MRO Atlas Air Adds Citation Latitude to Mx Offerings

German MRO provider Atlas Air Service has been approved to provide maintenance on the popular Cessna Citation Latitude. The approval includes all overhaul, repair, and modification on the midsize twin that entered service in 2015.

The approval from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) follows Atlas’s successful demonstration of its capabilities to German federal aviation authority LBA. “We have implemented this extension of our maintenance capability upon a recent customer request,” said Atlas Air CAMO manager Serkan Akin. “Responding very quickly to customer requirements with effective solutions is our key to success. In this case, it is also a perfect addition to our existing maintenance offer[ings].”

Akin noted that Atlas has more than 40 years of experience in the maintenance of Cessna Citations, making the company an “expert” in the market and with authorizations to maintain most Citation models. The company operates four service centers—in Bremen, Ganderkesee, Stuttgart, and Augsburg—and is also an Embraer Executive Jets-authorized service center.

Aviation Orgs Warn of Danger of Trust Fund Depletion

The aviation industry is increasingly becoming concerned that the U.S. Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) is in danger of depletion as an unintended consequence of the recently adopted CARES Act and the ongoing ramifications of Covid-19 restrictions. Nineteen aviation organizations wrote House and Senate leaders urging them to act to protect the continued solvency of the AATF.

“The significantly reduced demand and associated tax revenue from passenger tickets and jet fuel prior to the CARES Act along with the tax holiday will most certainly lead to the insolvency of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund," said the April 9 letter signed by a cross-section of industry.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which is among the organizations that signed the letter, noted the aviation tax-funded AATF had a healthy cash balance of $17.9 billion at the beginning of fiscal 2020. Of that, $6 billion was uncommitted—or not designated for any specific spending. Under the current scenario, preliminary FAA estimates are that the cash balance will drop to $7.8 billion, with the uncommitted balance reaching a negative $3.5 billion by the end of the fiscal year, AOPA said. At the same time, the AATF is to cover nearly all of the FAA’s budget.

Covid-19 Travel Restrictions Require Extra Diligence

Complexities faced by aircraft operators trying to navigate ongoing Covid-19 travel restrictions were highlighted by an April 4 incident in which 10 passengers landing at Marseille in the south of France on a chartered Embraer Legacy were denied entry to the country after local police ruled that their trip breached the country’s strict lockdown rules. While the details of how the flight was managed are scant, the wasted trip could have been avoided with more thorough planning.

According to Adam Hartley, manager for global regulatory services with flight support group Universal Weather & Aviation, flight planners need to be more thorough than ever in understanding rules and requirements that can shift very quickly in the ongoing public health emergency. “These days, you can’t just rely on what’s in the notams or posted restrictions,” he told AIN. “You need to explicitly confirm that the trip is permitted and that you have provided all the required details.”

What appears to have caused French police to block the group traveling to Marseille for a vacation was their plan to fly to a villa near Cannes in three chartered helicopters at a time when French residents are only permitted to circulate in very close proximity to their homes. According to French media reports, the operator of the helicopters was also fined for breaching local travel restrictions.

ACI Jet Offers Return-to-service Deal for Idle Bizjets

ACI Jet has developed a program to help facilitate a return-to-service for Bombardier Globals and Challengers, as well as Cessna Citations, that have sat on the ground for an extended period during the Covid-19 crisis and will require de-preservation. The mobile return-to-service program, which ACI Jets dubs mRTS, includes 10 percent reduced labor rates for inspections and maintenance required to return aircraft to service. Additionally, travel discounts will be considered for customers scheduled within 250 miles of ACI Jet’s headquarters in San Luis Obispo, California, encompassing both the Bay Area and greater Los Angeles area.

The company expects to offer the program through June but said that might be extended, based on the duration of travel restrictions. Enrollment does not necessarily mean the customer is committed to receiving service, ACI Jet added, but said mRTS was structured with the anticipation that once travel restrictions lift, demand will surge for return-to-service support.

Enrollments will help the company’s AOG division to better plan and schedule services where the aircraft are based, it added. “Knowing who needs what services, and when, and having the ability to coordinate not only our AOG team’s schedule, but to coordinate our clients’ schedules collectively, will help everyone get through what is anticipated to be a very busy time period,” said Chris Seabrook, the service provider's AOG and mobile maintenance manager.

Aircraft Decontamination Firm Expands Services

New York-based aircraft decontamination specialist Aqueous Solutions has expanded its offerings from the metro-NYC area to provide nationwide emergency disinfecting service for Covid-19. Approved by the CDC and the FDA for use against the virus, the company’s contamination service cleans and disinfects aircraft and airport locations such as FBO terminals and hangars using a unique electrostatic fogging and spraying system.

According to Aqueous, the atomizers create a fine mist that coats all surfaces with environmentally sound cleaning and disinfecting solutions, quickly killing 99.9 percent of germs and viruses. Since the start of the pandemic, the company has decontaminated more than four million square feet of terminal, office, and aircraft space, and its response team provides 24/7 emergency contact.

It is now preparing for the next phase of services, which will involve the deep cleaning of workspaces before employees returning to work and providing a regularly scheduled disinfecting treatment each week for the next few months, or until confirmation that the threat is over.

“Unlike the many new vendors entering this space, we have more than a decade of experience in environmental cleanups, and we use a high-quality CDC-approved product that is highly effective and safe,” said company co-founder Eric Bliss. “Our disinfectant and technique sanitize the surfaces and equipment, enabling travelers and aviation staffers to safely travel and work with less worry about Covid-19 infection.”

Avfuel Begins PPE Production for Local Hospitals

Michigan-based Avfuel has joined the ranks of aviation companies that have turned their attention to producing personal protective equipment (PPE) for the medical community in the fight against Covid-19.

Workers who manufacture and maintain refueler trucks in Avfuel's Avtank division have begun using 3D printers to create face mask ear hooks and face shield headbands to help protect front-line health workers. As of last week, the Ann Arbor company produced 200 ear hooks, which were sent to a company for sterilization and packaging, for donation to the University of Michigan Hospital. Facing a limit on printing capacity, the team will add higher capacity devices with a goal of producing more than 100 items per day.

“Southeast Michigan is our home, and it’s been one of the hardest-hit locations in the country,” said Brad Van Camp, the fuel provider’s technical operations manager, adding that Ann Arbor is a major medical hub fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and, as such, is affected by the PPE shortage. “Avfuel wanted to do all it could to support that effort. As such, our talented team members quickly modified a design and started prototyping the face shield headbands and mask ear hooks last week; we should reach production capacity in mid-April.”

King Aerospace Sees Steady Business, Adjusts Workspace

King Aerospace is seeing steady demand for its VVIP and special-mission services despite the global industry slowdown. However, the Texas-based company has taken precautions as it proceeds with its business.

“Our facilities are full of aircraft to be serviced and we’re pushing out as many proposals as ever,” said King Aerospace president Jarid King. “That’s not to say it’s business as usual, though. We take every day as it comes and adjust as we need to.”

Precautions have included an evaluation of its workforce to ensure at-risk employees are able to work remotely. “A few months ago, if you’d have told me I could do this job offsite, I would have said, ‘no way,’” said Randy Johnson, director of corporate aircraft services, which includes paint, interior, avionics, and minor maintenance programs. Johnson is among those working remotely. “And, honestly, I couldn’t if we didn’t have such a resourceful team...We talk regularly and follow our proven processes, but we can, if needed, do it virtually now.”

The company further has instituted best practices and OSHA guidance to safeguard the approximately 80 employees that continue to work at its Ardmore, Oklahoma facility. Customers largely are sticking to planned maintenance schedules, but if the pandemic continues longer than anticipated, King said customers might move up their scheduled work.

Aircraft Tech Pubs, CaseBank Take On New ATP Brand

Nearly four years after San Francisco-based Aircraft Technical Publishers acquired CaseBank Technologies of Toronto, Ontario, the companies are further unifying under the single brand name of ATP, effective today. The branding move further calls for Aircraft Technical Publishers, an information and maintenance management system provider, to be marketed as ATP Information Services while CaseBank, an analytical software company, will take on the name ATP Software Solutions.

“ATP’s solutions and services can be found in every corner of the aviation world,” said ATP chief marketing officer James Geneau. “From a single propeller crop-duster in Iowa to the cabin of a passenger jet or supporting the mission of an F-35 Joint-Strike Fighter, we are dedicated to aviation, and this new brand strategy reinforces that we are always ready to make flying safer and more reliable.”

ATP supports aircraft and related manufacturers, as well as the general, commercial, and military aviation subsectors. Combined, it has more than 6,700 customers in 137 countries.

AIN Webinar: Keeping Bizav’s Supply Chain Moving During Crisis

Join us on April 23 at 12:00 p.m. EDT as AIN senior editor Charles Alcock moderates a webinar discussion on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the business aviation supply chain and how the industry is responding. He will speak with three senior leaders from this sector—Marc Drobny, president of business aviation at StandardAero; Todd Winter, president and CEO of Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics; and Aaron Hollander, CEO of First Aviation Services. Register today for this FREE hour-long webinar.