Industry News

boeing — reports that the sixth and final 787 Dreamliner designated for flight test is now undergoing final assembly in Everett, WA. The airplane, designated ZA006, will be powered with General Electric GEnx engines. In all, assemblies for 31 Dreamliners are currently in production throughout the supply chain. The 787 Dreamliner has orders for 878 airplanes from 57 customers.

brady corp. — of Milwaukee offers marking and wire identification designed to assist mechanics and crews at aviation maintenance centers to easily apply identification markings on newly repaired wires and cables; www.bradycorp.com.

BUSINESS JET ACCESS — at Dallas Love Field adds a second Challenger 300 to its FAR Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate.

cessna aircraft co. — a Textron Inc. company based in Wichita, gains several international certifications for various Citation models. The Citation Mustang earns certification in China and the Isle of Mann (U.K.). The Citation XLS+ gains European Aviation Safety Agency certification, and the Citation X gains certification in Nigeria.
• Cessna also will begin offering in April Citation turbine engine hot section inspections for Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D and PWC 500 series engines across its Citation Service Center network through an arrangement with Dallas Airmotive.

chicago dept. of aviation — selects Aeroterm U.S. Inc. to begin contract negotiations to develop more than 55 acres of land and 750,000 square feet of building space for cargo facilities in the northeast area of O’Hare Int’l Airport. The master developer for the O’Hare Northeast Cargo plan will develop, in phases, four cargo processing facilities and airside aircraft parking spaces. The new facilities will accommodate new, larger generation of freighter aircraft, specifically the Boeing 747-800. Construction of the first phase of development is expected to begin by 2010. Term of the ground lease for the development is 35 years and the estimated value to the City of Chicago over the life of the lease is approximately $350 million.

CITY OF TALLAHASSEE — okays changes to the airport’s development plan to allow the private Flightline Group to build a 100-room hotel where passengers and flight crews could stay, catering to general aviation pilots who will use the company’s new regional service center, scheduled to open soon, for maintenance. Flightline is planning to invest more than $20 million on the hotel and other projects, including a HondaJet dealership, one of five across the country.

des moines int’l airport — debuts the Mesaba Maintenance Hangar, an 80,000-sq. ft. facility that offers 65,000 sq. ft. of open hangar space and another 15,000 sq. ft. for offices/storage.

duncan aviation — of Lincoln, NE expands its service center agreements with Honeywell to include mechanical components, with services available for operators of Hawker, Lear, Challenger, Astra/Westwind, Falcon, Citation, and King Air aircraft.

• Duncan now caters to Phenom 100 owners, following the recent completion of its first paint work for an Embraer Phenom 100 aircraft and the addition of line maintenance for the Pratt & Whitney 617F-E engines. Duncan is an authorized service center for the Embraer Legacy 600, Phenom 100, and Phenom 300 aircraft.

embry-riddle aeronautical university — and Frasca International unveil the first integrated flight training device (FTD) with virtual air traffic control commands, that will give student pilots more realistic training. Designed specifically for general aviation pilot training, the product is called SAFTE (Synthetic Automated Flight Training Environment) with Virtual Air Traffic (VAT) .

gama — General Aviation Manu-facturers Assn. president and CEO Pete Bunce, appearing before the House Aviation Subcommittee, testifies, “Accelerating and expanding Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast ground stations, adequately staffing the Federal Aviation Administration’s offices of aircraft certification and flight standards, and incentivizing operators to equip with ADS-B technology are all important measures that would allow us to reap benefits from NextGen in the near to mid-term.”

flightline first — will open its new facility at the end of April at New Orleans Lakefront Airport, featuring a $1.5 million dollar renovation with a 20,000-sq. ft. hangar and complete FBO services. The structure was originally built in the late 1920’s in Art Deco style and is directly adjacent to Lakefront’s main terminal building.