Aviation Week Show News - November 11, 2007 - (Page 19)

BUSINESS AVIATION DU BAI 2007 Hawker Beechcraft Is Fruit of a Spin-Off Worth Some $3.3 Billion The spin-off of Raytheon Aircraft and its establishment as Hawker Beechcraft became effective on March 26. Goldman Sachs affiliate GS Capital Partners and Onex Partners purchased the venerable Wichita, Kansasbased operation for approximately $3.3 billion in cash, freeing Raytheon to focus on its government and defense businesses (the sale was first announced on December 21, 2006). On March 28, Hawker Beechcraft T-6B Beechcraft delivered its first aircraft, a Beechcraft Bonanza G36 to veteran private pilot Vic Flegler and a T-6A Texan II primary trainer to the U.S. Air Force. In April, the firm celebrated the 75th anniversary of Beechcraft. Hawker Beechcraft has since moved its international sales HQ from Geneva to the UK’s Hawarden Airport, Broughton (near Chester, the birthplace of the Hawker 800), has tapped TAG Farnborough as an authorized service center, has boosted its presence in India and neighboring countries via a pact with Gurgaon-based InterGlobe, appointed Jet Aviation Düsseldorf as a Brad Hatt. Hawker 800 service center, established a sales office in Singapore, certified the Hawker 900XP, logged the first flight of the Hawker 750, and just three weeks ago opened a new sheet metal facility in Chihuahua, Mexico. As Raytheon Aircraft, the company delivered 462 aircraft in 2006.It has built more than 54,000 aircraft since 1932, and more than 36,000 are flying today. Brad Hatt is Hawker Beechcraft president, commercial sales. Hawker Beechcraft is at Chalet A36. Signature Mulls Middle East Expansion Signature Flight Support currently has a world network of some 75 FBOs, and numerous Middle Eastern customers using them, but save for its Stand W666 here, no regional presence as yet. Signature services include fueling, hangar and office rentals, and ground handling. The firm employs more than 1,500 people it says “support nearly one million aircraft movements and dispense more than 100 million gallons of fuel to business, general and commercial aircraft each year.” Signature has just opened a renovated FBO at Paris Le Bourget, and new FBOs at Liege, Belgium and Thessaloniki, Greece. The Orlando, Florida-based firm is a unit of BBA Aviation, of the UK. London Luton-based Europe, Middle East & Africa commercial director Trevor King and regional director Steve Gulvin are here this week. Cessna Citation X Winglets Watch for Cessna’s Citation X to be sporting winglets in the near future. The Winglet Technology add-ons will boost range by about 200 nmi, allowing for more flexible flight planning on the westbound trip from Europe to the U.S. They’ll be available for retrofit to existing aircraft. Goal for an STC for the $395,000 mod is second quarter 2008. Cessna is at Chalet A10. Falcon 2000DX Set for 2008 Service Entry Last month Dassault Aviation (Stand W406) received U.S. Federal Aviation Administration certification for its new Falcon 2000DX, which is replacing the original Falcon 2000. The FAA clearance followed approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency in September. Dassault has delivered the first customer Falcon 2000DX to its Little Rock, Arkansas completion center and expects the aircraft to enter service in 2008. The 2000DX features Dassault’s EASy flight deck as standard, with optional enhanced flight vision system. Powered by two 7,000-pounds-thrust Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308C turbofans, it has a range of 3,250 nmi. Piaggio Pushes Production Pace Piaggio (Stand W300) has been promising to ramp up production for years, but this time it’s really happening. Having taken 70 orders since the 2005 NBAA convention, the Italian company has built-up via 14 and 19 P180 Avanti II aircraft in 2005 and 2006 to being on track for 23 this year. Then, when production moves to a new factory at Villanova d’Albenga, about 40 miles west of Genoa, production will jump to 35. It has just been revealed that in 2008, Piaggio will begin installing a brand new interior in the Avanti. Designed by Nordam, with inputs from Infusion and Piaggio, this will improve the already spacious and quiet cabin for which the P.180 has become known. as Mubadala’s at Crossroads for Next Model Piaggio’s studies for a new twinjet have led it toward a sweet spot in the market for a midsized, large-cabin aircraft that can carry eight passengers more than 3,000 nmi, it was learned in Abu Dhabi this week on the fringes of a press conference by Mubadala Development (Stand W300), the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government that owns 35% of the Italian manufacturer. Embraer and Bombardier Learjet have drawn the same conclusions. All three manufacturers have expressed interest in international collaboration for new jets. PrivatAir Adds Falcon 900B to Managed Fleet Geneva-based PrivatAir says its PrivatAir Inc. unit in the U.S. recently added a Falcon 900B to its managed fleet. "The FAA certification process took less than two weeks," the company said Friday. The 1996 trijet can accommodate 13 passengers in berthable seating and features club, and twoplace and a three-place divan. It has "state-of-the art" communications and entertainment systems and a passenger-accessible luggage compartment. PrivatAir, which has operating bases in Zurich, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Munich, says it was the first commercial operator of the new generation of Boeing ultra-long-range executive aircraft, the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ 1 and 2) and also operates four Airbus A319 jets, for a grand total of more than 50 aircraft. The company is at Stand E411. Hawker 4000 is Hawker Beechcraft’s new flagship. 19 November 11, 2007 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

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