Aviation News

Premier II (Artist’s concept: Hawker Beechcraft) The Wichita Eagle has reported that Hawker Beechcraft will push back first deliveries of its Premier II by more than two years. The developmental jet is a longer-range, higher-flying derivative of the popular Premier IA. Current plans call for first deliveries in late 2012 or early 2013. First flight […]

As the 56th busiest airport in the country, New Jersey’s Teterboro is constantly in the crosshairs of political critics. Opened in 1919, the 827-acre facility has seen a 25% downturn in traffic in recent years, but the increase in jet traffic has neighbors worried and local politicians walking a fine line. A Monday editorial in […]

Following up on a letter last week from CEO Bill Boisture, Hawker Beechcraft has clarified how it will adjust to the current down market. On the chopping block at least through next year are company matching payments for retirement programs, and employees will also be required to cover more of their health care premiums. There […]

Brazilian manufacturer Embraer has announced it will use advanced digital fly-by-wire (FBW) controls on its Legacy 500 and Legacy 450 business jets. The system will include a sidestick controller similar to those on Airbus airliners and the Dassault Falcon 7X. The new system will incorporate three-axis, full-authority digital FBW for enhanced envelope protection at both […]

Swiss airframer Pilatus Aircraft will cut workers’ hours and scale back on production of its big single-engine turboprop, the PC-12NG. The cutback in hours will affect 350 employees (15 percent of the work force), but no layoffs are expected. Cancellations of orders for PC-12s are responsible for the decision, along with a reduction in orders […]

Cessna has announced it will follow up on a production cutback on its Citation jet line for this year with further slowdowns on its piston aircraft output. According to the company, the resulting “work force adjustment” is not expected to exceed 500, including job losses associated with an announcement made last June. In addition, Cessna […]

Alan Klapmeier told a Duluth, Minnesota, newspaper that he will no longer be an employee of the company he founded, as of tomorrow. One of two brothers who founded Cirrus in the early 1990s, Alan told the Duluth News Tribune, “This isn’t the end. It’s just the intermission.” Klapmeier’s plans for the immediate future are […]

A $40 million bid for the assets of Eclipse has won the nod of the bankruptcy court, and the new owners hope to open the doors of the Albuquerque headquarters as early as next week. Two customers of the old Eclipse Aviation Corp. formed a new company, Eclipse Aerospace, to bid for the assets under […]

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, among others, is thankful for small favors when it comes to President Obama’s vacation week on Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. For the first time since post-9/11 temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) were instituted to protect the president, general aviation aircraft are allowed within the 10-nm inner ring […]

Bill Boisture, chairman and CEO of Hawker Beechcraft, has warned employees that further layoffs and employee-benefit cutbacks are likely. Boisture blamed low buyer confidence, difficulties in securing financing, and political disparagement of corporate aviation for the company’s dire straits. Only an artificial ‘paper gain’ resulting from a bond buyback kept Hawker Beechcraft from losing money […]