Daher has inked an agreement to acquire Triumph Group’s metallic aerostructures production and assembly business in Stuart, Florida, for an undisclosed amount. The 485,000-sq-ft facility on Florida’s Treasure Coast employs about 400 people and specializes in manufacturing large, complex metallic structures such as wing and fuselage assemblies.
"This acquisition is perfectly aligned with Daher’s ‘Succeed Together’ strategic plan, including the goal of significantly developing our North American activities across all of the company’s divisions,” said Daher CEO Didier Kayat. “We strengthened our aircraft manufacturing business by acquiring [Sandpoint, Idaho-based] Kodiak in 2019, and also have achieved significant organic growth in our services activities.”
He added, “With this acquisition, we strive to strengthen our industrial business. This significant transaction enables us to position ourselves globally as a key aerospace player.” The transaction is subject to regulatory reviews and other customary closing conditions.
Despite progress the FAA has made with enabling commercial carriers to operate in an environment with 5G cellular interference, NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen said the rollout has created “significant challenges and uncertainty” for general aviation operations, including continued prohibitions from low-visibility approaches in 5G deployment areas.
Bolen expressed those concerns in a statement provided for today’s House aviation subcommittee hearing on 5G deployment. “The FAA is to be commended for its work to approve alternative methods of compliance [AMOCs] that allow most commercial air carrier aircraft to operate safely at airports where there is potential for 5G interference,” Bolen said. “However, the FAA has only issued limited mitigations for business aircraft and helicopters to date.”
Noting 5G deployment is set to expand across the country, Bolen asked that the FAA dedicate the necessary resources to support AMOCs for general aviation. He also stressed the need for further collaboration with the telecom providers and the Federal Communications Commission on the continued rollout. Currently, the AMOC process cannot be a permanent solution since it requires the FAA to reissue approvals every 30 days, absorbing significant resources.
“If the telecom providers could share data on tower locations and deployment plans with the FAA as soon as it becomes available, the agency could manage the AMOC process more proactively and dedicate additional resources to general aviation operators,” he said.
Argus International has established a new safety standard that’s customizable to Part 91 operations of various sizes, the Denver-based business aviation audit organization announced yesterday. The Argus Operator Assessment, AOA:91000, uses the Argus Standard to evaluate private operators’ flight departments, assessing components such as scheduling, safety management, flight operations, and aircraft maintenance.
Argus senior v-p Mike McCready said the new standard was created to address and improve a missing piece in business aviation safety. “Our customers operating privately asked Argus for a safety assessment that fits their exact needs for domestic and international operations,” he explained. “The Argus Pros team built AOA:91000 specifically to meet the evaluation needs of our customers, making sure it is scalable, fitting all operator sizes.”
Founded in 1995, Argus International is a provider of aviation data, software, audits, and certification services with a focus on safety management systems.
Aviation software and information services provider ATP has partnered with records management firm Bluetail to streamline document access for aircraft owners and operators. Under the collaboration, ATP’s customers will now have direct access—through its Flightdocs platform—to records digitized by Bluetail.
Whether for a prebuy report, major inspection, or an audit, Flightdocs users will be able to search and open historical electronic records over the life of the aircraft, bringing value to the operator.
“While Flightdocs has focused on ensuring aircraft compliance and current records, this partnership and integration with Bluetail allows our operators to have complete access and control of all historical documents and data from a single platform,” explained Kent Pickard, ATP’s v-p for product management, business aviation solutions. “The opportunity to [provide] this benefit to our customers brings an aircraft’s history under one umbrella.”
“When we originally founded Bluetail, we always envisioned that our platform could become the de facto aircraft records stack for business aviation, the document 'foundation' if you will,” added company COO and co-founder Stuart Illian. “With our deep integration with ATP Flightdocs—and thus their full suite of rich and integrated maintenance software—we believe that we can now offer our mutual customers the perfect structure built upon that foundation.”
Aircraft fuel provider Phillips 66 Aviation has partnered with industry sustainability solutions company 4Air on a new carbon offset program for its supplied FBOs and flight operators. 4Air, which focuses its activities on private aviation, identifies and obtains carbon offset credits that fund specific environmental programs to offset carbon emissions. Those credits are validated and purchased according to industry verification standards, and customers receive certificates indicating the retiring of credits to fulfill their sustainability plans.
As an example of the new program, Phillips noted that Fontainebleau Aviation, a fuel retailer at Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport, is now offering carbon offsets to its customers through the new program. In addition, the FBO’s own emissions generated by its ground service equipment and vehicles have been offset since November.
“We’re excited to announce our carbon offset program in collaboration with 4Air as we continue to invest with new ventures and technologies that align with our ongoing sustainability priorities,” said Lindsey Grant, manager of Phillips 66 Aviation. “We’re giving pilots and FBOs the right tools to help them on their carbon journey.”
One of the largest fuel refiners in the U.S., Phillips is also in the process of converting its San Francisco-area refinery onto one of the world’s largest renewable fuels production facilities as it plans to become a leader in the production of sustainable aviation fuel.
In the latest effort to preserve the Massachusetts sales tax exemption on aircraft and parts, representatives of four trade associations testified last week before the state’s Senate Joint Committee on Revenue. Appearing before the committee were members of the Massachusetts Airport Management Association (MAMA), Massachusetts Business Aviation Association (MBAA), NBAA, and AOPA.
Introduced last year by assistant majority leader for the Massachusetts Senate Michael Barrett, bill S-1797 would repeal the 16-year-old sales tax exemption. Sen. Barrett’s district includes Hanscom Field, a major business aviation airport in the state and a reliever facility for Boston Logan.
Testimony followed a written statement to the Joint Committee from MAMA, which stated, “A repeal of the sales tax exemption on aircraft and components would be devastating to our aviation industry by forcing Massachusetts-based flight departments and aviation-related companies to move to bordering states in New England that do not levy a sales tax on aircraft.”
MAMA also noted, “The current tax exemption on aircraft sales and components does not favor the owners of the aircraft, as some would argue. It is about protecting the thousands of Massachusetts citizens with aviation jobs as a result of being competitive with our bordering New England states.”
Certain Bombardier noteholders have filed a complaint before the New York Supreme Court reiterating claims that the Canadian manufacturer violated certain lending covenants by divesting its transportation business, regional jet program, and aerostructures division, Bombardier reported Tuesday. The complaint came from certain holders of 7.450 percent senior notes due in 2034 and alleged that Bombardier's actions surrounding the divestitures and subsequent consent agreements breached their rights.
The noteholders last year had made similar allegations regarding the divestitures but were rebuffed in May when Bombardier successfully concluded a consent solicitation of its senior noteholders. Under the solicitation, Bombardier sought consent from its noteholders for clarification in the notes that the transactions were permitted. Bombardier agreed to consent payments of $1.25 per $1,000 due on the affected note series for noteholders that participated.
Those noteholders, however, have now turned to the courts, informing Bombardier of the complaint in a January 31 letter. Bombardier intended to file a motion to dismiss, a spokesman said.
The company issued a statement that it “believes that these allegations are without merit and intends to vigorously defend itself against the action. The corporation believes it is not and has never been in breach of any covenant under the relevant indenture and that the actions taken by it in May 2021, with the support and consent of the requisite holders of the relevant debt securities of the corporation, were fully compliant.”
Several aviation groups, including the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airlines for America (A4A), have urged the U.S. government to remove pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated international travelers arriving to the U.S. According to IATA, the vaccinated traveler population adds no risk to the domestic U.S. population given increased immunity levels, the pervasiveness of Covid-19 in all 50 states, rising vaccination rates, and new therapeutic treatments.
“The experience of Omicron has made it clear that travel restrictions have little to no impact in terms of preventing its spread,” said IATA director general Willie Walsh. “Moreover, as Omicron is already broadly present across the U.S., fully vaccinated travelers bring no extra risk to the local population. International travelers should face no additional screening requirements than what is applied to domestic travel. In fact, at this stage of the pandemic, travel should be managed in the same way as access to shopping malls, restaurants, or offices.”
IATA cites statistics showing that more than 74.3 million people—or at least 22 percent of the U.S. population—have contracted Covid-19 and that the existence of asymptomatic infections and limited testing early in the pandemic means that authorities arrived at the figure based on an undercount. “When combined with an adult population that is 74 percent fully vaccinated, it is clear that the U.S. is developing very high levels of population immunity,” IATA said.
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