Online charter marketplace Victor has joined forces with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producer Neste to bolster the uptake of renewable fuels within the aviation industry. Starting today, any charter booking made through the Victor platform will include the option to purchase SAF through Neste’s MY SAF program.
“At checkout during the booking process, all Victor members can now easily select how much fossil fuel they want to replace with MY SAF, from as little as 5 percent up to 100 percent,” said London-headquartered Victor. In its neat form, Neste’s SAF reduces lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent versus jet-A.
The company stressed that the SAF purchased through its platform will not directly be used on the booked flight. Instead, it will be used in the fleet of one of Neste’s partner airlines, which includes American Airlines, easyJet, KLM, Ryanair, and United Airlines. “We call it a ‘pay here, use there’ solution,” explained Victor co-chief executive Toby Edwards. “It is the first [strategy] to offer SAF for every charter flight regardless of operator or departure airport.”
Helsinki, Finland-headquartered Neste describes the partnership with Victor as “an industry-leading blueprint” for the aviation sector as it strives for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Peregrine has received FAA supplemental type certificate (STC) approval for an exterior lighting upgrade for Beechcraft Premier I/IA twinjets. Working on behalf of Wichita Aerospace, Peregrine developed this STC that replaces the wingtip light clusters—including navigation, recognition, and strobes—and the tail cone light assembly with Whelen Aerospace Technologies-designed LED technology.
According to Peregrine, the upgrade can be accomplished in less than a day. While the installation reuses existing clear lenses, it replaces the entire wingtip light assembly. Existing power supplies, strobes, and incandescent bulbs are removed, yielding a load reduction of more than 28 amps and weight reduction of about eight pounds. Wichita Aerospace managing director Christophe Maskell said the upgrade will also lower maintenance costs.
The STC installation kit includes the new Whelen lighting assemblies mounted to sheet-metal brackets and a pre-wired harness. Peregrine provided all engineering, test, and certification data needed to obtain the STC approval.
Munich Airport and Airbus are seeking to help cities and regions develop infrastructure to support advanced air mobility (AAM) services using eVTOLs. To that end, the two entities announced an expansion of their partnership last week at the ILA Berlin Air Show.
In May, the German hub airport joined forces with Airbus, the city of Ingolstadt, railway company Deutsche Bahn, aviation safety agency Deutsche Flugsicherung, uncrewed air traffic management (UTM) specialist Droniq, and Diehl Aerospace, to establish the Air Mobility Initiative (AMI). Airbus is developing the four-passenger CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL that it aims to bring into service in 2025.
With the support of the Bavarian state government and German federal officials, the project is intended to assess the basis on which commercial eVTOL air-taxi operations could be launched to connect German cities, as well as to advance arrangements for UTM infrastructure and vertiports.
The AMI collaboration is backed by €86 million ($91 million) in public-private funding. This includes €24 million from the German federal government and €17 million from the state of Bavaria.
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.
Metrojet Engineering Clark (MEC), Hong Kong-based Metrojet’s MRO in the Philippines, has recently renewed its FAA Part 145 approval to perform line and base maintenance on the Gulfstream G450, G550, and G650/G650ER, as well as the Bombardier Challenger 300/350 and 604/605; and Bombardier Global Express, 5000, 6000, and 7500. The FAA nod also includes the servicing and overhaul of aircraft batteries and wheel assemblies in MEC’s dedicated workshops.
“Since the opening of the Metrojet Engineering Clark hangar facility in April 2021, we have seen multiple maintenance requests coming from the Philippines for U.S.-registered aircraft. The renewal of the FAA certification once again affirms MEC’s efforts in servicing N-numbered aircraft in the region,” said MEC general manager Sarith Vaikuntan.
This renewal is in addition to MEC’s existing, but similar, approvals from the Philippines CAAP, Cayman Islands CAA, Qatar QCAA, Isle of Man IoM, and San Marino SMAR. Based at Clark International Airport (RPLC), MEC has a 76,424-sq-ft hangar that can simultaneously accommodate up to 10 ultra-long-range business jets and nearly 120,000 sq ft of ramp space for maintenance activities. Its facilities also meet Philippine typhoon and seismic building codes.
SmartSky Networks is LIVE
Delivering on our vision for how connectivity and data can transform aviation, the enhanced ATG network is live, entry-into-service customers are flying, more are coming on board and SmartSky is changing the inflight connectivity experience—let us show you how our nationwide coverage is delivering now!
World Fuel Services is now an authorized distributor of Neste-produced sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and its first delivery of Neste's fuel has arrived at Paris Le Bourget Airport, the company announced yesterday. Neste's MY SAF, which is derived from 100 percent renewable and sustainable waste such as cooking oil and animal fat, can reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent compared to fossil fuels.
"World Fuel is committed to the industry's goal of reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent. Working together with Neste to expand the global supply chain of SAF furthers that commitment,” said Duncan Storey, the v-p of supply aviation for Europe at World Fuel Services. “We will continue to invest in creating innovative solutions and expanding renewable and lower-emission fuels and energy offerings."
A truck delivered approximately 34,000 liters (9,000 gallons) of SAF to Le Bourget Airport earlier this month and World Fuel made its first sale there on June 15, a company representative told AIN. The fuel was processed in Benelux and delivered to World Fuel's segregated fuel farm at Le Bourget. World Fuel said the fuel blend available at the Paris airport will contain between 30 percent and 40 percent SAF, and customers can purchase the fuel by approaching the company directly via its usual sales channels.
Elliott Aviation's maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility at Atlanta Dekalb-Peachtree Airport (KPDK) has become an authorized dealer for Garmin's avionics products for business aviation. The company announced it will offer a comprehensive range of equipment, including integrated flight displays and flight decks—such as the G1000 NXi and the G600 TXi retrofit packages—as well as GPS/WAAS, traffic, and weather systems for aircraft.
"We are thrilled that our KPDK location is now part of the Garmin dealer network and we look forward to meeting more operators' needs by offering an additional location for installations and upgrades,” said Elliott Aviation president and CEO Greg Sahr. The company added that the move will make it easier for business aircraft operators based in the Southeast U.S. to upgrade their flight decks.
Elliott Aviation has been in business for 85 years and is part of the Pinnacle Air Network. In addition to the Atlanta location, it also has facilities in Moline, Illinois; Des Moines, Iowa; and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Aerospace manufacturer Nordam and design consultancy partner Teague won a Crystal Cabin Award in the Best Cabin Concept category for their Elevate seating, the first proposed product using Nordam’s Nbrace interior structures system. A monument attachment technology designed to expand the range of potential cabin configurations, Nbrace allows interior furnishings to appear to float.
“Elevate perfectly demonstrates the benefits of our Nbrace innovation, which creates attractive cabin aesthetics, roominess, passenger comfort, and privacy,” said Meredith Siegfried Madden, CEO of Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Nordam. Supporting a broad range of furniture designs, Nbrace “makes it possible to design cabins without traditional restrictions,” Seattle-based Teague added, “allowing multiple, three-dimensional fixing points across the cabin, including the cabin walls.”
Planned for debut in the commercial market, with certification expected in 2024, the Elevate seating concept is designed for the premium cabins of single-aisle airliners, improving passenger experience and cabin “wow” factor, while reducing weight, but not seating capacity. Airlines, Nordam said, will benefit from “enhanced brand differentiation through beautiful and comfortable cabins.” Nordam did not yet respond to AIN's inquiries about Nbrace’s business aviation applications.
The Crystal Cabin Award was presented earlier this month during the annual Aircraft Interiors Expo conference in Hamburg, Germany.
Rotorcraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul provider Heli-One has achieved approval as a Continuing Airworthiness Management Organization (CAMO) in a move that the Canada-based group said will boost its capacity. On Monday, Heli-One announced that its Rzeszow facility in Poland has been approved by the country’s civil aviation authority under the requirements of EASA’s Part-CAMO regulations.
According to the company, it is the first helicopter support provider in Poland to secure CAMO certification. It has also received formal certification from the UK and Cayman aviation authorities, meaning that any aircraft operated under any of these national registrations can use Heli-One for its CAMO support function.
“This is another important step for Heli-One, underscoring our position at the forefront of MRO services in the global market,” said Carolyn Forsyth, the company's general manager for sales, commercial, and customer support. “With CAMO approval, we can now provide complete maintenance program management support, in effect maintaining aircraft in an airworthy condition throughout their lifecycle and protecting safety and reliability in performance, as well as optimizing maintenance costs.”
Requires a wiring modification of the engine fire control panel. Prompted by a finding that it is impossible to actuate the second fire extinguishing bottle for Engine 2 when the first bottle had already been actuated. If not corrected, EASA said this condition could lead to incapacity to extinguish a fire in the engine bay and possibly result in loss of control of the helicopter.
AD applies only to PC-24s with cabins having an Aerolite stretcher trolly installation. Requires modification of the stretcher trolley installation, as well as replacing the emergency instruction card and amending the emergency evacuation procedures in the flight manual supplement. Prompted by an inadequate height of the mattress below the left-hand over-wing exit that could prevent or delay an emergency evacuation of occupants through that exit.
Model(s): Passport 20-17BB1A, -18BB1A, and -19BB1A
Published: June 29, 2022
Effective: July 14, 2022
Requires a visual inspection of the fuel nozzle zone in the core compartment for indications of fuel leakage, undetected fire, or heat distress; re-torquing of the coupling nuts in the core compartment; a ground power assurance check; and a borescope inspection. Depending on the results of the inspections, this AD requires operators to perform applicable maintenance in accordance with their FAA-approved instructions for continued airworthiness. Prompted by two in-flight engine fires caused by fuel leakage from the fuel nozzle to fuel manifold coupling nut connections. A subsequent investigation found that the fuel nozzle to fuel manifold B-nut connections were under-torqued on both event engines and that the fuel leak at the fuel nozzle B-nut connections likely caused the engine fires.
AINalerts News Tips/Feedback: News tips may be sent anonymously, but feedback must include name and contact info (we will withhold name on request). We reserve the right to edit correspondence for length, clarity and grammar. Send feedback or news tips to AINalerts editor Chad Trautvetter.
AINalerts is a publication of AIN Media Group, 214 Franklin Avenue, Midland Park, New Jersey. Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
