MRO provider and charter operator Aero-Dienst is providing ferry flights, using its charter fleet, for customers who have their aircraft serviced at its Nuremberg, Germany facility, the company announced this week. Under the offering, Aero-Dienst will provide transport using its Bombardier Learjet 45XR and 60 and Challenger 300 and 650 jets from its Nuremberg location to return flight crews to a maintenance customer’s home base.
Aero-Dienst is providing the value-added service due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It noted that, with its decades of experience operating air ambulances, it has implemented extensive measures for the safe transport of customers, who will be flown by Aero-Dienst crews. The company also will disinfect aircraft cabins following each transport.
In business since 1958, Aero-Dienst also offers aircraft management services and sales. An authorized service center for Bombardier Business Aircraft and Dassault Falcon Jet, it operates from an 86,000-sq-ft facility in Nuremberg with line maintenance stations in Vienna, Austria, and Klagenfurt, Germany.
NBAA Works with Hospital Org To Coordinate HERO Support
NBAA has formed a partnership with the American Hospital Association (AHA) to ensure hospitals can tap into the Humanitarian Emergency Response Operator (HERO) database to coordinate Covid-19 assistance capabilities. Now 15 years old, the NBAA HERO database serves as a compilation of people, aircraft, and other resources that are available to assist with disaster response and has been used for efforts such as the 2010 Haitian earthquake and numerous hurricanes. NBAA has worked with the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Red Cross, among others, to coordinate HERO database assets.
“Business aviation is uniquely positioned to provide assistance to the citizens, companies, and communities grappling with the Covid-19 crisis,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “Our HERO database will connect supplies and services with hospitals across the country, including those in small towns and rural communities. We thank the American Hospital Association for coordinating with us, to ensure we reach the people most in need.”
The medical community has been exploring all options to increase production and distribution of personal protective equipment, added AHA executive v-p and COO Michelle Hood. “Through this unique partnership with NBAA, we will be able to further these efforts to keep our health care professionals safe and protected as they deliver care on the front lines.”
Covid-19 Forcing New Approaches to Fitness for duty
The outbreak of Covid-19 is changing the way pilots need to assess their fitness for duty because now they are not only responsible for determining their own situation, but how their health might affect others, according to Dr. Paulo Alves, global director of aviation health for MedAire. Alves participated yesterday in an NBAA webinar, “Keeping Your Crew Fit for Duty in the Downtime,” alongside Dr. Quay Snyder, president, CEO, and co-founder of Aviation Medicine Advisory Services; Matt McNeil, a licensed professional counselor and founder of LiftAffect; and Greg Farley, manager of aviation safety and security for John Deere Global Aviation.
What is becoming clear, Alves said, is there “is a totally new perspective” to fitness for duty. “You personally need to change your strategy in your assessment of fitness for duty in this period of uncertainty because you are responsible not only for yourself but sometimes for the whole flight department.”
Obtaining medicals is another pressing issue, even if the FAA is providing leniency through June 30, since many AMEs fall into higher-risk categories because of their age. “As a result, most AMEs temporarily closed their practices...It’s become very difficult to get a new medical exam,” said Snyder. However, he still recommends that pilots undergo such exams when possible, warning of a possible lack of appointments as everyone gets in line around June 30.
With all aspects of the business aviation industry feeling the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) has issued a white paper on recommended practices for airport sponsors and commercial aviation businesses with regard to lease issues.
The organization encourages establishing a dialog between the airports and their business tenants who may be experiencing financial hardship, including possible discussions of options for “the deferral and/or abatement of leasehold obligations during the coronavirus pandemic.” Such assistance should be uniform and equitable for similarly situated tenants.
While NATA noted that current FAA guidance permits airports to either waive or defer aeronautical rents, they are cautioned against any consideration of non-aeronautical fees and rents that could shift costs to aeronautical users. According to NATA, any assistance offered should be based on the urgency of the current public health crisis and in balance with the financial needs of both the airport and its commercial tenants.
As airports ponder issuing such financial relief, there are several factors to be considered if an essential aeronautical activities provider such as an FBO or an MRO was forced to cease operations due to economic distress—would the airport sponsor be in a position to provide those essential commercial services, and how long and how much money would it take to replace that tenant and restart those activities?
Helo Operators Increase Use of Safety Tools
Results from the International Helicopter Safety Foundation’s (IHSF) fifth annual survey of civil operators show a marked increase in the use of eight key best practices safety tools, including safety management systems (SMS) and flight data monitoring systems (FDM).
The survey garnered 1,900 responses from operators in 112 different countries, a response rate that increased by 49 percent versus a year ago. It found that overall usage of these eight tools in 2019 was 65 percent, up from 62 percent in 2018 and 59 percent in 2017. As in years past, certain industry sectors demonstrated better implementation with helicopter air ambulance, offshore energy, and law enforcement leading the way, while private flying and electronic newsgathering posted the lowest levels.
IHSF created the list of best practices after evaluating more than 1,000 helicopter accidents. They include structured maintenance programs that fully comply with manufacturers’ recommendations; structured initial and recurrent training; implementation of SMS; implementation of manual health usage and monitoring systems (HUMS); installation of wire strike prevention systems; implementation of FDM; implementation of automated HUMS; and use of night vision systems when warranted.
ASG: Covid-19 Tentacles Prove Devastating to Industry
Asian Sky Group’s (ASG) recent regional industry survey underscores the harm wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic, with 90 percent of respondents saying their businesses have been affected and 75 percent saying their fiscal goals are now unknown or unachievable.
In the most recent Asian Sky Quarterly, ASG managing director Jeffrey Lowe, citing the plunges in operations in the Asia-Pacific region, said, “Devastation is the only word that comes to mind,” and added that as the industry in the Asia-Pacific region tries to move forward, indications from the firm’s “Moods and Intentions” survey are that business likely will get worse before it gets better.
One-third of the respondents believe their fiscal goals are unknown, while another 42 percent say they are unachievable. Aircraft management companies were the most optimistic of the respondents. Meanwhile, 40 percent believe the market will bounce back in the second half and 36 percent said they don’t know the outlook for the latter part of the year.
Concerns have been particularly heightened in Greater China. “The severe impact of Covid-19 in Greater China has increased by an average of 7 percent per week through March,” said Lowe. “There are no respondents now that feel they will not be affected.”
Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM) will waive its application fee for students who attend its Digital Decision Day on April 25, the Virginia-based network of aviation maintenance schools announced this week. The virtual event is geared to helping prospective students select the appropriate program for them—including but not limited to aviation maintenance technician (AMT)—as well as provide access to financial aid advisers.
During the event, admissions representatives also will host career-planning sessions specific to a student’s program of interest that will offer insight into industry demand. AIM students who graduate from the AMT program are eligible to take the FAA exams necessary to obtain a mechanic’s certificate with ratings in both airframe and powerplant.
AIM operates campuses in 12 cities: Duluth, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Philadelphia; Irving and Houston, Texas; Indianapolis; Las Vegas; Kansas City, Missouri; Fremont, California; Casselberry, Florida; and Manassas and Norfolk, Virginia.
GA Groups Urge for Tax Relief
A half-dozen business and general aviation groups are urging the U.S. Congress to extend Covid-19-prompted aviation excise tax relief for commercial operators to non-commercial operators as well. The organizations wrote a letter to Senate leaders on Wednesday, saying, “Across the country, thousands of small and midsize businesses that generate $77 billion in labor income are facing unprecedented challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic and require additional relief.”
They praised the near and mid-term relief provided for air carriers and small businesses under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, including the suspension of certain federal excise taxes for commercial air transportation until Jan. 1, 2021.
“However, it did not suspend non-commercial aviation fuel taxes,” the organizations wrote. “While this excise tax suspension provides longer-term relief to commercial air carriers, most general aviation operations are non-commercial, and thus not eligible for this tax relief that will help incentivize aviation activity as we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Specifically, they are requesting that Congress consider a fourth Covid-19 relief package that would temporarily suspend general aviation fuel taxes—the 21.9-cent-per-gallon tax on jet-A, 19.4-cent-per-gallon aviation gasoline tax, and 14.1-cent-per-gallon surtax on fractional aircraft operations.
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