It seems the Queen of England’s requirements for a business jet have grown since the initial requests were went out for a bid for a private aircraft, a source has told The Eagle. A source with knowledge of the deal said that the requirements now are for a larger business jet — one that would put Wichita out of the running.
The Queen of England reportedly wants to buy her own private jet and has asked four business jet manufacturers — including Wichita’s Cessna Aircraft, Hawker Beechcraft and Bombardier Learjet — to submit bids, the London Sun said Saturday.
The Queen wants to spend about $13 million on a private jet for use by the Royal family and its pets for official engagements.
The jet will be dubbed Monarch Air, the Sun reports. The Queen has taken a personal interest in the plane’s design and will be “literally fit for a Queen,” the report said. She wants to buy her own plane after having to share the use of private jets with government leaders and military top brass. They often take priority, forcing her and other royals to hire other planes at the last minute, something that brings a high cost to the public along with it.
The Queen wants a jet that will seat up to 13 people, the Sun reports. It’s expected to include luxury touches such as reclining seats embroidered with the royal crest. Besides Wichita’s three manufacturers, a bid is also expected to be submitted from Gulfstream. “An appropriate plane could be the Cessna Citation Sovereign,” the London Sun said.
Craig Fuller, the new president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, has assumed his new role.
His presidency became effective New Year’s day. Fuller replaces Phil Boyer, who retired Dec. 31.
The year will be marked with challenges and opportunities, Fuller said. Work has already begun with the Obama administration. The AOPA has met with the transition team. The top challenges are aviation safety, modernizing the nation’s air traffic control system, long-term financing of aviation infrastructure, aviation security and responding to environmental issues, Fuller said in a statement.
The economy has hit again. The 2009 Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (ABACE) has been cancelled because of economic conditions, the group sponsoring it said recently.
The event was to have been held in Hong Kong on February 11 and 12.
The National Business Aviation Association said will continue to work with its colleagues in Asia to promote the growth of business aviation in athat part of the world. But ABACE requires a huge commitment of resources from NBAA members, exhibitors and from the NBAA itself, the group said.
“At a time when our economy is moving into its second year of recession, NBAA is not in a position to provide ABACE with the attention and resources required to make the show the success it needs to be for our attendees and exhibitors,” NBAA president and chief executive Ed Bolen said in a statement.
The group looks forward to resuming the show in future years, Bolen said.
Boeing says it’s designed the 787 Dreamliner to be 30 percent less expensive to maintain than any comparable product, savings due to its advanced design, wide use of composite structures and highly-integrated systems architecture. That means fewer maintenance tasks and longer intervals between them.
Now, the Federal Aviation Administration has approved Boeing’s scheduled maintenance program, which defines the tasks and the intervals operators will use to maintain the jets. The report was accepted by the Maintenance Review Board, an FAA organization that reviews and accepts maintenance requirements. It’s one of many requirements needed for the plane to be certified.
The maintenance program is supported by more than 33,000 pages of supporting analysis, the participation of eight regulatory agencies, 25 airlines and 30 suppliers and partners, Boeing said.
NASCAR champion and Kansas native Clint Bowyer has taken delivery of a Beechcraft Premier 1A light business jet. Bowyer was in Wichita for the delivery. While here, he toured Hawker Beechcraft and signed autographs for employees.
The plane cruises at 520 mph, fulfilling Bowyer’s need for speed on the racetrack and in the skies, the company said.
Bowyer, who grew up in Emporia, is a three-year veteran of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, finishing in the top five in 2007 and 2008. He drives a Chevrolet Impala for Richard Childress RAcing in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. He has two career victories in the Sprint Cup Series.
Boeing achieved a milestone recently on its KC-767 tankers it’s building for the Italian Air Force.
Over the skies of northern Kansas, one of the tankers was refueled by another Italian KC-767 refueler. It’s the first time the KC-767 tanker has been refueled by another aircraft, Boeing officials say.
Boeing Wichita has been working on the tanker modifications.
During the flight test, Boeing aircrews made seven contacts and transferred more than 10,000 pounds of fuel using a system located at the top of the aircraft, behind the cockpit, the company said.
Boeing has two KC-767s in flight test for Italy and is building two additional tankers.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. I will be out of the office for the holidays (and a little surgery) beginning Friday, Dec. 19. I’ll return on Dec. 26. During that time, blog postings will be less frequent.
Thank you for reading this blog. I look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Have a great holiday season!
Tailwinds!
Molly
More bad news on the manufacturing front. The Alliance for American Manufacturing reports that the U.S. has lost more than 4 million manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
The Washington-based group based its findings on data from the national Current Employment Statistics survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the data, the U.S. employed 17,202,000 in manufacturing in November 2000. That figure dropped to 13,168,000 in November 2008.
Frontier Airlines, which serves Wichita with flights to Denver, is giving passengers three choices of fares in a new program called AirFairs. Customers with no checked bags who are willing to accept high fees to change flights will pay the least. Those who have checked baggage, want seating flexibility and in-flight TV pay more. Frontier says the change is in response to customers’ desires for more pricing flexibility and transparency.
According to Frontier’s website:
- Classic Plus is the ultimate. The Classic Plus ticket is fully refundable, changeable, and provides the customer the ability to confirm a seat on a different flight the same day of travel for no charge. In addition, Classic Plus customers get priority boarding, two checked bags, complimentary DIRECTV®, an in-flight snack and a premium beverage. Classic Plus customers also receive a 150% mileage credit in EarlyReturns®, the company’s customer loyalty program.
- Classic offers the important comforts for the best overall value. For as little as $20 more than an Economy fare the Classic customer gets advanced seat assignments, two complimentary checked bags and DIRECTV®, and 125% EarlyReturns® mileage credit. In addition, they will be charged only a $50 fee for itinerary changes and $75 for same day confirmed changes.
- Economy is the basic ticket to ride. The Economy ticket is for the customer who is traveling light and doesn’t foresee any schedule changes. The Economy ticket is our guaranteed lowest fare.
Boeing Wichita and its engineering union plan to resume negotiations Jan. 13 after the holiday break, a Boeing spokesman said Wednesday. Talks have been in recess.
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace represents about 700 engineers at Boeing Wichita. The current contract was extended to allow for the talks to resume.
