MUSTANG MILESTONE
Cessna has rolled out the 300th Citation Mustang at its assembly site in Independence, Kansas less than three years after delivering the first very light jet. The Pratt & Whitney Canada P615F-powered aircraft will be handed over later this year to an unnamed Australian customer. The $3 million Mustang is the world's first fully certificated very light jet. It was announced at the 2002 NBAA business aviation convention and made its first flight in April 2005.
CHALLENGER CENTURY
The 100th manufactured Bombardier Challenger 605 business jet entered service earlier this month. The Canadian airframer says that more than 800 of its large-cabin Challenger 600 series have been delivered and the fleet has accumulated over 4,000,000 flight hours.
CHINESE APPROVAL
Jet Aviation Hong Kong has achieved Chinese joint maintenance management approval, paving the way for the General Dynamics-owned company to work on Chinese- and Macau-registered aircraft. The facility was recently named a US Federal Aviation Administration repair station, allowing it to perform scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, airframe and engine repairs, avionics modifications, inspections and defect rectifications on US-registered aircraft.
TRADE BODY
A trade association has been formed to represent and co-ordinate the interests of business aviation companies in the new European Union states including Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic. The new Central Europe Private Aviation Association will host its first conference in the Czech capital Prague on 22 and 23 April, where it plans to make an announcement about what it describes as a major new project to bring together Europe's business aviation industry.
Source: Flight International
