This year AgustaWestland has unveiled the GrandNew, an evolution of the highly successful Grand helicopter. Mr. Dalmasso could you please explain us what was the main goal of developing the new aircraft?

During the Jet Expo 2008 the Jets.ru reporter met with Colin Steven – Embraer Executive Jets Vice President Sales & Marketing Europe/Middle East/Africa.

When we met one year ago you told me lots of essential things about the Embraer. Nowadays I would like to be acknowledged in the actual changes that happen within the past year.

This is a very important year. It’s been a good progression for us. Firstly we would deliver the first Phenom 100 at the end of this year. The first flight of the Phenom 300 took place two months ahead of schedule and that was another great achievement for us. We will also have a certification of the Phenom 100 this year, because the certification will be the first and than the delivery will follow. And than we will have a delivery of the first Lineage this year. And that’s all going to be happen between now and the end of this year.

Russia has become an area of vast growth over the last few years within the aviation industry. The demand for this office was of high priority within ExecuJet’s expansion plans and it’s worked really well. Russia has the highest growth within Europe and ExecuJet is currently operating 11 aircraft in Moscow. In 2007 we had just two supervisors based at the airports to look after our customer requirements on-site. We have since opened a representative office in Moscow with a current workforce of seven employees. This location allows us to be more flexible in serving our clients needs without dealing with all requests out of the Zurich office.

Jet Expo is becoming a Mecca for top executives of aircraft companies. Despite the tight schedule of the officials the JETS.ru correspondent had a chance to talk with Brad Hatt – President Commercial Aircraft Hawker Beechcraft Corporation on the first day of the show (September 17, 2008).

Shall we start by talking about your general opinion of the Russian business aviation market. Is it an emerging market for the Hawker Beechcraft?

Yes the Russian market is an excellent market for us and has been probably for the past few years. It definitely is the emerging market across the world driven of course a lot by natural resources, in Russia specifically by oil and gas – overall general wealth that´s been created in this country which makes it a tremendous market opportunity for us.

JETS.ru presents fragments of the interview with Mr. Nikolay Nikiforov, ETIRC CEO in CIS. You can read the full version of the interview in June edition of TopFlight magazine.

In February 2008 ETIRC Aviation S.a.r.l. announced the launch of a production program of the Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ) in Russia. First Russian assembling facility will be built in Ulyanovsk. The facility is expected to start working late in 2009. Some 30 aircraft are likely to be produced in the same year.

We spoke with Mr. Nikolay Nikiforov, ETIRC CEO in CIS, about the prospects of the Russian project.

A new segment is being formed on the Russian market – independent consulting in the field of business aviation. Sergey Morozov, senior partner of Morozov & Partners Consulting Group, expects some five companies offering independent expertise on aircraft purchase to start working by the time Jet Expo 2008 welcomes its first visitors. Mr. Morozov tells readers of TopFlight magazine about the necessity of such services and the practical activities of the group.

Sergey, could you please tell us what directions Morozov & Partners Consulting Group works in?

The group was established to work as a universal consulting company in the sphere of business aviation. In Russia and abroad there exist companies functioning either as aviation companies having a special license to operate aircraft or as proper operators carrying out commercial operation of the aircraft.

CEO of Eurocopter Vostok Jerome Noulens kindly agreed to answer some questions for JETS.ru

Could you please give a brief overview of 2007? Did it beat last year’s records?

Yes. We are increasing bookings in 2007 by 250%. This year’s results are very exciting. This puts a huge responsibility on all Eurocopter Vostok staff and in a sense Eurocopter as a whole, so what we have sold this year will be delivered on time and that all the necessary technical means are implemented by the staff so these helicopters fly smoothly. I am of course confident we will meet this target, as customer satisfaction remains one of our priorities.