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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 2045.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION Gulfstream aims to reveal GIV improvements at Famborough GRAHAM WARWICK/SAVANNAH GULFSTREAM IS to improve its GIV business jet. Plans will be unveiled in September at the Farnborough air show in the UK. The Savannah-based company's chief operatingofficer Bill Boisture says the improvements will focus on reliability and maintainability. Some avionics and systems devel oped for the ultra-long- range GV will also be incorporated, he says, and there will be a "marginal" increase in range. "The aircraft goes far enough, fast enough and with enough com fort, but we want to make it cheap er to operate," Boisture says. One goal is to increase despatch reliability from its current level of around 99.6% by improving sys tems reliability. Gulfstream has no plans to launch development of a new air craft in the near future. "We see nothing on the horizon in propul sion or aerodynamics that will move [the competition] dramati cally away from us at our price/per- formance point," Boisture says. Instead ol higher performance, he says, customers are asking for lower operating costs. The company is ignoring cus tomer requests to build a "super mid-size" replacement for the GIL "That is a very crowded market," says Boisture. Gulfstream is "thinkingabout" a supersonic busi ness jet, and is believed to be in talks with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, but "...there are still a lot of technical and financial questions to be answered", he cautions. He adds, however: "If someone is going to do a supersonic business jet, we will be involved." ZA K-C Aviation sale reshapes completion market GULFSTRFAM'S S250 mil lion acquisition of K-G Avia tion will remove from the independent completions market a company responsible for outfitting almost half the Bombardier Ghallenger 604s sold last year. Ghainnan Teddy Forstmann says Gulfstream was not the only bidder for K-G, suggesting that Boeing and Bombardier were interested, "but we were faster". Dallas, Texas-based K-G will hon our existing contracts, but, as part of Gulfstream, will not take on any new third-party work, he says. K-G had been named as a com pletion centre for the Boeing Business Jet, but had not yet signed up any customers, says president John Rahilly. The company was also close to signing its first con tract to complete a Bombardier Global Fxpress, he says. Forstmann says that Gulfstream needs K-C's capacity to keep pace with production of the GIV and GV, now at its peak of 64 aircraft a year. Gulfstream's completion cen tres at Savannah, Georgia, and Long Beach, California, are strug gling to bring down the cycle time for GV completions from the cur rent 45-50 weeks to a planned 25 weeks, similar to the time required to complete a GIV. Gulfstream had already off loaded two GrV completions to K-G and will now send six aircraft there this year, and 18 next year, says president Jim Johnson. Bombardier, meanwhile, says it is increasing its completions capac ity while talking to other indepen dent centres. K-C completed 17 Challenger 604s in 1997, while the manufacturer itself completed 20 at its Montreal, Canada, and Tuc son, Arizona, locations. This year Bombardier plans to complete at least 24, leaving around 12 Challengers to be outfitted by independent centres. Forstmann says the K-C acquisi tion is a strategic move that gives Gulfstream "critical mass". K-C's engine overhaul capability may be expanded to include the GIV's Rolls-Royce Spev and GVs BMW R-R BR710, while Gulfstream plans to take advantage of its air craft refurbishment capability to pursue that end of die market. • Boeing rolls out Business Jet BOEING ROLLED OUT the first ultra-long- range Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) from its Renton factory on 26 July, two weeks later than planned. The aircraft, which combines the fuselage of the Next Generation 737-700 with the wing and landing gear of the larger and heavier 737-800, is to make its maiden flight by "early September". Boeing has booked 35 orders for the $34 million BBJ to date and will receive the first aircraft in 1999 for use as a demonstrator. The aircraft is expected to make its debut at the National Business Aircraft Association show in Las Vegas in mid-October. NEWS IN BRIEF M GALAXY EXPANDS Israel Aircraft Industries has flown the first Galaxy busi ness jet at Mach 0.93, M0.01 above the maximum required for certification (maximum cruise speed will be M0.85). Meanwhile, the second flight-test aircraft has flown to 46,000ft (14,000m), 1,000ft above the certi fication altitude. The first production Galaxy will fly in September and certification of the aircraft has been scheduled for December. • NETJETSASIA Executive Jet (EJI) plans to start a Netjets programme in Asia-Pacific "in early 2000", arguing that the region's financial turmoil has not had an impact on its business air craft fractional-ownership programme. EJI chairman Richard Santulli, meanwhile, says the continued rise of the US stock market is driving growth of the Netjets scheme in North America. New chain formed in FBO consolidation C( )\'SOLIDATIONofthe US fixed-base operator (FBO) industry has taken a further step forward, widi the merger of Piedmont Aviation Services and Hawthorne Aviation to create a 21 - location chain. Washington DC-based invest ment company The Carlyle Group is providing financial support for the move and will emerge as the majority stockholder in the new Piedmont Hawthorne Aviation, which is to be based in Winston- Salem, North Carolina. The deal includes American Beechcraft, a Leesburg, Virginia- based FBO, and Transported!, an FBO which is located in Raleigh, North Carolina. The merged company will be the second-largest FBO chain in the USA, behind UK-owned Signaaire Flight Support, which operates 41 locations (including two in Europe). 3 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 5 - 11 August 1998 27
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