“Justifying business aircraft can be a complex endeavor, but it should not be feared,” said David Almy, the driver behind the NBAA’s Travel$ense and now part of the General Aero Co. consultancy.
The fight over user fees to fund the aviation system may just be a “smoke screen,” according to one industry executive, who warned that even bigger worries may lay ahead. Speaking during the National Air Transportation Association Air Charter Summit, Jet Aviation Senior Vice President Dick Van Gemert warned, “It can get very easy to focus on the wrong battle.” While the battle over user fees is important, Washington leaders are beginning to look for other sources of revenues to pay for the growing expenditures.
The New York state legislature is mulling a measure that would make the current five-year general aviation tax exemption permanent, even as the state struggles to fill a $17.9 billion budget deficit in fiscal 2010. Since the sales tax exemption for the maintenance, repair, overhaul or rebuilding of aircraft was enacted, New York has attracted significant investment in aviation services, said a spokeswoman for Assemblyman Robin Schimminger (D) who sponsored the 2004 legislation.
Dassault Falcon hosted the 23rd annual awards ceremony June 3, for the Teterboro Airport Community Benefit Fund that has provided more than $124,000 in scholarship awards to nearly 150 individual students since 1986. This year, nine scholarships of $1,500 each were awarded to students representing 14 towns in the surrounding area. Dassault Falcon has hosted the Teterboro Airport Community Benefit Fund awards ceremony for three consecutive years and has been a major contributor since 2001.
Precision Aviation Group, Atlanta, announced that Phillip Fienen has joined PAG as the new regional sales manager. Sherwin-Williams Aerospace Coatings, Andover, Kan., appointed James W. Havers-Strong sales manager.
SimCom has begun operating a TBM 850 FTD at its Orlando training center. The FTD, equipped with a high-resolution visual system, is configured with the TBM 850’s Garmin G1000 avionics suite. The SimCom facility provides a central location within the largest geographic market for the TBM 850 spanning the Southeast. The center also will support TBM customers from Latin and Central America.
Sales have slowed. Warehouses have filled. Profits are down. Analysts are tsk-tsking, reporters are snooping and stockholders are angry. It’s crunch time, that anxious period when every asset, every department undergoes excruciating cost/benefit scrutiny. The worry increases with each business unit’s distance from the company’s core activity — that is, producing, selling or supporting its main products or services.
Germany’s Air Alliance, one of the leading Cessna Service Centers in Europe, has been named an authorized Blackhawk Modifications distributor and installation center and has agreed to purchase three new Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42A engines to re-engine Cessna Grand Caravans.
Think that Washington lawmakers and the Obama administration are the only folks taking a close look today at corporations’ use of business aircraft? Increased scrutiny of corporate aviation has long preceded the Big Three automakers’ now-infamous appearance on Capitol Hill in November 2008.
AOPA and EAA chiefs have formed a pact to explore areas where they can collaborate to promote and protect general aviation. The AOPA’s new President and CEO Craig Fuller met with Experimental Aircraft Association Chairman Tom Poberezny June 3 at the EAA’s Aviation Center in Oshkosh, Wis., to discuss collaborative efforts. The two organizations have been friendly rivals, each with strong-willed leadership, for decades.
Bombardier Aerospace’s Annual forecast included a 20-year Commercial Aircraft Market outlook, 2009 to 2028, that predicts 12,400 deliveries in the 20- to 149-seat market, worth approximately $589 billion.
The first-ever Wichita Aero Club Ball raised $31,000 for the United Way of the Plains to benefit laid-off aerospace workers in the region. More than 10,000 industry workers have lost their jobs in Wichita. The event attracted 200 attendees, said club executive director Dave Franson. “The original plan was to hold a black tie ball and present the club’s trophy to a worthy individual,” he said. “But with the current economic conditions and job losses, we felt it wasn’t a good year to do that,” he said.
L-3 Avionics Systems, Grand Rapids, Mich., announced that Jan LaFoy has been appointed president of the company, which is part of L-3 Communications’ Aviation Products business area. He reports to Kris Ganase, president of L-3 Aviation Products.
“How can we hide the jet?” This question has been posed too frequently for way too long now. Some flying “off the balance sheet” has always occurred at the fringes of our industry, but now it is becoming mainstream. It shouldn’t be. You can block N-numbers on tracking software and create a leasing labyrinth to hide aircraft ownership, but you can’t prevent someone from snapping a picture of the boss stepping out of the jet.
Pentastar Aviation, Waterford, Mich., has hired Jessica Brant as customer care representative, Stacy McFall as aircraft charter sales representative, Steve Mineck as flight operation manager and Patrick Tschudi as flight follower supervisor.
Corporate Angel Network received a $50,000 gift from Hawker Beechcraft in continuing support of the charity’s efforts arranging free flights to and from treatment centers for cancer patients using empty seats in business aircraft. “Corporate aircraft owners help Corporate Angel Network brighten the lives of those touched by cancer,” said W.W. (Bill) Boisture Jr., Hawker Beechcraft’s chairman and CEO.
The first signs of a positive response to efforts by the general and business aviation community to recapture a favorable opinion among U.S. lawmakers are now being felt, say general aviation association leaders.
NextGen implementation is not moving fast enough and must be accelerated said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt in his first major speech since his June 5 confirmation. Speaking at the RTCA Symposium in Chantilly, Va., June 10, Babbitt emphasized the secret to launching NextGen is advice. “The only way we’re going to get rotation on this is by making sure the parties are at the table, making sure that their voices are heard. That’s the way I intend to keep it,” he said. “Decisions made in a vacuum will bring the system to its knees.
The JustFly card program from ExecuJet South Africa (part of Zurich, Switzerland-based ExecuJet Aviation Group) has recently been introduced into the South African market. Membership requires an advance payment for an initial number of flight hours using a preferred aircraft type. According to the company, one of the main advantages of the program is that the price is all-inclusive and fixed throughout the entire program. There are no monthly management fees or long-term contractual commitments. Currently, three programs are available — 25, 50 and 100 hours.
Greenwich AeroGroup, Greenwich, Conn., named Jim Ziegler president and CEO. Prior to joining Greenwich AeroGroup he was the chief operating officer of Jet Aviation, responsible for all North American operations.
The 100th Paris Air Show opened June 15 and closed June 21. A complete rundown of the show is posted on a special Web site linked to the free AviationWeek.com site. You can read each issue of the Aviation Week Paris Air Show Daily. There are multiple blogs by Aviation Week people and guest bloggers. Photos, videos, podcasts and more available through www.aviationweek.com. All things aeronautical are represented at this show. Go to the Web site and look for yourself.
I heartily agree with the points you made in “Beared Teeth,” (Viewpoint, May, page 9). I, too, am disgusted with the current “pabulum backbone” in Washington. It is important to remember that there’s one consistent thing that moves the politicians in Washington: RE-ELECTION. That, and that alone, seems to be the ONLY thing they all agree on. What a shame.
Century CRM developed the first of a series of human factors programs for Training Port, a Canadian-based online training firm. The company says the initial human factors program covers conflict resolution in the cockpit. Future courses are planned for release later in the year. Century CRM said the course represents an expansion into the Canadian professional pilot market. Based in Peachtree City, Ga., Century CRM specializes in human factors and crew resource management training.
By C. Leo Boyd and Steve R. Hutchens, C. Leo Boyd and Steve R. Hutchens
Business aviation is all about saving time because that is the one non-replenishible asset of every enterprise, and thus directly comports to the notion that “time is money.” However, in the true business context, only productive time has real value. So the challenge to management is improving organizational productivity through the efficient use of capital and human resources. And in the long term, policy level management must directly contribute about half of the total annual value toward a company’s financial success.
