Bombardier

Bombardier [BBD] last week tested its new Challenger 605 wide-body business jet in a three-hour flight over Montreal. The plane reached an altitude of 41,000 feet and a top speed for 483 miles per hour. After several more flights out of Montreal, Bombardier will move the plane to Wichita, Kan., its flight test center. It expects to obtain Transport Canada's certification in the last quarter of the year, and the aircraft is expected to enter service in the fall of 2007.

ATR

ATR reports that 2005 was its best year since 1988 with 17 firm orders for the ATR 42-500 and 73 firm orders for the ATR 72-500. The sales were valued at $469 million. Last year, the French firm delivered five ATR 42-500s and 10 ATR 72-500s to seven airlines. The company also brokered the sale of 43 used aircraft - 19 ATR 42s and 24 ATR 72s.

BAe

BAe Systems Regional Aircraft secured 68 leases last year for its BAe 146, Avro RJ and ATP portfolio in transactions valued at $230 million. It also leased eight Jetstream 32s and Jetstream 41s while selling 38 Jetstream 32s in transactions valued at $12 million.

Cimber Air

Interstate Airlines, a Netherlands-based airline, signed a component support agreement with Cimber Air Support to support the carrier's growing fleet of ATR 42s. Cimber also recently signed a maintenance agreement with Interstate.

Caribbean Star

Caribbean Star Airlines, operating out of Antigua, and Caribbean Sun Airlines, operating out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently contracted with PRC, a unit of InterActive Corp. [IACI], to provide French- and Spanish-speaking reservation services. The Spanish services were launched last week and the French services should be fully implemented by the end of February.

Eclipse Aviation

Earlier this month, Eclipse Aviation broke ground on its primary assembly facility in Albuquerque, N.M. The 52,000-square-foot building will be the central hub for Eclipse 500 production. The company hopes to build four planes a day at the plant, which is schedule for completion in June. Once completed, Eclipse will have 340,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space near downtown Albuquerque.

JetNetwork

JetNetwork, a private aviation company, opened a new sales office in New York. The company expects more than half of all its flights to originate from suburban New York airports.

Executive Jet Management

Jeff Cryder has been promoted to executive vice president at Executive Jet Management. He will retain his position as the company's CFO with the promotion. He had been a senior vice president for finance.