The White House’s 2025 budget proposal would boost the current tax of 22 cents per gallon to $1.06 by 2030. It’s estimated it would raise $1.1 billion over the five years. The proposal also includes a major funding increase for the FAA, including money to hire 2,000 air traffic controllers.

• READ MORE: FAA Releases Final Rule on Aircraft Fuel Efficiency for Emissions

The fuel tax hike is being championed as a fairness issue by the administration. The background documents say business aircraft account for 7 percent of FAA airspace workload but the current tax only covers 1 percent of the revenue into the federal trust fund for aviation and airports. Airline passengers pay a flat $4.50 on each flight and 7.5 percent excise tax on the fare to pay for the other 99 percent.

The backgrounder on the State of the Union address said the administration wanted to make private jet operators “pay their fair share.” In the speech itself Biden send he wanted “end tax breaks for big pharma, big oil, private jets, massive executive pay.” 

Aviation groups responded quickly to the SOTU address and were ready with comments on the budget proposal. NBAA President Ed Bolen reiterated his stance that private aviation is an important business tool and that most of those flying on the jets are mid-level managers doing company business and not their ultra-rich employers. “The Biden administration’s sweeping plan would hurt business aviation and the jobs and communities that depend on it, and make it harder for U.S. companies to compete in a global economy,” Bolen said.

The National Air Transportation Association hit all of NBAA’s points and also alleged that much of the revenue raised by the aviation fund is diverted to a similar fund for highway projects. “We are concerned that the Biden Administration is failing to account for the billions of business aviation tax dollars that are diverted from the Airport and Airways Trust Fund (AATF) into the Highway Trust Fund (HTF),” said NATA President Curt Castagna. “Such diversion weakens the National Airspace System and could place the safety of the industry at risk.”

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

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Sales by the Numbers

The Fourth Quarter IADA Market Report for accredited dealers and certified brokers reported 1,399 used aircraft sales transactions that closed in 2022, which is a 2 percent increase year over year from 2021, which saw sales of 1,370 jets.

IADA adds that the resale volume represents $9.3 billion, or roughly $8 million per transaction, with December being the busiest month of the year, with 259 sales reported.

While it was nice to end the year on a high note, industry officials predict the market will likely level out over the first half of 2023.

IADA executive director Wayne Starling reported IADA members “have slightly more modest expectations than they did a year ago for the aircraft resales market over the next six months.”

Austin Bass, market research manager for accredited dealer OgaraJets in Atlanta, concurred, stating, “Over the next six months, I believe we will continue to see market normalization. I anticipate a more balanced market, with the majority of aircraft beginning to depreciate at slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels,” Bass added, “Pricing for high-time and legacy aircraft will likely fall the most, while pricing for newly delivered aircraft will likely benefit from OEM backlogs.”

IADA members predict that the next six months should bring a slight increase in inventory and stable outlooks for supply for all business aircraft segments, including turboprops, light jets, mid-size jets, and large and ultralong-range business jets.

IADA is a professional trade association formed more than 30 years ago to promote the growth and public understanding of the aircraft resale industry. IADA’s dealers consist of the top 12 percent of the world’s experts who handle 46 percent of used business aircraft sales.

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‘The G650 and G650ER are undeniably iconic’

The G650 platform has been a mainstay in the industry. In 2014, the National Aeronautic Association awarded the G650 program the Robert J. Collier Trophy, one of the most prestigious industry awards. It beat out other nominees, including the StratEx Team; the Embraer Legacy 500; the F-16 Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance Team; the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee; the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1; and the Aurora Flight Sciences Orion UAS.

In a statement, Gulfstream CEO Mark Burns said, “with an incredible 500 delivered, persistent demand, and a host of industry accolades, the G650 and G650ER are undeniably iconic.” 

Burns is correct. Between the G650 and the G650ER, the fast-flying business jet has set more than 120 city-pair world speed records, including polar and westbound around-the-world records. The platform is powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce BR725 engines that allow the G650 to fly 7,000 nm at Mach 0.85 or 6,000 nm at a high-speed cruise of Mach 0.90. The G650ER is capable of flying as far as 7,500 nm at Mach 0.85 and 6,400 nm at 0.90. According to Gulfstream, both aircraft can go even faster to achieve a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.925. They can cruise as high as 51,000 feet and are FAA and EASA certified for steep approaches.

In July, Gulfstream said the platform’s EASA certification for steep approaches followed the FAA’s from 2019. For those permissions, pilots had to demonstrate the aircraft’s ability to fly 5.5-degree approaches into airports like London City in the U.K. and Lugano, Switzerland. To underscore the demand for the business jet, at the time of that announcement, Gulfstream said there were 480 G650s and G650ERs in service then.

Demand Still Strong

With the pandemic accelerating the switch to business jets, General Dynamic, the parent company of Gulfstream, said at the end of 2021 that it experienced its strongest year in sales since 2008, mainly attributed to the G650 platform that customers purchased.

• READ MORE: Gulfstream Gets FAA, EASA Signoff on Software Fix for G500 and G600

Even as Gulfstream plans to roll out its new flagship G700 and ultralong-range G800 aircraft, Burns said his company would continue investing and improving the G650 and G650ER models. Last week, the company announced its progress in bringing the G700 and G800 to market after its new Rolls-Royce Pearl 700 engines achieved EASA certification. 

The post Business Jet Market Maintains Its Heat: Gulfstream Delivers 500th Aircraft in G650 Family appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In its announcement Tuesday, the Montreal-based company said Goldberg will be able to take ownership of the new super midsize aircraft later this year. List price was given as $26.7 million.

Bombardier first announced the new business jet platform in September 2021 at the 2021 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE).

The Challenger 3500 is the latest iteration of Bombardier’s Challenger brand and is designed to incorporate other amenities from the Global aircraft’s lineage, according to Bombardier. Its flight deck includes a standard-equipped auto-throttle system and offers the most baseline features in its class.

Éric Martel, president and CEO of Bombardier, called the Challenger 3500 the “right aircraft for today” and said, “customers are impressed by the aircraft’s elevated experience, from the comfort and sustainability of its cabin to cost efficiency to reliability. Our teams have done an amazing job delivering this aircraft to market in less than a year since its launch.”

• READ MORE: Bombardier: Airport Delays Are Speeding Up Shift to Bizjet Travel

‘Hit All the Right Notes’

Goldberg, who previously owned a Challenger 350, said in a statement that the manufacturer “hit all the right notes in creating a next-generation aircraft” and that he was proud that his company was part of Bombardier’s evolution of the Challenger line.

For Bombardier, the Challenger line has been lucrative. The platform has been the best-selling super mid-size platform for the past seven years.  

“With every passing month of airport and flight schedule disruption, business [aviation] travel becomes a more appealing option,” Martel said in second-quarter earnings call with investors. Bombardier expects to deliver more than 120 aircraft for all of 2022.

• READ MORE: Bombardier Unveils the Challenger 3500

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Since first announcing the G700 program in October 2019, and the G800 in 2021, the business jet manufacturer has made key strides in getting those products ready for the market.

According to Gulfstream, the G700 can fly at its high-speed cruise of Mach 0.90 for 6,400 nm or at its long-range cruise of Mach 0.85 for 7,500 nm. Meanwhile, the G800 has a range of 7,000 nm at Mach 0.90 and an 8,000-nm range at Mach 0.85. That would make it the longest range in the business aviation industry, along with Bombardier’s Global 8000, if both achieve their targets.

In a statement, Gulfstream president Mark Burns said achieving EASA certification for the Pearl 700 engines was a “significant step” for the company and brought it closer to delivering the aircraft to customers. When the company announced the G700, even before the pandemic surge in business jet sales, it said Gulfstream had already sold out orders through 2023.

“We are seeing a high level of demand for both the G700 and G800, and they are set to lead the upper end of the ultralong-range distance segment with their unique combination of range, speed, and cabin size,” Burns said.

What’s Special About the Pearl 700 Engine

Following the EASA certification, the company said that Rolls-Royce put the Pearl 700 through a gamut of tests that exposed it to various performance altitudes, and tested both conventional and 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The Pearl 700 also had to demonstrate its ability to withstand bird strikes, ice, hail, and water ingestion and pass a critical fan-blade containment test, during which a fan blade is deliberately released at maximum speed, it said. The engine manufacturer conducted these performance tests in Rolls-Royce locations in Europe and North America. Rolls-Royce is developing the Pearl 700 engine at its Rolls Royce Centre of Excellence for Business Aviation engines in Dahlewitz, Germany.

“Receiving the EASA certification for our Pearl 700 engine makes us very proud, as it illustrates Rolls Royce’s unique capabilities to design, test, build, and certify pioneering aircraft engines,” said Dr. Dirk Geisinger, director of business aviation at Rolls-Royce. “It also reflects the dedication of our global team to support Gulfstream and the entry into service of the G700 and G800. We have worked closely with EASA and Gulfstream to achieve this certification, and I would like to thank them both for their support.”

For pilots, there’s a lot to look forward to. The Pearl 700 produces 18,250 lbf of takeoff thrust, an eight-percent increase compared to the BR725 engine that powers the already capable G650. Moreover, Rolls-Royce said that the Pearl engine was part of its IntelligentEngine vision that augmented engines with digital capabilities.

Upfront, the G700 and G800 both include the Gulfstream Symmetry Flight Deck that has the only electronically linked active control sidesticks in the industry, touch-screen technology, and Gulfstream’s Predictive Landing Performance System. What’s more, Burns said with the advanced Gulfstream wing and new winglets being designed for the two aircraft, flight crews should expect “impressive performance capabilities.” G700 and G800 are being built with high-speed, aerodynamic Gulfstream wing design introduced on the Gulfstream G650 and G650ER.

Other Significant Progress Toward Certification

Earlier this May, the G700 jet set a seventh international city-pair speed record flying the Savannah, Georgia, the company’s base, to Geneva, Switzerland. Gulfstream reported that the trip lasted 7 hours and 37 minutes at an average speed of Mach 0.90 and used 30 percent SAF. Since then, the G700 has set even another speed record.

Then, earlier this month, the company flew a second G700 production-test aircraft. The latest G700 test aircraft includes a “grand suite” and a new lavatory design that includes natural light, a full vanity, and a shower.

• READ MORE: Gulfstream G700 Sets Two City-Pair Speed Records

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1. Gulfstream G550: EC-37B Compass Call

You might do a double take when you see the Air Force’s next-generation electronic warfare jet, the EC-37B Compass Call. It is designed to replace the EC-130H, a variant of the Lockheed C-130 that the Air Force has used since 1982. In 2017, the Air Force announced it would partner with L3 Technologies to turn a Gulfstream G550 business jet into its new electronic attack aircraft. Like its predecessor, it would be equipped with systems capable of disrupting adversary command systems and doing things like counter-information operations. 

• READ MORE: Air Force Tests Military G550

However, using the G550 allows the Air Force to leverage the faster, more economical, and higher altitude performance profiles over the outgoing aircraft. The new platform will enter service in 2023 and use the Gulfstream Airborne Early Warning Aircraft (CAEW) radar system.

There will be 10 EC-37B Aircraft to replace the fleet of 14 EC-130H jets, and they will be delivered to the 55th Electronic Combat Group (ECG) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

2.Bombardier Global Express 6000: E-11 BACN

Last week, Bombardier and its defense division announced that they delivered the first Global 6000 aircraft in special mission configuration to the U.S. Air Force. The company said the program was part of the Air Force battlefield airborne communications node (BACN) program at Hanscom Air Force Base (AFB) in Massachusetts. Bombardier announced in June 2021 that the Air Force ordered six Global 6000 business jets worth $465 million in this special configuration, and this delivery was the first one. 

Last week, Bombardier president and CEO Éric Martel said that the defense sector was a “key pillar” to his company’s future as the airframes are well suited to house and operate complex mission equipment. The first mission-configured aircraft allowed the Air Force to reduce communication issues associated with incompatible systems, adverse terrain, and distance. Lt Col. Eric Inkenbrandt said in a statement that the “BACN increases interoperability which results in forces that execute faster, more reliably, and less risk to the warfighter. The delivery of 21-9045 is the pivotal first step to advancing the mission this program provides.” 

The Global 6000, dubbed as “Wi-Fi in the sky,” will serve as a high-altitude communications gateway, relaying or bridging voice and data between air and surface forces and handily surmounting traditional obstacles such as mountains, rough terrain, or distance. As part of the Air Force fleet, they will more properly be labeled as the E-11A fleet.

3. Gulfstream V & G550: C-37 A and C-37B 

When transporting VIP government personnel, the Air Force has relied upon a series of converted Gulfstream V and Gulfstream G550 jets as C-37A and C-37B, respectively. The Air Force has used the C-37A since 1998 and the C-37B since 2006 for special airlift missions for high-ranking government and Department of Defense officials. The entire active fleet consists of 13 models configured to transport up to 12 people. According to the Air Force, each one consists of a modern flight management system with a worldwide satellite-based GPS and comes in two variations. 

The C-37A and C-37B can operate between flight levels 410 and 510. They come equipped with enhanced weather radar, autopilot, an ultra-modern heads-up display for the pilot, and safety features that enhance vision. They also have commercial and military communication capabilities that allow them to switch between secure and non-secure voice and data. They are based across various stations for the Air Force, including Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, and Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

4. Beechcraft Super King Air and 1900 Series: C-12J Huron

Regarding utility, the Air Force sometimes uses a variant—the C-12J Huron—of the Beechcraft/Raytheon 1900C regional airliner developed from the Beechcraft Super King Air for hauling and more rugged missions. In the business world where customers use King Airs to get into more regional airports, the Air Force uses Huron’s multi-mission capabilities, including supporting light cargo movement, humanitarian assistance, Medevac missions, pilot training, and others. One pilot can operate the aircraft from either station based on the Air Force configuration.

The C-12J can carry 19 passengers or up to 3,500 pounds. The passenger door typically has an access door fitted to the port side. According to the Air Force, its C-12J fleet recently finished an extensive avionics upgrade and modernization program, which added three multi-function displays. The C-12J entered service for the Air Force in 1992, and today, four are being used: three at Yokota Air Base in Japan, and one at Holloman Air Force Base, in New Mexico.

5. Learjet 35A: C-21

The Learjet’s storied history also includes being used by the Air Force for passenger and cargo airlifts. Designated the C-21 platform by the Air Force, the defense arm also uses the Lear 35A for transporting one litter (or stretcher) or five ambulatory patients for aeromedical evacuation operations. With pod-mounted turbofan engines on the sides of the rear fuselage, the iconic swept-back wings, and single-slotted flaps, the workhorse of a business jet first launched commercially in 1973 and features prominently in Air Force missions. 

Deliveries to the Air Force first began in 1984. Through a series of consolidation efforts from the agency, only 19 active C-21A aircraft are now stationed between Scott Air Force Base in Illinois and Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The Air Force said it invested $38 million to upgrade all the avionics across the fleet to glass cockpits and meet 2020 global airspace requirements.

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