NBAA’s 30th Anniversary SDC Opens Tonight

NBAA will kick off the 30th anniversary edition of its annual Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference (SDC) tonight in San Antonio, Texas. In honor of that milestone, this year’s theme is “Celebrating the Past, Charting the Future."

The four-day event held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center is expected to draw approximately 3,000 people and more than 580 exhibitor booths—a record. That's far more than the 100 attendees and handful of exhibitors back in 1989, the first year of the conference.

“The significant growth of the [SDC] over the past 30 years is an indicator of the high quality, engaging educational content, networking, and business that takes place on the show floor,” said NBAA senior v-p of strategy and innovation Mike Nichols. “This is the go-to event for anyone involved in scheduling/dispatching aircraft, flight planning, and procurement of aviation-related services ranging from fuel to technology solutions.”

The show kicks off tonight at 6 p.m. with a welcome reception on the show floor, and the opening general session will take place tomorrow at 8 a.m. From Wednesday afternoon until the show closes on Friday afternoon, attendees will have a slate of 34 education sessions to choose from. “A lot of our education sessions all tie into what aviation leaders are looking to learn about what’s coming in the future,” said S&D committee co-chair Kindra Mahler.

World Fuel Revamps FlyBuys Loyalty Program

World Fuel Services is revamping its customer loyalty rewards program, the company announced today at the NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference. Under the new structure, members will now be classified into tiers—blue, silver, diamond, and diamond select—and earn points faster starting in April, according to the Florida-based fuel provider.

The program is free for schedulers, dispatchers, flight crewmembers, and pilots, all of whom will see their status in the program increase based on the number of points earned, which will also trigger points multipliers. World Fuel noted that nearly every purchase made in the network—from World Fuel contract card to Avcard use to the company’s trip support—will qualify for points. In addition, participating locations can also provide more earning opportunities, with points banks to reward their most loyal customers and entice new customers to join the network.

Acccording to Malcolm Hawkins, the company’s senior vice president of North American sales, the changes are the result of customer and partner feedback. “We upgraded the program to reduce confusion and speed up rewards,” he said, adding that the list of products and services eligible for rewards has been expanded. “For example, points are now awarded every time your pilots go to flight training or even when your aircraft is out for maintenance services. Now, nearly everything you do in the World Fuel Network recognizes loyalty.”

NBAA S&D To Delve into New Charter Broker Rule

As the U.S. Department of Transportation’s new rule governing charter broker practices is set to take effect on February 14, the revisions have raised some questions from schedulers and dispatchers, NBAA said.

The association will address those questions during a session on Wednesday during the 2019 Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference. The first half of the session, scheduled for 1 p.m., will cover the responsibility of charter brokers under the new requirements, while the second half at 3:30 will address requirements for operators and direct air carriers.

Released in September, the rule creates a new indirect air carrier category, calling for disclosures from both brokers and air taxis to consumers, and spells out some of what would constitute unfair or deceptive practices.

“The new rules require the broker to give specific notices of their capacity as an agent of the customer, an agent of the carrier or as an indirect air carrier,” said Dayton Lehman, a former DOT official who is now president of the Aviation Group at Capitol Business Solutions. “It’s not uncommon for schedulers to fill one or more of those roles, and the new rules raise questions as to who is ultimately responsible for a particular requirement on any given flight.”

Other questions surround refund requirements for inadequate disclosures, responsibilities of jet card providers and membership programs, and disclosures of pricing incentives.

New Avflight FBO Opens in Milwaukee

FBO operator Avflight has opened its new FBO at Milwaukee General Mitchell International Airport, where it shares the general aviation handling duties with Signature Flight Support. The 3,295-sq-ft terminal was constructed in the company’s contemporary style and features comfortable passenger and pilot lounges, two snooze rooms, conference rooms, a guest kitchen and catering kitchen, business center, concierge, crew car, and shuttle service.

“It’s been a rewarding year-plus providing exceptional aviation services to the Milwaukee community, and we’re pleased to be able to match that level of service with the comforts of a first-rate facility,” noted Garrett Hain, the company’s director of finance. “It’s important to Avflight to invest in the communities in which it operates, and providing a facility that acts as a premier gateway to Milwaukee is one way in which we’re carrying out that mission.”

Given Avflight’s Avfuel-affiliated ownership, the Avfuel-branded location offers contract fuel Avtrip rewards points. Avflight has 18 FBO locations throughout the U.S. and one in Northern Ireland.

Garmin Adds More Functionality to FltLogic Service

Garmin International (Booth 601) has added a FBO fuel price comparison feature and filters for developing flight department reports to subscribers of its FltLogic scheduling program, the Kansas-based company announced at the opening of the 2019 NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference today. The new features are available immediately on FltLogic, which integrates with the free FltPlan electronic flight planning and filing website.

The new contract fuel pricing feature will help operators who are subscribed to FuelerLinx find the cheapest fuel by comparing FBO prices at their departure and destination airports, Garmin said. 

The company also has increased the functionality of FltLogic’s reporting by adding filters that allow flight departments to pull together different reports on their pilots, aircraft and expenses, and export those reports in .csv format into databases. For instance, a flight department could run a yearly report on its individual pilots, detailing their total and average hours flown as well as number of legs or total distance.

Garmin acquired FltPlan in August 2018. At the time of the deal more than 6.3 million flight plans were created annually by FltPlan’s 165,000 registered users, making it one of the largest flight planning companies in the world.

FBO Profile: Beach Aviation Services in S.C.

It is not uncommon for a local government to operate an FBO, but for a county to operate three of them might be considered unusual. Such is the case for South Carolina’s Horry County and its Beach Aviation Services, which manages the lone FBOs at Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR), Grand Strand Airport (CRE) in North Myrtle Beach, and Conway-Horry County Airport (HYW).

MYR is the flagship and the county has operated the FBO there since 1994, when the joint-use airport (formerly Myrtle Beach Air Force Base) was fully decommissioned by the military and turned over to the county. At that time, the now-empty military side was designated for GA use and the FBO was set up in an existing building. 

A 10,000-sq-ft terminal was built in 2009 and includes a passenger lobby/waiting area with refreshment bar, pilot lounge, snooze room, shower facility with towel service, crew cars, onsite car rental, linen laundry service, and A/V-equipped 14-seat conference room and 80-seat subdividable training/event space. A unique amenity is golf carts that customers can borrow to drive to Market Common, a high-end shopping area on the airport property, which features more than a dozen restaurants. Construction will begin soon on a new hotel there as well.