The whole country was watching the 83rd annual Oscars last night in Los Angeles and I was curious if there was an increase in the number of private jets or corporate jets that flew in or out of the city. It seems that many private jet charter companies increase their advertising and their offerings for stars and VIP and executives that wanted to fly into the event in style. The issue there is most of those that are nominated or are attending the event already reside in the area.
There are some that are reporting that many stars that attended are now green since they didn’t charter private jets and didn’t upgrade their travel in and out of the show. Not much traffic at the local airports for them and that goes without saying since they are again living in the area. Many of those reported that are now more green for not flying in and out of Los Angeles didn’t report about their attending the Super Bowl festivities a few weeks ago. Congratulations to all the winners last night and now everyone will be headed home or to the next event, so perhaps corporate jet use will rise here in the next few days from the Hollywood area.
There are many ways that you can speak to us here at the Corporate Jet Insider. We at Corporate Jet insider are one way of contacting our corporate offices at L&L International too. We can be contacted most easily by calling us or contacting us on the contact page. We can also be contacted using the blog here by leaving a comment in any of the blog posts as though go right to our inbox. I also spoke earlier about our Facebook page and how it can be used to contact us and to interact with our company.
I also wanted to talk about Twitter. If you follow us over at Twitter, we will follow you back so that we may interact that way. As you may or may not know if two parties follow each other on Twitter, they can then sent direct messages to each other. We would be happy to take your direct message and make sure it gets into the hands of those that need to respond. That works as well with our live chat feature on the corporate site. Finally, if you want to sign up to receive the company newsletter and email, you can do that on our regular corporate site. Signing up with our email can get you company information and other industry news and information and the world of business aviation. Talk to us!
photo via derrickkwa
The FAA takes serious the regulations regarding maintenance of aircraft and this is reinforced by the FAA administrator. He stated:
“Keeping aircraft well-maintained and in good condition must be a top priority for any operator,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “All operators must comply with maintenance requirements.”
The FAA released a recent news story related to the penalty it proposes that will be assessed against Corporate Air:
SEATTLE – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing a $585,725 civil penalty against Corporate Air of Billings, Mont., for allegedly operating a Shorts SD-3-30 twin-turboprop cargo aircraft when it was not in compliance with Federal Aviation Regulations.
The FAA alleges Corporate Air failed to maintain the aircraft under the company’s general maintenance manual, which requires daily post-flight inspections that include examining the exterior skin for corrosion. In addition, the maintenance manual requires structural inspections on the basis of flight hours or flights.
The FAA alleges that Corporate Air operated the aircraft in violation of regulations on at least 81 revenue flights between Dec. 21, 2009 and Feb. 4, 2010 with corrosion that had not been detected during the post-flight inspections. The FAA also alleges that structural inspections were not conducted at the required intervals, between Mar. 16, 2006 and Feb. 3, 2010, in violation of federal regulations.
Corporate Air operates charter and air taxi service under Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations and makes daily feeder cargo flights under contract to a major next-day air package airline.
Corporate Air is afforded a period has 30 days from the receipt of the FAA’s enforcement letter to respond to the agency and state why it should not face the penalty that is being proposed.
They say if you continue to report good news that good news is bound to happen. This is not more apparent that in the world of business aviation or in the world of corporate jets. We are continuing to see reports of better news and of good numbers and of signs that the bad slide of the economic indicators in our industry. The recession has hit everyone in our industry and we are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel and recent news from JetNet, a corporate aviation and information analyst, give us that same upbeat opinion. These numbers were reported last month and give a good picture of the recovery. They report a better 2011 ahead and are also reporting that pre-owned jet sales will be stronger. It was reported by AIN:
“Pre-owned full-sale business jet transactions for 2010 were up by 16 percent, compared with 2009, and exceeded the 2008 transaction level by 4.8 percent. One reason for increased pre-owned sales can be found in a continuing decline in pricing, ranging from 1.5 percent lower for piston helicopters to 18.5 percent down for business jets versus 2009. According to the report, the percentage of jets for sale dropped for 16 months before the end of last year, from 17.7 percent to 14.8 percent. “So we still remain in a buyer’s market,” the report concluded. “A seller’s market is when 10 percent or less of the pre-owned inventory is for sale.” The percentage of turboprop business aircraft for sale as of December 31 was 10.5 percent, down from a peak of 12 percent set in May/June 2009. The percentage of turbine helicopters for sale (excluding Russian civil helicopters) was 7 percent, 0.1 percent higher than at the same point in 2009. A buyer’s market in the helicopter world is when the percentage of helicopters for sale exceeds 5 percent of the fleet. The report also noted the average number of days that a pre-owned business aircraft remained on the market in 2010 was 323 days–64 days more than in 2009.”
This report is good news for us in the pre-owned jet sales market, in spite of the report that we are in a buyer’s market. Any market uptake at this time and in this current economy can make it a better situation for the entire industry.
We have been working diligently over here at Corporate Jet Insider to make our online presence more dynamic and we are using Facebook to help us with that new experience You can join us on Facebook to get some of our blog postings here and get a chance to see some of our inventory and we will be interacting there as well as here in the corporate blog.
We have updated Facebook to the brand new update that they began last week. We can now interact with our followers by commenting on your Facebook page or talking with you directly as a corporate jet insider or as the L&L International company. If you have questions about our company or if you have questions or comments about our company blog, you can interact with us there on the Facebook page as well.
Finally, if you want to learn more about our company or if you want someone to contact you to get your own personal agent to help you with buying or selling or leasing a corporate jet or business jet, you can ask for assistance on the Facebook page and we will be happy to contact you via that medium. At L&L International we are doing all we can to make your business aviation experience the best it can be.
The FAA announced last week that it dedicated a new control tower at LaGuardia Airport (LGA). It replaces the current traffic control tower that was put up in 1964. LaGuardia is obviously a very busy airport that handled more than 400,000 takeoffs and landings last year in 2010. The U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, in a statement indicated:
“LaGuardia Airport plays an important role in our country’s aviation infrastructure,” said Lahood. “This modern tower will help enhance the safety and efficiency of air travel in and out of the New York metropolitan area.”
It is reported that the tower will be equipped with the latest aviation technology, including the Airport Surface Detection System Model X (ASDE-X), which allows controllers to track surface movement of aircraft and vehicles. Controllers will also be using the Integrated Control and Monitoring System (ICMS), which consolidates information including navigational aid displays into one screen.
FAA Administrator, Randy Babbitt stated in a release:
“Today marks a culmination of years of hard work by many people both inside and outside the FAA,” said Babbitt. “This tower symbolizes the direction the FAA is taking by transforming the future of aviation with new technology.”
Some of the specifications of the new tower include that the new 233-foot high tower is 82 feet higher than the previous tower and has an 850 square foot tower cab. The total cost to design, equip, and construct the new tower was approximately $100 million.
The Gulfstream 650 continues to use and test its aircraft under serial number 6001. Recently, Gulfstream, the jet manufacturer that is located in Savannah, Georgia, flew its S/N 6001 on a test flight using only an electrically powered, fly-by-wire (FBW) backup flight-control actuation system. The entire flight was approximately 3 1/2 hours and four pilots were on board to test the system which was ran about 2 1/2 hours and during that test time the jet performed 5 landings using the FBW system.
The system is different from most as it works on electric backup instead of using hydraulics like most systems. Gulfstream’s FBW is designed for the G650 as electric backup hydraulic actuators (EBHA)–one at every primary control surface (elevator, rudder and aileron) and the outboard spoiler. This is great news and the Senior Vice President of programs, engineering and test discussed the test stating:
“The system performed flawlessly. There was no difference in handling qualities between the electrically and hydraulically powered modes.”
This is good news for the Gulfstream team that is working on the 650. Personally I am watching the progress of the Gulfstream 650 as this jet has always been one of my favorites, ad who knows I may some day have the Gulfstream 650 as part of my fleet.
Here is hoping everyone has a dream, and those dreams are realized in 2011. Thank you for reading here at Corporate Jet Insider. Enjoy your holiday, be safe and happy.
According to reports the business use of corporate jets has increased in a year over year analysis. The number was 4.4% reported last month and was a year over year figure. Part 91 flying increased 10 percent while it rose 12.2% in November. This is another comparison to the same time last year and should not be thought of as just due to the holiday increase. Fractional flying only rose a mere 2.4% so we did not see increased used across the board making for just an overall increase of 4.4%
In spite of the increase in use of corporate jets in the industry, safety remained relatively unchanged. In a report by Boca Raton, Fla.-based industry safety analyst Robert E. Breiling Associates it was stated that there was just one more accident last year involving U.S.-registered business aircraft than in the previous year, with the total business jet accidents rising to nine from eight.
It is nice to see that safety remains nearly unchanged in spite of the increased use. The turboprop industry was somewhat more increased and that could be due to its increased use, but corporate jets remain a safe alternative to commercial flying and we like to see these numbers. If you are looking at safety as a reason not to choose a private aircraft it has great numbers.
It has been reported that Representative Jerry Costello, (D-Ill.) is once again championing the issue for business aviation on use fees to be charged. Representative Costello serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and he has issued a statement on Friday urging President Obama not to include general aviation user fees in the upcoming budget. He put forth in the statement:
“We want to reiterate that a user-fee proposal would be a step backward,” he wrote. “This is an issue that we have had bipartisan agreement on in recent years and there is no reason to reconsider it. I will not support a budget or an FAA reauthorization bill that includes user fees.”
Representative Costello is rallying support across congress to support his measures. Another that has noticed and is also rallying behind Representative Costello is National Business Aviation Association president Ed Bolen. President Bolen is applauding Costello’s efforts and joins in his position on usage fees in business aviation. Currently the business aviation industry supports funding of the FAA through the use of a fuel tax and that seems to be the tried and tested way of funding and not any as yet untested use fees. It appears that it would be a tough road to have usage fees change the way we fund the industry association through this source.
