The first U.S.-based Airbus Corporate Jet (ACJ) was delivered last month to a customer in Florida. The aircraft has a master bedroom, bathroom with shower, dining room, and a lounge area. Honeywell’s full cabin management system, which allows voice calls to be made from the aircraft’s handsets to cellphones and landlines, was also installed.

According to an article by Glenn Pew on AVWeb (free registration required), Pratt & Whitney Canada is concerned about the falling U.S. dollar. The company says issues with the U.S. dollar in combination with other factors (rising fuel prices, environmental issues), are increasing the importance of cost-cutting methods in production (such as outsourcing). Pressure to invest in environmental (”green”) research is also contributing to rising costs.

“In short, amid a worldwide aviation boom that’s seen record orders for new aircraft, the fall of the American dollar is managing to make long-term viability challenging for companies — especially those that traditionally produce aerospace products in their own country and pay for labor in native currencies, but sell their products in American dollars.”

These comments came at a recent summit organized by Canadian think tank Aero Montreal.

University of Illinois’ Department of Aerospace Engineering is engaged in research on reducing the sonic boom from supersonic aircraft to acceptable noise levels. The Department has partnered with Rolls-Royce and Gulfstream Aerospace for 5 years on the project.

According to the Department’s web site:

“‘Illinois is involved in research to mitigate the sonic boom from supersonic business jets,’ said Michael B. Bragg, Aerospace Engineering (AE) Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Administrative Affairs in the College of Engineering at Illinois. ‘This is the largest industrial research agreement for the Aerospace Engineering Department. While specific details of the agreement are commercially confidential, we have signed a five-year research agreement with funding for the first three years,’ Bragg said.”

and:

“Illinois researchers will focus on the engine’s intake and exhaust systems with a goal of reducing sonic boom and increasing propulsive efficiency.”

The February 2008 issue of Architectural Digest profiles the conversion of a former Pan Am 727-100 into what the article calls “the quietest, smoothest, most functional, most comfortable penthouse-on-wings in existence”.

The article focuses on the virtues of having a truly big business jet:

“There’s something about a wide-body plane with 1,000 square feet of floor space that’s addictive, and I just didn’t feel like flying in a little tube of 300 square feet anymore. With my G5,” he elaborates, “I would never think of inviting more than a few guests, what with the narrow, cramped cabin and low ceiling, not to mention the lack of proper bed and bath—when someone walked by you to go to the john, it would wake you up.”

His Boeing, in sharp contrast, offers four discrete areas of privacy and sleeps 10 in high comfort. “Everyone is always excited to get back on the ship, no matter how much fun they’ve been having wherever we were, because when you can fly this way—and the same thing often gets said about life itself—it’s not the destination that counts, it’s the journey.” No wonder the owner, for all that he has houses in Beverly Hills, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, Malibu, Aspen, Saint-Tropez, and the French Alps, spends roughly (make that smoothly) three months a year traveling on his plane.

While we certainly like big, one advantage of a G5 is that you can buy one new and not have to deal with a painstaking conversion. Of course buying a new BBJ provides the best of both worlds…

John Croft, from Flight International, writes about new fuel tank safety rules proposed by the FAA. These rules could affect the operators of as many as 75 US-registered corporate airliners who may have to deactivate their systems by mid-December.

Two of three manufacturers that have built auxiliary fuel tank systems for VIP conversions (Aero-Tek and Rogerson Aircraft) are covered under nearly identical rules that require “transient suppression devices (TSDs) on the FQIS and the ‘float level switch’ in the auxiliary tanks”. The two manufacturers hold STCs for a variety of VIP aircraft, including Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. These rules will affect about 76 US-registered aircraft (37 for Aero-Tek and 39 for Rogerson). However, Rogerson no longer supplies the systems and is not working on any fixes.

A third manufacturer, Pats Aircraft, is covered by a different rule:

“Pats is most notable for its auxiliary fuel tanks for the Boeing Business Jet, approximately 80 of which are currently installed.

George Toly, vice-president of business development for Pats, says the wording in the rule that applies to Pats will be different from the other two providers, requiring operators to either begin installing the FAA-approved fix that Pats has developed or to deactivate the system within the time period. Toly says more than half of the BBJ operators have already ordered the kits, which range in price from $270,000 to $360,000, not including installation.”

Reports (via ebookers.com) indicate Lufthansa is partnering with PrivatAir (out of Switzerland), on an all-premium route between Munich and Dubai, effective May 1, 2008.

Lufthansa and PrivatAir have been working together since the launch of an all-premium service between Dusseldorf and Newark in 2002.

Boeing tallies record 1,413 net orders from 80 customers in 2007

Boeing smashed its previous commercial aircraft sales record in 2007, with 80 customers placing orders net of cancellations for 1,413 aircraft. Of the total, 24 were for Boeing Business Jets - eighteen 737s (spread amongst the BBJ, BBJ2 and BBJ3 offerings); one 747-8 and five 787s.

Boeing’s 2007 BBJ sales adds to the unprecidented backlogs in the completions industry with scores of new airframes coming off the production lines at Boeing and Airbus in the coming years.

See the full article in ATW Daily News: http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=11296

From the story:

The manufacturer topped the 1,000-order mark for the third consecutive year after posting 1,005 orders in 2005 and 1,044 in 2006. It set sales records for the 787 and 737 while the 747, 777 and 767 programs also passed order milestones. The 2007 orders take Boeing’s backlog to more than 3,400.

The 787 program enjoyed another record-setting year despite the six-month delay announced in September, with 369 orders received in 2007 for the next-generation aircraft. Total Dreamliner orders now stand at 817. “Clearly we’ve had our share of challenges during the past year [with the 787], but our customers understand the issues and market acceptance of our products and services has been nothing short of remarkable,” Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Scott Carson said. “2007 told us that global demand for commercial airplanes remains strong and sustained.”

Airbus will announce its final order tally for 2007 at the end of January. At the end of November it had logged 1,204 gross orders, well above its record of 1,111 gross orders set in 2005.

Two private U.S. equity funds are using $436 million to buy Landmark Aviation from Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, according to AVWeb (free registration required). The resulting FBO network will be one of the largest. The move is the result of strong growth projections for business aviation, and follows the largest ever Dubai Air Show.

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise just acquired Landmark Aviation this past August (Adobe Acrobat required).

AVWeb has posted an interesting announcementTheFirstCall, a company that provides in-flight medical support to private jets, is again providing information to James Bond.

According to the article:

“TheFirstCall at the International Centre for Emergency Medicine in Aberdeen has been selected again as advanced medical consultants to the world’s most famous spy. ‘We are thrilled to be partnering with Eon Productions and the rest of the Bond team,’ said CEO Roderick MacDonald. TheFirstCall was responsible for one of the most dramatic scenes in the last James Bond film. In Casino Royale Bond drinks a poisoned martini during a tense poker game. He staggers to his car where he has an automatic external defibrillator (AED), along with a remote telemedicine connection to his backup team at MI6. He rams a needle in his arm, which indicates that he has been poisoned with digitalis. They instruct him to place defibrillator pads on his chest and inject an antidote into his neck. He is too weak to start up the defibrillator, but fortunately his love interest arrives in the nick of time. The scene resulted from some in-house navel gazing on the future of the leading edge medical technology.”

After TAG Aviation’s recent acquisition of Farnborough Airport, the company has submitted a request to the British government to ease the cap on weekend and holiday flight operations. AVWeb (free registration required) reports the current cap is 2,500 a year, but an increase in private jet travel is straining the limit.