Avia Blog

Robinson Helicopters has set the price for its new R66 turbine-powered helicopter at $770,000 and founder Frank Robinson told Rotorhub.com he expects the aircraft’s introduction to help the company recover from a tough year. Speaking at Heli-Expo 2010 in Houston, Robinson said the turbine version of his popular design is “a little bit smoother, a little bit quieter and a little bit faster than the [piston] R44.” He said certification is imminent and an early production rate of two helicopters a week is planned. Robinson, never one to mince words, placed blame for the industry’s troubles directly on the banking industry. “The problem was those damn bankers – rather than provide loans to people like they were supposed to, they used the $700 billion bail-out money to make acquisitions, to buy other companies, and give themselves bonuses,” he said. Although they chose less colorful language, other top helicopter executives mentioned the availability of capital as critical to the recovery of the industry and there were some signs that the market is starting to loosen.

Business aircraft activity is up considerably, bucking a trend that saw an overall decline in general aviation activity (it’s down 3 percent overall) in the U.S. according to FlightAware. In its monthly analysis of aircraft movements, the popular online tracking and data site says private jet traffic is up a whopping 8.8 percent in February, compared to the same month in 2009. Turboprop was up 2.2 percent but the tale of the tape was in charter and fractional operations. Charters were up 16.5 percent and fractional traffic 6.5 percent, perhaps reflecting a shift from ownership to charters for economic and public relations reasons. Every other sector of GA activity measured by FlightAware was down.Related Content:Read the full FlightAware report (PDF)

The helicopter market never seems to be as volatile as other sectors of GA and Rolls-Royce’s annual forecast for turbine helicopters seems to bear that out. The civilian market has been down a bit, but the military market has been rock steady, and the resurgence in civilian orders will give manufacturers a boost in the next 10 years. Helicopters are a necessity and new ways to use them are being exploited all the time so Ken Roberts, president of Rolls-Royce helicopter engines said in a presentation at Heli-Expo 2010 he’s expecting strong demand to continue. Rolls-Royce is predicting worldwide demand for civilian helicopters at 10,300 units through 2019 and 6,100 for the military.

Business aviation analyst Brian Foley has taken a cue from the judging protocols of some sports competitions in determining that, overall, business jet sales will grow at 2.7 percent over the next 10 years. Foley tossed out the results of bizav’s best year in recent memory (2008) and one of it’s worst (2009) to come up with figures he thinks will stand up and actually mean something for those making plans for the next decade. “2009 was too unsettled and 2008 was a clear anomaly, an unsustainable peak,” Foley said. “Our same numbers would yield a minus growth -2.6 percent if measured against 2008, but that’s not really useful information.” Foley predicts 8900 business jets worth $170 billion will be built between now and 2020. Foley has also tried to forecast bizjet fuel consumption and, if he’s correct, there will be a significant increase in the use of private aviation.

Texas-based Flexjet and Switzerland-based VistaJet have formed an alliance to expand service to their customers. Flexjet, which is owned by Bombardier and VistaJet, which bought Bombardier’s European and Middle East-based Skyjet International in 2008, have reached an agreement that will allow customers of each company access to the other’s aircraft. The deal also includes customers of the Flexjet 25 Jet Card program, who buy blocks of aircraft time through Part 135 operator Jet Solutions. Under the deal, Flexjet fractional customers and Flexjet 25 customers will get guaranteed access to VistaJet’s European operations and be able to book flights in the Middle East and Asia as availability permits. The preferred rates that customers get through their existing affiliations apply on the expanded network.

The trade show season revs up next weekend in Houston with Heli-Expo 2010 put on by Helicopter Association International (HAI). Thousands of delegates and hundreds of exhibitors will fill the George R. Brown Convention Center for the event, which runs from Feb. 20 to Feb. 23. Exhibits and business meetings will go from Sunday to Tuesday. Most major helicopter companies and makers of related gear will be in attendance and the exhibit floor looks mostly booked. There are dozens of seminars and educational forums scheduled and the event wraps up with HAI’s annual Salute To Excellence Awards dinner.

Click for more photosThe bill to general aviation from last weekend’s massive snowstorm on the east coast could hit tens of millions of dollars and most of that could come from the partial collapse of one building at Dulles International Airport. As we reported Saturday, part of the roof of Dulles Jet Center came down under the weight of the snow. At the time, all that was known was that there were aircraft inside but photos provided to AVweb by a reader show a scene that is enough to make any insurance executive shiver. Two Bombardier Global Express jets and a Gulfstream 550 appear to be in takeoff attitude inside the hangar, their tails pushed to the floor under the weight of the crushed structure of the building. It’s not immediately known whether they can be repaired and it might be tricky getting them out from under the twisted steel.

Boeing’s latest airliner took off for the first time Monday at 12:39 p.m. The Boeing 747-8 was scheduled for a four-hour flight around the Pacific Northwest after a smooth liftoff from Paine Field. The aircraft is the longest ever built by Boeing and the first test article is a cargo version. The passenger version will follow in about a year and will carry up to 467 people in three classes. The cockpit is virtually identical to that of the 787 Dreamliner and passenger amenities will be similar.

Financial publications are reporting that Steven Udvar Hazy has left the chairmanship of International Lease Finance Corp. after parent company, government-supported insurer AIG decided against selling ILFC, the largest aircraft leasing company in the world. Hazy co-founded the company and sold it to AIG during better times. With AIG under government supervision, thanks to an $80 billion bailout, Hazy had been reportedly rounding up investors in a bid to take back the company. AIG and Hazy have been unavailable for comment to all the publications that have tried to contact them. As has Douglas Steenland, the former CEO of Northwest Airlines, who is reported the new chairman of ILFC.

Early predictions give Delta Air Lines the edge over American Airlines in the forthcoming tug of war over increased access to Asian routes now flown by Japan Airlines. JAL was scheduled to declare bankruptcy at 3 p.m. Tuesday and is a member of the Oneworld Alliance, an international codeshare group with airlines like American, Qantas and British Airways. However, rival SkyTeam Alliance, which includes Delta, KLM and Air France, is trying to lure JAL away so its members can capitalize on the extensive network of routes in Asia, one of fastest-growing areas for airline travel. Meanwhile, the JAL bankruptcy will become Japan’s largest as the company walks away from $16.5 billion in debt.