One Aviation Continues Slog Through Chapter 11

Despite hopes for an expedited Chapter 11 reorganization, Albuquerque, New Mexico-based One Aviation is still awaiting court approval for its plan to exit bankruptcy and facing a challenge from some company stakeholders.

Formed shortly after One Aviation's October 10 bankruptcy filing, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (UCC) filed a motion November 15 to prevent Citiking International LLC from receiving debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to continue operating the company under Chapter 11. That motion also questioned the process by which Citiking came to be the presumed owner of One Aviation upon its exit from bankruptcy.

The committee claims that Citiking intends to “recommence the debtors' aircraft manufacturing operations in mainland China” upon acquisition of the company, which One Aviation disputes. While the court ultimately approved the DIP financing, the UCC continues to seek answers about Citiking’s ultimate intentions. Oral depositions from several key figures, including One Aviation CEO Alan Klapmeier, company chairman Michael Wyse, and Citiking CEO Chenliang Zhang, are scheduled later this month ahead of a final hearing on court approval for the bankruptcy plan.

Citiking last month received court approval to extend an approximately $28,000-per-month lease for the Sunport 10 manufacturing facility. While that building hasn’t seen much activity in recent years, contained within are the friction stir welding gantries used for Eclipse 500/550 fuselage production.

Prolonged Shutdown Affecting Training, Flight Permits

As the partial U.S. government shutdown reaches the end of its second week, the ripple effect on the aviation industry is beginning to surface in areas such as ferry flights. Nearly 18,000 FAA workers involved in a range of activities are on furlough, with others now facing the prospect of working without compensation until the government reopens. Since the shutdown began right before the holidays on December 22, the full ramifications were not immediately felt in many corners of the industry. Key “life and safety” activities such as air traffic control are continuing, and the aircraft registry has remained open.

But others have already encountered issues. NATA has heard concerns about the effects on aircraft movement with the shuttering of flight service district office activities. In these cases, operators have faced problems with obtaining ferry permits and/or special flight permits, the association said. NBAA, meanwhile, is hearing similar concerns, as well as those about the halting of FAA knowledge testing and check rides. 

While air traffic controllers have remained on the job, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association called the shutdown unacceptable and warned that it is hampering training at a point where there are fewer fully trained controllers on the job than at any point in the last 30 years. The FAA training academy in Oklahoma City is among the activities suspended.

PrivateFly CEO Sees Regulatory Challenges in 2019

Last year was a record year for PrivateFly, the online air charter broker said in announcing the release of its Private Jet Charter Trends 2018 report today. The UK-based broker didn’t disclose specifics of its 2018 sales but said the year “generated significant continued growth” for the 10-year-old company that was acquired by Directional Aviation in September.

PrivateFly said London was its busiest destination in 2018; its most popular charter aircraft was the Cessna Citation Mustang; and May 26 was its busiest takeoff day because of a combination of the Cannes Film Festival, Champions League Final, and public holiday weekends in both the UK and U.S.

This year, PrivateFly CEO Adam Twidell predicts more mergers and acquisitions in the on-demand charter segment, spikes in on-demand charters because of extreme weather events, and a “stir up” in the super-midsize market with the entry into service of Embraer’s Praetor 600 and Textron Aviation’s Cessna Citation Longitude. Moreover, he said, the industry will face a number of regulatory challenges in both the U.S. and Europe.

“In Europe, Brexit will have a major impact, although exactly how is still unclear,” Twidell said. “Private jet operators need to be able to optimize their flight plans within Europe to make sense commercially. Limitations on inter-European flights will mean more complexity, less choice and—ultimately—customers paying more.”

ADS-B Installs Drive Higher Avionics Shop Rates in 2019

The Aircraft Electronics Association said most of its certified repair station members increased their rates in 2019 in response to ADS-B installs and to retain and attract technicians, according to the recently released results of its 2018 AEA Rate and Labor Survey. Sixty-three percent of respondents expect their business growth in 2019 to come from ADS-B installs, and 94 percent said finding qualified technicians is difficult.

The rate increases in the U.S. and Canada come after shop rates and wages had stagnated in AEA’s 2017 survey. “This…was widely anticipated to naturally occur, particularly as we come upon the FAA's deadline to equip the general aviation fleet with ADS-B-compliant avionics by January 1, 2020,” said AEA vice president of member programs and education Mike Adamson. “Businesses may be recognizing the importance of offering higher wages to both entry-level and experienced technicians to combat the industry's widely reported workforce shortage.”

Shops in the Central U.S. region increased rates by an average of 12 percent, to $96.19 an hour, compared with 6 percent in the East region and 2 percent in the West, while Canada saw a 0.7 percent increase and the AEA’s South Pacific region edged lower by 0.6 percent.

FAA Withholds Funding for Norwood Airport over FBO Spat

Following its review of the FAA’s determination that the city of Norwood, Massachusetts, violated federal grant assurances in preventing Boston Executive Helicopters (BEH) from establishing an FBO at Norwood Airport, the agency’s New England Region told the airport manager that it “will not consider future discretionary project funding until the Town of Norwood completes a corrective action plan that is acceptable to the FAA.”

In October, the FAA finished its analysis of an FAR Part 16 complaint by BEH, finding the town flouted federal grant assurances by “unreasonably denying” BEH the ability to establish an FBO and “improperly granting” exclusive rights to the existing FBO.

Meanwhile, a trial set to have started December 10 in federal court to hear the lawsuit filed in 2015 by BEH against the town over the FBO never got off the ground. “The trial did not occur and the parties are discussing a potential resolution,” a lawyer for BEH told AIN.

Garmin TXi Touchscreens OK’d, Available for VFR Helos

Garmin’s touchscreen TXi displays for normal-category VFR helicopters are now certified and delivering, offering a variety of capabilities for rotorcraft equipped with Garmin’s G500H flight display and/or GTN 650/750 touchscreen navigators. Garmin has also unveiled new software for GTN 650/750 units installed in helicopters. 

The TXi displays are available in 10.6-inch and 7-inch sizes, each with concentric knobs allowing alternative inputs to the touchscreens, as well as video input, NVG compatibility, and map overlay on the HSI. The 10.6-inch display is mounted in a horizontal format and can display primary flight display (PFD) and multifunction display (MFD) information simultaneously, according to Garmin. 

G500H TXi displays include helicopter terrain awareness and warning system (HTAWS)—when paired with a GTN navigator equipped with HTAWS—and Garmin’s WireAware wire-strike avoidance technology. TXi options include synthetic vision, Connext connectivity via Garmin’s Flight Stream 510 wireless gateway, and Database Concierge for uploading databases using the Garmin Pilot app on a smartphone or tablet. 

The GTN software update for helicopters adds setting of user-defined waypoints as airports to minimize terrain alerts when landing at an airport that isn’t in the aviation database; a qwerty keyboard; configurable comm sidetone settings; support for Irish, Swiss, and English coordinate systems for easier entry of GPS coordinates; approval of the GMA 35c Bluetooth remote audio panel in helicopters equipped with the GTN 750; and Vnav descent profiles.

U.S. Military To Replace California Airport Runway

The U.S. military will step in and replace the crumbling main runway on Southern California’s Catalina Island Airport in a three-month project starting this month. Since 1972, the Catalina Island Conservancy has been the custodian of the airport on the Los Angeles-area destination and has spent approximately $250,000 a year patching holes on its 3,000-foot asphalt runway, but the state Department of Transportation recently demanded a long-term solution to prevent its closure.

In October, after assistance from Congressman Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) and other state officials, the Department of Defense agreed to replace the runway with concrete as part of its Innovative Readiness Training Program, which matches community needs with military training opportunities. Last month, the U.S. Marines and Navy transported more than 500 tons of equipment and supplies to the island in preparation for the $5 million project, $4 million of which will be covered through fundraising by the Conservancy.

“The airport is an historic and critical asset for Catalina, and the main runway’s condition had put the airport at risk of closure to the public if we hadn’t found this solution to reduce the construction cost,” said conservancy president and CEO Tony Budrovich. “Our partnership with the Marines and Navy will extend the life of the runway for another 75 to 100 years.”

FAA Awards Next-gen WAAS Contract to NovAtel

NovAtel has secured a contract from the FAA to design and manufacture 40 next-generation ground uplink station (GUS) signal generators to support the agency’s WAAS navigation service. The contract also includes engineering support services for NovAtel’s portfolio of satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) products deployed by the FAA, including the WAAS G-III reference receiver platform.

Developed by the FAA, the WAAS network is a safety-critical supplemental navigation aid that allows aircraft to use the U.S. GPS for all phases of flight. Since WAAS became operational in July 2003, NovAtel has provided the FAA with technology that delivers high-precision GPS receiver measurements and navigation information from WAAS reference stations and the GUS infrastructure, allowing aircraft to perform precision approaches using GPS/WAAS.

Under this latest contract, NovAtel will modernize the WAAS network by upgrading and extending support for the network’s GUS infrastructure. According to NovAtel, the next generation of GUS signal generators will include independent L1 and L5 signal paths to precisely control the frequency and phase of L1 and L5 code and carrier for dual-frequency SBAS.

Count on AIN for Full Coverage of Heli-Expo

As ever, you can count on AIN for full coverage of the 2019 Heli-Expo Convention. Our team will publish three of our award-winning daily HAI Convention News editions at the show on March 5, 6, and 7. We will also have comprehensive real-time reporting of all the top news at AINonline.com and in our daily e-newsletters. If you are an exhibiting company that wants to share news or propose pre-show interviews and briefings please contact show editor Kerry Lynch.