Following a mini-concert by four-time Grammy-winning songwriter Josh Kear, NBAA’s 2023 Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference kicked off its opening session yesterday morning in Nashville, Tennessee. As the first show in the organization’s schedule this year, NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen explained that with the new year came a new Congress, one which among other tasks will have to negotiate FAA reauthorization.
“I think we all know there are lots of opportunities to try to work together to foster an environment that allows business aviation to thrive by helping the FAA itself function in a way that allows us to thrive,” said Bolen. He added that he sees the potential for improvement in the FAA registry and its rulemaking process, “and to make sure we are set up to withstand any budgetary issues or government shutdowns.” As part of that process though, he warned that some “bad ideas” will likely emerge, ones that will require the business aviation community members to voice their opinion with their local elected representatives.
Workforce issues are on NBAA’s radar as well. “For our industry to survive and thrive in the future, we need to attract, develop and retain the best and the brightest, and that means we need a diversity of thought and a diversity of backgrounds,” Bolen said.
Argus International is demonstrating new functionality in its TraqPak software this week at NBAA’s Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The latest feature provides real-time tracking of aircraft on the ground, allowing service subscribers to determine their position at a particular airport.
On the service side, Argus said the sophisticated ground tracking capability will be useful to FBOs by allowing ramp workers to better gauge an aircraft’s actual taxi time to arrival, as well as to caterers and ground transportation providers.
“Bringing our ground tracking to the marketplace has been an active collaboration between our customers and our TraqPak team,” stated Travis Kuhn, Argus’s v-p of market intelligence. “This new offering is the first of multiple changes we’ll be bringing to the marketplace as we move through 2023.”
For global fuel provider Avfuel, the 2023 NBAA Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference this week in Nashville, Tennessee, marks the start of its year-long golden anniversary celebration. While today it has more than 3,000 fueling locations worldwide and a network of more than 650 branded FBO dealers, Avfuel began in 1973 as a Midwest regional fuel supplier.
“When we leaped onto the market, no one was doing what we set out to do,” explained company president and CEO Craig Sincock. “We didn’t know we shouldn’t compete with the major oil companies who were the aviation fuel suppliers at the time. Maybe it wasn’t the best business plan, but it worked.”
Throughout this year, Avfuel will commemorate its golden anniversary by rolling out a series of special events and promotions for its employees and Avtrip customer loyalty program members.
“To us, 2023 is more than a milestone—our jubilee is a celebration of Avfuel’s growth and evolution over five decades,” said Joel Hirst, the company’s senior v-p of sales. “As we celebrate, we’ll reflect on where Avfuel came from, where it is today, and where it can go from here.” He added that will include determining how the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company can continue to provide aviation services as the needs of the industry continue to shift.
ATP is introducing a suite of features to its Flightdocs Operations aviation software platform as part of its product showcase this week during NBAA’s Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference. Flightdocs Operations is a management software that uses real-time data and resource availability and can create trips, manage crew, and communicate with team members in a single, up-to-date calendar view. The added features include enhanced communication to streamline data and keep flight scheduling and trip-planning operating smoothly.
“The flight operations team can see when the aircraft is going to be down for maintenance and how long it’s going to be down, and the maintenance side of the house can see the full flight schedule and be able to predict when to best fit maintenance into the flight schedule,” said ATP v-p of product Kent Pickard. “It allows the operators to fly their aircraft safely and with more confidence up to the maintenance department limits because of the tight loop of information.”
A cloud-based and ISO-certified platform, the software also provides for the protection of passengers’ personally identifying information. A mobile solution is also available that is offline capable, allowing pilots and crews the ability to log in and fill out electronic flight logs where internet connections are not available.
At NBAA’s annual Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference (SDC) it is traditional for the major aviation fuel providers to stake out their own aisles on the exhibit floor and fill them with their dealer FBOs. At this year’s show in Nashville, Tennessee, the number of those networks swelled as AEG Fuels exhibited its recently-launched AEG Connect brand for the first time.
The Miami-based company invited its FBO network members to the exhibit floor. These included the newly-opened Embassair at Miami Opa locka Executive Airport, National Jets at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International, SkyPlace FBO at San Antonio International, Legacy Jet Center at Oklahoma’s Tulsa International, Tucson Jet Center at Tucson International, Kansas Jet Center at Manhattan (Kansas) Regional, Boston Executive at Norwood Memorial in Massachusetts, and Puerto Rico FBO at San Juan Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci/Isla Grande. From Brazil, five of TAM Aviação Executiva’s locations (Manaus, Congonhas, Confins, Pampulha, and Guarulhos) rounded out the AEG roster.
“We are very excited about exhibiting for the first time at [SDC],” Dave Diulus, v-p of AEG Connect, told AIN, adding the company brings an innovative solution to the branded FBO market as it looks to expand its network. “Bespoke service featuring supply, technology, and world-class support with a marketing focus on data drives sales.”
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