Negotiations between Spirit AeroSystems engineering union and the company are set for Monday.
Boeing and the union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, haven’t yet wound up their contract. Boeing engineers vote Thursday amid the union’s recommendation they reject the offer and go back to the negotiating table.
Spirit AeroSystems engineers are next. SPEEA is holding a kickoff meeting at 5:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9 at the Kansas Aviation Museum. Union officials will give engineers and their spouses an update on what to expect in negotiations with Spirit and a timeline for the negotiation process.
“Business jets are a force for good. Really.” So starts an opinion piece that ran yesterday in the New York Times. It was written by Bill Garvey, editor-in-chief of Business and Commercial Aviation.
Bill makes some excellent points in the article. He points out how astounding it is to see members of Congress disparaging and trying to curtail the general aviation industry — one that keeps more than 1 million employed and one that contributes $150 billion to the U.S. economy annually.
“If two companies are competing for business, the one using a business aircraft can fly directly to one of those smaller airports and get to lunch with the client before the other guys taking the commercial airlines show up,” he said.
Cessna Aircraft delivered a Citation X Monday to MJets Limited, based in Bangkok.
The plane will be used for charter. It’s the second Citation X operating in Thailand, the company said.
Russian-backed AAI Acquisition is looking for a strategic partner to continue the growth of the company.
AAI Acquisition bought the assets of the former Adam Aircraft in April 2008. At the time, the company said it would continue to work on certifying the A700 light jet. But in the meantime, the economy took a turn and it halted that work and laid off most of the work force.
Last fall, the company said it was going to market its design and manufacturing services to customers.
That’s been successful and the company is ready to expand, it said today.
“Based on our initial efforts, we aer building a viable business base for our engineering solutions and services while retaining the option to re-launch the A700 business jet,” Steve Patrick, vice president of business development, said in a statement.
Principal targets for the initiative include aerospace and custom automotive sectors and organizations that could benefit from composite design and manufacturing skills using the “low cost, out-of-autoclave methods that AAIA perfected while developing the A700 business jet.”
