The Scissortail Brief | September 14, 2026

This week, Trump threatened to block Bombardier from the U.S. market entirely, and Bombardier fired back with its own U.S. footprint. Global Jet Capital says North America will account for nearly three-quarters of all business jet transactions through 2030. WingX's weekly traffic numbers looked ugly until you adjust for the calendar. NBAA wants a uniform federal duty-and-rest rule covering charter and fractional operators. The FAA proposed a safety directive covering 680 Challenger 300-series aircraft. Texas is running real-world electric air taxi flights this week. And heat advisories are back across the state.

Before any of that, though, this past week marked 25 years since September 11, 2001. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was in my touring musician era, playing in Phil Vassar’s band. I was on a tour bus, and I watched it all unfold on a TV in a Walmart parking lot in Bristol, Tennessee. I imagine most of you reading this have a similarly vivid memory of exactly where you were. Aviation changed permanently that day, and this industry in particular has spent the last quarter century building a safety and security culture shaped directly by the lessons of that morning. Twenty-five years on, as much as I’d like to, I’ll never foreget that terrible day.

That said, grab a frosty beverage, keep an eye on Truth Social, and read on, BizAv family. You might find something useful.

Trump Threatens to Block Bombardier From the U.S. Market

President Trump posted on Truth Social September 7: "NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their products aren't good enough!" He added that if the company wants access to the U.S. market, "they must build here, and stop treating America like a 'piggybank.'" The post came as Canada prepared retaliatory tariffs on roughly $20 billion of American goods, set to take effect the next day.

Bombardier responded by pointing to its existing U.S. footprint: approximately 2,800 suppliers across 47 states, wings for the Global 8000 built at its facility in Red Oak, Texas, and flight control components manufactured near Los Angeles. The company employs roughly 3,500 U.S. workers, with a major presence in Wichita, Kansas, and said it continues recruiting for 500 U.S. positions, including jobs tied to its forthcoming Fort Wayne service center. Kansas lawmakers, both Republican, pushed back publicly over the potential impact on state jobs and suppliers.

As of this week, the threat hadn't translated into an implemented sales prohibition. Bombardier jets remain FAA type-certificated, aircraft certification in the U.S. sits with the FAA rather than the White House, and the company's products aren't currently subject to U.S. tariffs. The White House hasn't explained what legal or regulatory mechanism it would use to actually block deliveries, and Bombardier's U.S. manufacturing footprint and coverage under the USMCA trade agreement create real practical hurdles to any such move.

This is the second time this year Trump has targeted Bombardier. In January, he threatened to decertify the company's Global Express aircraft and impose 50% tariffs on Canadian-built jets after accusing Canada of withholding Transport Canada approval for Gulfstream's G500, G600, G700 and G800. Canada subsequently certified all four Gulfstream models by late February, and no decertification of Bombardier followed.

North America Projected to Drive Nearly Three-Quarters of Global Transactions Through 2030

Global Jet Capital released its annual business jet market forecast this week, projecting $247 billion in combined new and pre-owned transaction volume worldwide between 2026 and 2030, growing at an average annualized rate of 4.1%. North America is expected to account for 73.9% of that volume, remaining the largest business jet market over the period, with Latin America the second-largest market by virtue of pre-owned demand specifically.

The forecast expects heavy jet demand to grow faster than other size categories, with new heavy jet transactions up 3.3% and pre-owned heavy jet transactions up 4.9% annualized, driven by buyers favoring greater range and capacity. New medium jets and pre-owned very light jets are also projected to grow faster than the market average.

Separate market commentary NBAA published September 10 added an important qualifier to the broader growth story: industry panelists described notably strong demand for larger, newer aircraft, while smaller, older airframes are experiencing more conventional depreciation. Panelists also cautioned buyers against financing structures that assume today's elevated aircraft values will hold indefinitely.

U.S. Business Jet Flying Is Up 5% Year to Date, Despite an Ugly-Looking Weekly Number

WingX reported September 9 that U.S. business jet departures are up 5.0% year over year through September 6. But the same report's weekly comparison initially looked considerably weaker: North American activity fell 5.6% and U.S. activity fell 5.4% during the week of August 31 through September 6, compared with the corresponding week in 2025.

The gap comes down to the calendar. WingX attributed the apparent weekly decline primarily to Labor Day falling in different reporting weeks between the two years. Comparing the actual holiday weekends directly instead of the calendar week, 2026 activity was up 2.5% year over year. That makes the headline weekly figure a poor standalone indicator of underlying demand.

NBAA Seeks Uniform Federal Duty-and-Rest Rules for Charter and Fractional Operators

NBAA and other aviation associations urged the FAA on September 8 to broaden a proposal reaffirming federal authority over flight time, duty periods, rest requirements and meal breaks. The underlying proposal was focused on Part 121 scheduled airlines; the associations want its scope expanded to explicitly include Part 91 fractional management companies along with Part 125 and Part 135 operators.

Their stated concern is that a patchwork of conflicting state and local requirements around duty and rest could create operational complications, higher compliance costs, and litigation exposure for operators working across state lines.

Because this proposal focuses on asserting federal preemption rather than enacting immediate operational updates, Part 135 flight departments should keep it on their regulatory watchlists. Operators should monitor the final rule's precise scope and language as it develops.

FAA Proposes Safety Directive for Bombardier BD-100 Aircraft

The FAA published a proposed airworthiness directive September 14 covering all Bombardier BD-100-1A10 aircraft, the type family that includes the Challenger 300, 350 and 3500. The action follows reports of pitch upset upon autopilot disconnect, triggered by EICAS messages indicating the autopilot was holding significant nose-up or nose-down elevator forces. The FAA estimates the proposed directive would affect 680 U.S.-registered aircraft.

The proposed rule would revise the aircraft flight manual to reclassify the response to the AP STAB TRIM FAIL (C) advisory message from a non-normal procedure to an emergency procedure, giving flight crews explicit emergency guidance to stabilize airspeed under the affected conditions. The concern driving the action: delayed crew response, combined with failure to stabilize airspeed promptly, can allow a severe out-of-trim condition to develop before the autopilot is disconnected. Transport Canada issued a parallel directive, AD CF-2025-42, addressing the same procedure.

This remains a notice of proposed rulemaking, not a final directive. Comments are due October 29, 2026.

Texas Begins Real-World Electric Air Taxi Integration Flights

Project Nexus launched public demonstration flying at Fort Worth Alliance Airport on September 10 under the FAA's eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, bringing together federal and state transportation officials and aircraft developers to test integration into real operating environments rather than controlled test ranges.

Joby Aviation announced a September 10-14 flight campaign built around planned operations touching DFW Airport, Arlington and Toyota's Plano headquarters, alongside a 45,000-square-foot facility at Alliance supporting its longer-term North Texas presence, first reported in this Brief back in August. These are announced campaign routes rather than a claim that every scheduled flight has already flown as planned.

For anyone doing industry or infrastructure work in Texas, Project Nexus gives a concrete, current program to point to when discussing airport integration, vertiport infrastructure, workforce needs, and eventual operating requirements for eVTOL aircraft in the state.

Fuel: Prices Climb Further

The national average for Jet-A across 3,202 reporting FBOs was $7.98 per gallon as of September 13, according to GlobalAir, up from $7.88 the prior week. The Central region remained lowest at $7.25. Alaska remained highest at $9.39. The national average for SAF was $10.25 per gallon, and 100LL averaged $7.59 nationally, with Alaska again highest at $11.42 and the Central region lowest at $6.93.

IATA's Fuel Price Monitor showed the global refinery-level average up 9.0% week over week to $171.01 per barrel, equivalent to roughly $4.07 per gallon before transport, storage, into-plane service, taxes and FBO margin are added. Retail FBO pricing remains below the April 2026 peak, but this week's increase confirms the market remains volatile rather than settling into a clear downward trend.

Weather: Heat Advisories Return Across Texas

The following is sourced from NWS Houston/Galveston and NWS Austin/San Antonio, current as of today, September 14.

Heat Advisories are in effect across much of Texas today. NWS Austin/San Antonio has a Heat Advisory in effect from noon through 7 p.m. today, with highs near 101 and heat index values as high as 109. NWS Houston/Galveston reported a Heat Advisory in effect from late Monday morning through early evening, with highs in the mid-to-upper 90s and peak heat index readings up to 109 as well. Overnight lows are holding in the mid-70s to around 80 inland and the upper 70s to low 80s along the coast, offering little real relief before the next hot afternoon.

Moisture returning near the Texas coast is bringing an increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms, especially near Matagorda and Palacios, while North Texas continues under sunny, hot conditions with light winds gusting to around 20 mph.

That's The Brief

The Week in One Sentence: President Trump threatened to block Bombardier from the U.S. market unless it manufactures domestically, a threat Bombardier rebutted by citing its 2,800 U.S. suppliers and existing American manufacturing footprint, Global Jet Capital projected $247 billion in global business jet transactions between 2026 and 2030 with North America accounting for nearly three-quarters of that volume, WingX confirmed U.S. business jet activity is up 5% year to date despite a Labor Day-distorted weekly decline, NBAA pushed the FAA to extend a federal duty-and-rest framework to charter and fractional operators, the FAA proposed a safety directive affecting 680 Bombardier Challenger 300-series aircraft, Joby Aviation and Project Nexus launched real-world eVTOL integration flights at Fort Worth Alliance, FBO Jet-A climbed to $7.98 nationally, and Heat Advisories returned across Texas with heat index values up to 109 degrees.