Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

The Wichita City Council today approved bond requests from both Textron Aviation’s Cessna Aircraft and Bombardier Learjet for various facility improvement projects and/or equipment.

 


Cessna sought the issuance of up to $50 million in industrial revenue bonds to finance $15 million in aircraft manufacturing and flight-testing facility improvements and $33 million in tooling the company is investing in this this year. The remainder of the request is expected to cover the cost of the bonds. The request is part of a five-year letter of intent (LOI) that Cessna reached with the city council in August 2013 covering the issuance of $513.6 million in bonds. That agreement included a five-plus-five year property tax abatement. Cessna had said it would add 50 employees to its workforce by the end of the five-year LOI term. Before the most recent request, Cessna had a $433.4 million unused balance of the LOI.

 


Cessna is adding tooling and increasing its facilities as it ramps up on its next two development programs—the <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2015-11-16/textron-fast-tracks-new-longitude-and-hemisphere">Citation Longitude and Hemisphere</a>. The Wichita manufacturer detailed plans for both aircraft, which would be largest aircraft produced by the manufacturer yet, last month at NBAA 2015.

 


Separately, the City Council was considering a request by Cessna to sublease a nearly 16,000-sq-ft facility at Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport to sister company TRU Simulation + Training for maintenance training. The sublease would extend through 2020, with two additional three-year periods. Cessna originally leased the facility and land in 1976, and its latest extension runs through 2026.

 


Bombardier's Learjet division, meanwhile, is securing close to $3.6 million in bonds under an LOI reached in June 2014 for up to $52.7 million in bonds. The latest bond issuance is to cover aircraft positioning and tracking equipment, video recorders and rack displays. Learjet is seeking the investments as it shifts its work in Wichita away from Learjet 85 development to an increase in maintenance and completions work there.

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