane or receive additional training, are filling up with executives. One Atlanta-based club called Airshares Elite, founded in 1999, caters specifically to businessmen.

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Friendly Skies

You think your little corporate jet’s impressive? Step aboard a private Boeing 767 or new Airbus 380 designed just for you. Fly right!

By Daniel McGinn
Newsweek

Oct. 1, 2007 issue – For business travelers, the last few months have been the summer from hell—a time of endless flight delays, tarmac gridlock and overstuffed planes. But as so many frequent fliers have come to dread their next trip, the fortunate fliers who patronize Gore Design Completions can’t wait for the next one. Gore builds customized interiors for the large jetliners that heads of state, corporate chiefs and billionaires have begun turning into private flying apartments. It’s a rarefied business, but lately it’s soaring. In the past three years, Gore has grown from 50 employees to 320. Revenue was just $23 million last year, but is expected to surpass $100 million in 2008.

Today Gore’s hangar is filled with five half-completed jets—and it’s fully booked with work until nearly 2010. “We’re about maxed out,” says cofounder Jerry Gore. Aviation has always been a boom-and-bust business, but lately things have been looking up. In October Airbus will deliver its first A380, a gargantuan double-decker plane capable of ferrying 555 passengers nonstop from Los Angeles to Sydney. Later this fall Boeing will begin test flights of its new 787, a revolutionary jet made of carbon-fiber composites that Boeing promises will fly passengers longer distances more comfortably while using far less fuel than existing planes. Airlines are lining up to order both new jets.

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What billionaire boys do with their jets

Oliver Warren – TIMES ONLINE

Larry Page and Sergey Brin may have secured a Nasa landing spot for their personal planes that is the envy of their Silicon Valley colleagues, but in the field of private jet oneupmanship their achievement is relatively modest. John Travolta, who has his own pilot’s licence and is well known as an ambassador for the Australian airline Qantas, demonstrated his enthusiasm for flying by naming his son Jett. His five planes, which include a customised Boeing 707, are within even easier reach than the Google jet – they are kept on the driveway of his house, which has a full-length runway complete with a replica 1950s airport lounge.

Even Travolta, however, is outclassed by some super-rich jet owners. Airbus revealed earlier this year that they have received an order from a private client for one of their new A380s. The plane, worth £150m, is the largest passenger aircraft in the world, capable when used commercially of carrying up to 800 economy-class passengers. Its size makes it unable to land at most airports. Various designs for private use, which would add up to £200m to the price, have been proposed, including plans for two en-suite bedrooms (one with its own hot tub), two dining rooms, an office, a library, a gym with its own sauna, and a stateroom, as well as quarters for eight crew members.

Times Online

Not all jet owners have their personal convenience in mind. Emergency medical transport is available from several private jet charter companies and the Corporate Angel Network is a great resource for corporate flight departments to donate empty seats on aircraft so cancer patients can catch a lift to medical appointments.

The sky’s the limit with company perks

When it comes to company perks and employee incentive programs, many savvy companies offer Carbon Offsets as a perk. Take 37 year old Darby Wood, who travels coast-to-coast 4 times annually. She was offered a $100 gift certificate to “insert restaurant chain“. However, she opted to offset her carbon footprint through TerraPass. And she’s not alone.

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