NBAA Shortens S&D, Cancels IOC, Eyes Future Events

With an eye on the increasing outbreak of Covid-19, NBAA is closing its Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference (S&D) today, a day early, as well as canceling its upcoming 2020 International Operators Conference (IOC2020) and Business Aircraft Finance, Registration, & Legal Conference. Working with its board, NBAA also is evaluating other events scheduled through July 1, the association added, saying “information will be coming out shortly.”

S&D, which opened on Tuesday, was set to go through tomorrow in Charlotte, North Carolina. NBAA has decided to cancel all educational programming tomorrow but said it is exploring options for virtually providing some educational content from that programming.

The association is exploring possibilities to facilitate a virtual version of IOC2020 in April. That event had been scheduled for March 16 to19, also in Charlotte. Details on a virtual version are anticipated shortly. Its now-canceled Business, Aircraft Finance, Registration, & Legal Conference was to have been held March 22 to 24 in Amelia Island, Florida.

NBAA has already canceled ABACE, which was to have been held next month in Shanghai. Looming large is EBACE, one of NBAA’s cornerstone events that is held annually in conjunction with EBAA in late May in Geneva. As with ABACE, decisions need to be made earlier for EBACE, given the logistics of setting up such a large-scale exhibition.

Bizav Braces for Fallout from U.S. Ban on Euro Flights

The Trump Administration's 30-day ban on flights from most of Europe in an attempt to contain the Covid-19 coronavirus will have a marked effect on business aircraft flight activity, according to data from WingX advance. Announced last night, the ban begins at midnight tomorrow and applies to the Schengen Area of Europe but excludes the UK. It will not apply to U.S. permanent residents or immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.

Using a five-year average of March data from WingX, business aviation traffic could fall by 446 flights, carrying 3,072 passengers, during such a travel ban. Further, it noted that business jet flights since mid-February on these same non-UK flights from Europe to the U.S. are down 12 percent from a year ago.

It is currently uncertain how the U.S. government will enforce the ban. While it applies to anyone “physically present” in the Schengen Area in the past 14 days from traveling to the U.S. through the UK and Ireland, the U.S. hasn’t yet clarified how it would prevent someone originating in Europe from flying through London to New York, for example. U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s APIS does not require a declaration of places one has traveled over the past 14 days, raising the possibility of a loophole.

Meanwhile, the FAA has not yet published a notam regarding these European flight restrictions.

Bombardier Brings Back Martel To Steer Company

Bombardier is bringing back its former head of its business aircraft division, Eric Martel, to run the parent company as president and CEO, succeeding Alain Bellemare. The leadership change, which is effective April 6, comes as Bombardier positions itself to become a solely business aviation-focused company, selling off its other divisions. David Coleal, meanwhile, remains president of Bombardier Business Aviation.

The company last month announced the proposed sale of its Bombardier Transportation (BT) unit in a deal that Bellemare had called “transformational” and had said would conclude its turnaround plan. “With the turnaround chapter closed, it is a natural time for me to move on,” Bellemare said. “I’m confident that the future is bright for Bombardier.”

Martel returns from Hydro-Québec, where he was president and CEO. Before that, he held a number of leadership posts with Bombardier, including president of the business aircraft division and president of the customer services and specialized aircraft division, and also held key positions with Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods.

“Eric is the right leader at the right time for Bombardier, as the company is completing its turnaround plan and focusing on growing its leading business aviation franchise,” said Bombardier chairman Pierre Beaudoin, citing "a deep understanding of our organization...as well as of the global business aircraft industry.”

FAA Revokes Cert of Sports Team Charter Operator

The U.S. FAA issued an emergency revocation of the operating certificate of Paradigm Air Operators for allegedly conducting dozens of unauthorized charter flights, including for major sports teams, using two Boeing 757s and a 737, the agency announced yesterday. According to the FAA, Paradigm used pilots that were not properly qualified, and it lacked air carrier management and safety personnel. The operator further did not have U.S. Department of Transportation economic authority for the flights. Paradigm was not available for comment.

The company was authorized to conduct private and “non-common carriage,” including air transportation services for one or several selected customers, generally on a long-term basis. “However, Paradigm does not have a certificate allowing it to advertise for-hire charter flights to the public, or to solicit or conduct such ‘common carriage’ flights,” the agency added.

Between June 2013 and March 2018, Paradigm conducted at least 34 common carriage charter flights for customers that included the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, and Texas Rangers baseball teams, as well as the New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs hockey teams, the agency alleged. “On at least 11 of these occasions, Paradigm claimed the operations were demonstration flights to prospective aircraft buyers when the actual purpose of the flights was paid air transportation,” the FAA further alleged.

New Charter Booking Platform Sees Strong Growth

Launched in October at NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas, the Tuvoli online charter booking and payment platform has seen strong growth with more than 90 companies now represented, the company announced this week at the 2020 NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference (SDC). Customers include both brokers and operators representing more than 600 aircraft.

An open platform, Tuvoli requires no particular industry affiliation for its customers to transact on the platform and there are no upfront costs or monthly subscription fees for brokers and operators. They pay a small transaction fee when they confirm a trip through the app-based platform. Contracts are completed via DocuSign and payment is made through the company’s proprietary technology, which establishes FDIC insured escrow-like accounts through Tuvoli’s global banking partnerships.

Guaranteed payments are made when the operator has been selected, and the terms of the contract have been confirmed. The buyer authorizes funds to be moved into the account, which is confirmed with the operator. Those funds are released instantly upon the satisfaction of both parties at the conclusion of the trip. According to the company, using the guaranteed payment is better than a credit card as the transaction is done when the buyer releases funds to the operator and the fees are lower.

Tuvoli was one of the companies featured in the inaugural New Product Showcase yesterday at SDC.

Positive Drug Rate Rises in Pilots of Fatal Flights

The NTSB reported this week that the prevalence of prescription, over-the-counter, and illicit drugs found in bodies of fatally injured pilots has continued to trend upwards since its last similar study in 2014. That 2014 study examined toxicology results from pilots killed in plane crashes between 1990 and 2012. For the updated study, investigators examined toxicology results from pilots who died in plane crashes between 2013 and 2017.

Of the 952 pilots fatally injured between 2013 and 2017 with available toxicology results, 28 percent tested positive for at least one potentially impairing drug, up from 23 percent in the 2014 study. Fifteen percent were positive for at least one drug, indicating a potentially impairing condition, an increase of 3 percentage points. Ten percent showed evidence of use of at least one controlled substance, up from about 8 percent. About 5 percent tested positive for an illicit drug, an increase from less than 4 percent.

One of the key findings in the 2014 study was that pilots lacked access to information about potentially impairing drugs and non-impairing alternatives. The FAA, in response to an NTSB recommendation, recently published guidance to pilots for reading and understanding medication labels, as well as information on how long a pilot should wait before flying after using a potentially impairing drug.

GrandView Moves into Atlanta

GrandView Aviation is extending its reach in the Atlanta area with a base opening this spring at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK). Plans call for the air charter operator to to base an Embraer Phenom 300 at PDK to provide services throughout the region.

"Atlanta puts our fleet in an ideal position to serve clients in the south,” said GrandView Aviation COO Jessica Naor. “With our bases across the Central and Eastern U.S., we have a much larger service area and ability to bring new clients an exceptional light jet cabin experience."

The Phenom 300 has a 1,500-nm range and is equipped with Wi-Fi. GrandView's Phenom fleet is configured to hold up to nine passengers for charter use, as well as for organ transplant missions.

Headquartered in Maryland, with bases in Texas, Illinois, and Georgia, the Part 135 operator also has a Sikorsky S-76D in its fleet.

FAA to Helo Pilots: ‘HOWI’ the Weather?

The FAA’s Helicopter Operations Weather Information (HOWI) project is surveying the helicopter community to identify gaps and shortfalls associated with weather information. It’s part of the agency’s Weather Technology in the Cockpit program in conjunction with the Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety (PEGASAS) and Georgia Tech, Purdue University, and Florida Tech universities.

The HOWI team aims to identify gaps and shortfalls that pertain to weather-information relevancy, availability, and barriers to effective use via a widely-distributed questionnaire to the rotorcraft community. The team seeks to identify not only the type of weather information available to pilots but also the sources available or used such as online, avionics, and dispatch; the relevancy of the information; how it’s used in practice; and what additional information would be beneficial for missions, including air ambulance, search and rescue, law enforcement, observation, air tour, and air taxi.

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