The organizers of the Farnborough International Airshow have canceled the event, which was scheduled for July 20 to 24, due to concerns over the Covid-19 outbreak.
“After very careful consideration, the unprecedented impact of the global coronavirus pandemic has forced this decision in the interests of the health and safety of our exhibitors, visitors, contractors, and staff,” said Farnborough International’s board of directors in a written statement.
“This decision was reached taking into consideration several major factors surrounding the outbreak of Covid-19, all of which we have concluded, make it impossible for us to create and host the Airshow this July.” The FIA organizers added that they are “determined to work together” and that the airshow will return in 2022 “better than ever.”
One of the industry’s most important events, the biennial show drew 80,000 visitors in 2018. Nevertheless, companies have long complained about the cost of exhibiting at airshows and conferences around the world, notwithstanding the opportunity they offer to conduct business with customers and suppliers all in one location.
However, the airshow in Farnborough, as with most industry gatherings of such magnitude, usually brings with it vital investment into the local economy and highlights the important role the aerospace industry plays in the wider, global economy.
Covid-19—a few months ago, many of us might have thought the acronym stood for a new regional aircraft under development by a wannabe manufacturer. The speed at which this deadly respiratory disease is already at pandemic proportions is difficult to comprehend. Exceptionally hard hit already are air travel and related industries, which are facing existential threats as flight operations are silenced and a massive number of would-be travelers stay locked behind their doors. The costs of this awful contagion are already incalculable. Make no mistake—the rapid shutdown of airline services is already without precedent.
Despite the often-mentioned differences between commercial and business & general aviation, these segments of civil aviation have much in common and together provide a more complete service than either could deliver on its own.
It is not difficult to imagine the disruptions that arise when aircrews and maintenance technicians simply cannot get into position to meet their aircraft or when aerostructures, parts and associated systems cannot be transported on-time to production and maintenance facilities.
While we factored a cyclical downturn into our JetNet iQ delivery forecast models, the immediacy and depth of the swoon in demand have arrived with an unexpected voracity. The sooner the deadly coronavirus pandemic mercifully passes the better, but life—and the aviation industry in particular—will be anything but normal until it does.
Nashville’s John C. Tune Airport (JWN) reopened at 7 a.m. local time on Friday after sustaining damage from a March 3 tornado. Cleanup at the general aviation and reliever airport to Nashville International Airport (BNA) continues, but a restoration effort has made it able to support safe flight operations on a 24-hour basis, the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) said on Thursday.
“Our team in the Emergency Operations Center and all our business partners worked diligently to bring back John C. Tune Airport in short order,” said MNAA president and CEO Doug Kreulen. “I’m enormously proud of the effort involved as we were determined to get Tune functioning once again for the region’s general aviation community.”
Infrastructure damage at JWN is estimated at $93 million, including 17 hangars that were damaged or destroyed. That doesn’t include the more than 90 aircraft at JWN that were destroyed by the tornado. Located in the Cockrill Bend area of west Nashville, JWN offers a 3,600-sq-ft terminal and 6,000-foot-long runway.
Travel Bans Hamper Bizav’s Bid to Keep Business Moving
Nine days from the World Health Organization declaring the Covid-19 outbreak to be a pandemic, the global aviation industry is engaged in an exhausting day-to-day scramble to assess the impact of the crisis and how it can best react to it. Given the rapidly diminishing airline schedules worldwide and increasing travel restrictions globally, the Covid-19 crisis still has the potential for burnishing business aviation’s value proposition.
Aviation data analyst WingX reported European business aviation flight activity down by 6.9 percent during the first 17 days of March. “There have been big fluctuations day-to-day and a trend towards severe overall decline during the last few days,” the Germany-based company said in its Market Tracker report published on March 19.
WingX managing director Richard Koe confirmed the perception that prospects for business aviation could be about to get markedly worse before they resume any longer-term rebound. “Business aviation is clearly impacted by the Coronavirus, with accelerating declines in the last few days belying the overall seven percent drop month-to-date,” he commented. “We expect flights to dry up next week once restrictions are stricter and the repatriation rush is done."
Charter marketplace Avinode said, restrictions permitting, there is still strong demand for flights “for the next week or so,” but going forward is less certain with requests for May down 16 percent.
Aircraft charter broker Air Charter Service (ACS) has opened a new branch office in Chicago. For the company, it represents its 10th location in the Americas and its 27th worldwide, since its launch in 1990. The new office will be headed by Caitlin Uhlmann, who has been with ACS for nearly a decade, serving in its Los Angeles, London, and New York City locations.
“Chicago has been on our radar as a natural location for another U.S. ACS office for a number of years,” said Richard Thompson, president of the company’s Americas operation. He added that it is the third-largest city in the United States and home to many Fortune 500 companies. “We have been conducting business with clients from Chicago and the rest of Illinois for many years and are looking forward to building closer relationships with them, as well as welcoming new customers on board.”
ACS arranges more than 23,000 charter flights each year, with revenue of nearly $700 million.
AOPA Urges FAA To Provide Flexibility during Outbreak
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association appealed to FAA administrator Steve Dickson to provide maximum flexibility, extensions, and or other relief for pilots and aircraft owners who are unable to meet certain requirements during the Covid-19 crisis. In a March 17 letter to Dickson, AOPA president and CEO Mark Baker expressed support for measures taken to mitigate the spread, but said, “Like the public at large, active general aviation pilots have also been impacted by these actions.”
Future and current pilots are already facing challenges in meeting their requirements, he added. “For example, federal requirements require pilots to renew their medical certificate in person, to complete their pilot certification examinations within a certain amount of time, and to complete knowledge tests at off-site testing facilities,” Baker said. “The current restrictions on the U.S. population create an impossible barrier for these individuals to meet the necessary airman and aircraft requirements.”
AOPA, which has received numerous inquiries from members on how to keep up with their requirements, fears that pilots are bumping into deadlines for when practical test and knowledge-test eligibility ends, currency or instrument proficiency runs out, and flight instructor certificates expire.
The association noted that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency has already moved to address some of these concerns, permitting extensions of validity periods.
Positive Covid-19 tests are increasingly disrupting the U.S. air traffic control system, forcing the FAA to temporarily shutter several of its towers for cleaning. The most recent notification came on Friday when a positive test involved a technician who works at the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. While the technician was last at the tower briefly on March 16 and did not enter the cab where controllers work, the FAA decided to close the tower as a precaution. The agency said controllers there are working from an alternate location at that airport.
Similar steps were taken on Thursday at the tower at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas after a controller there presumptively tested positive. The FAA was working to determine how many controllers would need to self-isolate as a result. Las Vegas Terminal Radar Approach Control began handling ATC duties at the airport. Air traffic handling was altered above FL230 around Indianapolis after the FAA had a partial closure of its Air Route Traffic Control Center, due to a positive test of an air traffic control supervisor there.
Meanwhile, the agency has now imposed a temporary flight restriction at Chicago Midway Airport limiting traffic to only commercial and other authorized operations. The FAA earlier this week had shuttered the tower there for cleaning after several technicians tested positive.
Ascent Makes UAM Plans With eVTOL Group Urban Aeronautics
Hydrogen-powered eVTOL aircraft developer Urban Aeronautics has launched a partnership with Singapore-based helicopter charter booking service Ascent to develop urban air mobility (UAM) services in Asia. The Israel-based company’s Metro Skyways subsidiary is developing the six-seat CityHawk eVTOL model, which it believes will be well suited to autonomous air taxi operations.
Ascent’s app currently allows travelers to book individual seats on chartered helicopters in several Southeast Asian countries. Along with Urban Aeronautics, the company believes that autonomous eVTOL aircraft could lower the price point for air taxi rideshare flights to as little as $2 per mile for each passenger.
In a March 18 announcement, the companies did not explain what work their partnership will cover, beyond indicating that Ascent’s market analysis may drive refinements to the design for the CityHawk. Urban Aeronautics has not published a detailed timeline for when it intends to achieve service entry with the aircraft.
“As we continue to advance on our development and look forward to commercial flights within a few years, we are eager to work with Ascent,” said Urban Aeronautics CEO Dr. Rafi Yoeli. “Thanks to Ascent’s unique operational experience, and growing footprint, we are now able to enrich our aircraft design and commercialization approach, based on direct market insights.”
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