Last week the FAA issued a notice of a proposed permanent process for limiting aircraft data displayed via its Access to Aircraft Situation Display (ASDI) and National Airspace System Status Information (NASSI), known in the vernacular as the block aircraft registration requests (Barr) program. The agency proposes to continue to honor all aircraft owner or operator requests that the FAA block specific aircraft from appearing in the FAA’s public ASDI data feed.

Owners and operators can submit requests on their own behalf or may do so through their legally authorized agent. The FAA said it does not view associations to be agents on behalf of their members for this purpose. To assist the FAA in accurately and efficiently processing the number of requests that it expects to receive, the agency intends to ask that all requests for ASDI blocking include specific information.

“The receipt of this information could influence whether the FAA can add or delete aircraft from the ASDI block list in a timely way,” the FAA said. Until the agency issues a formal decision it will continue to operate under the interim policy it published last December.

The U.S. Senate approved legislation yesterday to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, bringing to conclusion a dispute in Congress driven by the airline industry’s opposition to export financing of Boeing long-range aircraft purchased by competing foreign carriers. The Export-Import Act of 2012 (H.R.2072) was approved a week earlier by the House and is expected to be signed by President Obama. The bill extends the bank’s charter through 2014 and increases its lending authority by $40 billion, to $140 billion.

GAMA applauded the latest congressional milestone. “The Export-Import Bank’s continued lending authority is great news for thousands of general aviation manufacturing workers and businesses of all sizes,” said GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce. “Reauthorization ends a period of great uncertainty for our industry’s manufacturers, who have come to rely increasingly upon Export-Import Bank financing over the past several years.”

On Monday at EBACE in Geneva, Ex-Im Bank president Fred Hochberg announced a new process to expedite the bank’s financing of transactions involving U.S.-made business aircraft and helicopters. He also announced a new $350 million loan guarantee to support Textron in exporting Cessna airplanes and Bell helicopters.

FlightSafety International’s first Gulfstream G650 flight simulator, which is based at the company’s learning center in Savannah, has been qualified by the EASA. Evaluation and qualification of the G650 simulator by the FAA is scheduled to take place later this month and be completed before the start of customer training. A second G650 simulator will be installed in Savannah in a few weeks, and a third device will be added next year at a yet-to-be-determined location.

Jet Aviation launched a new fuel sales service for its FBOs in the European, Middle Eastern and Asian regions this week at EBACE. Using its global purchasing power to negotiate a better fuel price with supplier World Fuel Services, Jet Aviation’s new fuel sales service can pass cost savings on to FBO and MRO customers visiting these facilities. It will be offered in tandem with the company’s existing fuel program, which is exclusive to aircraft management clients.

Flexjet will be the first fractional provider to offer access to the new Bombardier Learjet 70 and Learjet 75, derivatives of the 40-series Learjets that were announced earlier this week at EBACE. Though a Flexjet spokeswoman said the number of Learjet 70/75s the frax company has on order is not yet determined, deliveries of the new twinjets are still scheduled to begin next year. Flexjet’s Learjet 70/75s will feature the company’s new interior design updates, including honey-colored wood, light beige leather seats and accents of red throughout the cabin and galley.

The FAA has directed its investigators and staff to pursue stiffer penalties for people who purposefully point laser devices at aircraft. Shining a laser at an airplane can temporarily blind the pilots, resulting in a safety issue. The number of reported laser incidents nationwide rose to 3,592 last year from 2,836 in 2010. Laser incident reports have increased steadily since the FAA created a formal reporting system in 2005 to collect information from pilots.

Fractional-share provider Avantair’s revenues grew by 9.9 percent, to $40.1 million, in its Fiscal Year 2012 third quarter, compared with the same period last year. Revenue-generating flight hours climbed 6.1 percent, to 11,327. Net loss attributable to shareholders was $1.1 million, down from $1.3 million during the same quarter last year. Non-Gaap adjusted Ebidta grew 81 percent to $1.7 million, up from $940,000.