Air Capital Insider

What do you think?

I received an e-mail today from someone in the aviation industry who is critical of President Obama who, on his trip to China this week, pledged support of China’s regional jet, which is in the works.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Obama said that he would push for closer technical collaboration and eventual U.S. safety approval for China’s ARJ21 commuter jet.

“This is just great,” said a reader in his e-mail to me today. “Something is badly and horrible wrong with these actions – destroy your own great USA aviation industry and build the foreign competitions industry – SAD.”

What do you think? Send me your comments.

As the Dubai Air Show opened on Sunday, Cessna Aircraft and Hawker Beechcraft had a number of announcements.

Cessna said the company and its line of aircraft is well-positioned to meet the needs of the Middle East over the coming years. The Middle East has felt the impact of the financial crisis, but will continue to grow through its “ambitious development plans.”

Cessna also said it delivered a Citation Sovereign to Arab Wings of Jordan, an executive air charter operator in the Middle East, and a Citation Mustang entry-level aircraft to the Egyptian Aviation Academy. It will deliver three additional Mustangs to the company this month.

It also delivered a Citation XLS+ to the Etablissement National de la Navigation Aerienne of Algeria.

Hawker Beechcraft, meanwhile, said it delivered the 10th Beechcraft King Air B200-series aircraft to Serco Defence, Science and Technology in the United Kingdom for use with the Royal Air Force.

It also said that a King Air completed its first non-stop transatlantic flight. The modified aircraft flew from Wichita to Bournemouth International Airport in the United Kingdom with a single stop in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The more than 4,000 nautical mile trip was completed in less than 12 hours.

Although attendance was down, things were still busy at the static display Wednesday.

It’s official. Crowds are thinner at this year’s NBAA in Orlando. Organizers report that 21,807 people registered for the convention yesterday, the show’s opening day. That’s down 22 percent from record attendance of 29,350 a year ago.

The figures aren’t surprising, however, given how hard the industry has been hit by the economic crisis.

Still, said NBAA’s Patrick Dunne, “It’s going well; we’re having a strong show.”

Tuesday’s crowds on the exhibit floor seem down from past years as well. As one show veteran put it earlier this morning, ”You could roll a bowling ball through there and not hit anyone.”

Attendance has since picked up, and the exhibit floor is much busier right now.

Beautiful but windy weather Tuesday helped attendance out at the static display yesterday.

“Hawker Beechcraft’s static display was well attended,” said company spokeswoman Nicole Alexander.  ”I’m very pleased with opening day attendance.”

And Embraer officials report that crowds were long to get inside the Phenom 100 at the static display yesterday.

I’m heading out there this afternoon.

Some empty exhibit space at NBAA. Last year, the exhibit hall was full. This year, fewer vendors are displaying their products at the show. Still, the convention has about 1,000 exhibitors.

ORLANDO — Some Wichita exhibitors say traffic was down somewhat today at this year’s NBAA. But there were fewer tire kickers.

The ones  here really want to talk, said Larry Franke, president of Avcon Industries in Newton.

In fact, three or four “really good contacts” came by Avcon’s exhibit today, Franke said.

Business is down in the general aviation business overall. So it’s natural that traffic would be down at the show, said Charles Skelton of Wichita’s Aircraft Interior Products.

“We’re looking at cautious optimism,” said Skelton, standing by carpets and other products for aircraft interiors.