The frenzied business aviation market would normally boost shareholders involved in the sector, but results overall have been mixed, said Brian Foley of Brian Foley Associates.
“Ever since pandemic lockdown restrictions were lifted and well-heeled travelers emerged from their bunkers, the private aircraft industry has been on a tear,” he said. “All of this flight and sales activity would normally benefit shareholders of stocks in the space. And while that’s largely true, there have been some exceptions.” Gulfstream parent General Dynamics stock is up by 40 percent, Embraer by 160 percent, and Bombardier by 250 percent.
However, “the stock market has not been as kind to younger, often special purpose acquisition company-linked companies.”
Despite record revenues and strong member growth, Wheels Up has posted losses, causing some investors to question whether the business is scalable, Foley said. The result: Wheels Up has “democratized investor paper losses with a [stock price] decline of over 50 percent for the year,” he maintained.
Also, the burgeoning urban air mobility industry “is off to a rough start,” he noted with Archer Aviation, Lilium, and Joby Aviation seeing shares tumble around 40 percent. In addition, public stocks in the business aviation sector are limited and many also involve organizations with larger footprints in other aspects of aviation, including the commercial side that is still 30 percent below pre-pandemic flight volumes.
U.S. airline officials and wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon last night reached a tentative deal to delay deployment of 5G C-band for another two weeks, until January 19, subject to FCC and FAA approval. The agreement is characterized as a “framework” to allow both sides of the boiling controversy to turn down the temperature and further study and reach agreement on mitigation strategies designed to prevent C-band interference on aircraft radio altimeters at the U.S.’s largest commercial airports.
The deal came less than 48 hours before the two wireless carriers were scheduled to switch on their 5G C-band transmitters and mere hours before the airlines’ interests were prepared to file suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals. That legal action was expected to request the court to force the FCC to consider an aviation industry petition filed December 30 that requested further delay and study of the matter.
Senior airline officials hinted that recent talks between the parties were focused on implementation of some form of the “French model” of 5G C-band mitigation. That model provides for the tenfold reduction of C-band signals on commercial airport runways or during the last mile of approach or first mile of takeoff. But this model doesn't address the thousands of general aviation airports in the U.S. or helicopter landing zones.
Business aviation and the rotorcraft community reacted positively this morning to the two-week delay of deployment of 5G C-band wireless from AT&T and Verizon, but some remained critical of solutions currently being negotiated that only address the threat it poses to aircraft radio altimeters near the nation’s busiest airports.
NBAA president Ed Bolen said the association “welcomes this short-term reprieve from the Verizon and AT&T 5G rollout, so that we can better understand and communicate its potential impact on aircraft, airports, and airspace across the system. We need answers to key questions to ensure we remain the world’s largest, safest, and most efficient aviation system, and we will utilize this time to gather and share much-needed information about this development for all aviation segments, including business aviation.”
“The effects of 5G deployment are not limited to the nation’s busiest airports, and mitigations by wireless carriers should not be limited to those locations either,” said HAI. It added that “the voluntary measures proposed by the wireless carriers would provide modest 5G limitations at the surface of public-use heliports, of which there are only 55 in the country. That number is dwarfed by the estimated 6,533 to 8,533 HAA landing sites in the United States, with more than 4,000 being private-use heliports colocated at hospitals.”
HAI noted that the impact of 5G interference could be particularly harmful to helicopter air ambulance operations.
Business aircraft operators heading to Bozeman-Yellowstone International Airport (KBZN) should inquire in advance about the availability of jet-A for the next several days. According to officials, jet fuel is in short supply there due to a spike in traffic over the holiday season.
Airport manager Brian Sprenger told AIN that the airport saw “unprecedented demand” over the past few weeks with traffic 35 to 40 percent above the previous record for the period. That includes larger, longer-range aircraft that can take more fuel, and which combined with fuel tanker delivery slowdowns due to the Covid pandemic has led to the temporary shortfall. For the past year, Sprenger noted that traffic levels were up 20 percent over the previous records set in 2019.
Signature Flight Support’s Yellowstone Jet Center, which conducts all the airline fueling on the field from its 120,000-gallon jet-A supply, is reserving fuel for its airline obligations, as well as its based customers. Jet Aviation, which operates the other FBO at KBZN, is also ensuring adequate fuel supplies for its based aircraft clients.
Sprenger explained that with the post-New Year’s departure rush ending this week, the currently constrained fuel stocks at the airport should soon return to a more seasonal normal.
Gogo Business Aviation has completed its seven-tower, air-to-ground 5G testbed ahead of the company’s launch of a 150-tower nationwide network in the second half of the year. Sites in the testbed network include remote and populated areas to ensure the network can operate in a variety of environments.
Expected to deliver about 25 Mbps on average with peak speeds in the range of 75 to 80 Mbps, Gogo 5G has been designed to deliver high throughput with very low latency to address the increasing demand for data-heavy interactive services such as videoconferencing. “We'll now begin testing and fine-tuning our network performance, including tower-to-tower handoffs, range, and coverage,” said Gogo senior v-p of customer operations Dave Glenn.
Additionally, Duncan Aviation continues to work on completing the first-article STC for the onboard 5G system. Using that experience will enable Duncan to modify all its full-equipment Gogo Avance L5 STCs to include Gogo 5G, which will cover more than 30 aircraft models. Ohio-based Jet Edge International is the launch customer for Gogo 5G.
Gogo 5G uses frequencies between 2.423 and 2.475 GHz, not the C-Band spectrum (3.7 to 3.98-GHz range) being employed for 5G service by wireless carriers that potentially could interfere with aircraft radio altimeters.
Embraer Executive Jets president and CEO Michael Amalfitano is stepping in as the 2022 chair of the board for GAMA. He succeeds Nicolas Chabbert, senior v-p of Daher’s Aircraft Division and CEO of Daher Aircraft and Kodiak Aircraft, who becomes immediate past chair.
Simcom International CEO Eric Hinson, who chaired the Safety and Accident Investigation Committee, is now the vice-chair. Meanwhile, Daniel Baker, FlightAware founder and Collins Aerospace strategic advisor, is the new chair of Safety and Accident Investigation. Joby Aviaiton founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt and magniX CEO Roei Ganzarski remain chairs of the Electric Propulsion and Innovation Committee.
Henry Brooks, president of Collins Aerospace Power & Controls, is now chair of the Security Issues Committee; Incora CEO David Coleal remains chair of the Airworthiness and Maintenance Policy Committee; Pratt & Whitney Canada president Maria Della Posta continues to chair the Communications Committee; and Signature Aviation CEO Tony Lefebvre is chair of the Environment Committee.
Also, Jeff Trang, v-p of engineering and flight operations at Airbus Helicopters, continues as chair of the Technical Policy Committee; David Van Den Langenbergh, president of aviation services at Luxaviation Group, as chair of the European Leaders Steering Committee; Tyson Weihs, co-founder and CEO of ForeFlight, as chair of the Flight Operations Policy Committee; and Chuck Wiplinger, president and CEO of Wipaire, as chair of the Policy and Legal Issues Committee.
EHang has received the first order for its VT-30 Autonomous Aerial Vehicle, with Japan’s Okayama Kurashiki Mizushima Aero & Space Industry Cluster Study Group (MASC) committing to exploring use cases for the two-seat eVTOL aircraft, as well as the Chinese manufacturer’s EH216 model. The announcement late last month did not specify how many VT-30s MASC intends to purchase or when deliveries will be made.
Over the past six months, with MASC’s support, EHang has conducted a series of demonstration flights with the EH216 in the Japanese cities of Fukushima and Okayama. The companies are jointly evaluating possible passenger services in the country, as well as logistics and emergency medical applications.
The most recent display was at the Kasaoka Air Station in Okayama on December 23 and involved the eVTOL carrying a 60-kg (132-pound) payload. Local officials in Fukushima have been laying plans for commercial operations to begin from 2023.
In May, EHang unveiled the VT-30 as a longer-range alternative to the EH216, which can only fly routes of up to around 22 miles. EHang has not provided any details about the composition of the all-electric propulsion system that it claims will support a range of up to 300 km (187 miles) or endurance of 100 minutes.
Want more? You can find a longer version of this article at FutureFlight.aero, a news and information resource developed by AIN to provide objective coverage and analysis of cutting-edge aviation technology.
The FAA has delayed for two years a planned runway paving project that will effectively lengthen Norwood (Massachusetts) Memorial Airport’s 4,000-foot Runway 17/35 to 4,600 feet for takeoff and 4,300 feet for landing. The project, involving the paving of 300 feet of the overrun safety areas at each runway end, was previously set to get started in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024.
After publication in 2020 of the airport's updated technical master plan and during the annual capital improvement planning session of the FAA, state Department of Transportation, and airport officials, the agency made the fiscal year change to the paved safety areas project, an airport spokesperson told AIN. “The project is now programmed in for federal FY2026, with a total project cost placeholder of $2.7 million and FAA paying 90 percent.”
With its two 4,000-foot runways, the airport opened in 1942 to train U.S. Naval pilots. In May 1946, the town of Norwood officially voted to take over the airport from the Navy. By 1970, Norwood Memorial Airport was the region’s primary business and general aviation airfield. The facility is served by two FBOs.
People in Aviation
Lilium appointed Karim Jalbout chief people officer. Jalbout recently was a lead partner for private equity and technology at Egon Zehnder and also has led global customer propositions and sales at Sony Ericsson Mobile.
The city of Charlotte, North Carolina, named Linda Macey airport business and revenue director. Macey brings 25 years of aviation experience to her new role, most recently as assistant v-p of revenue development for the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority.
Cutter Aviation promoted Kevin Reedy to director of safety and Chadd Garvy to chief pilot of its charter and flight management department. Reedy, who has more than 30 years of experience in aircraft quality assurance, maintenance management, and customer service, joined Cutter in November 2011 as aircraft maintenance supervisor and was promoted to maintenance manager in 2015 and chief inspector/accountable manager in 2017. Garvy, who flies both the Pilatus PC-12 and PC-24, joined Cutter in 2019 after serving as a senior instructor and check airman at a large flight school.
The Naples Airport Authority named Byron Gray director of FBO Services for Naples Aviation. Gray has more than two decades of general aviation industry experience, including holding leadership positions with several international FBO chains and most recently serving as national sales manager for an aviation fuel supplier.
Stevens Sainte-Rose joined Wheels Up Experience as chief people officer. Sainte-Rose has human resources experience across a range of industries, previously as senior v-p of HR at The Coca-Cola Company International, as chief human resources officer at U.S. Walgreens, chief HR and transformation officer at Dawn Foods Global, and most recently chief HR officer at Parallel Inc.
Metro Aviation appointed Jay Thanabalasundrum avionics manager. Thanabalasundrum previously had served as interim avionics manager for Metro Aviation and has 23 years of avionics experience, beginning as an installer.
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