Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing (SMFL) is acquiring a 35 percent stake in helicopter lessor LCI and has committed to helping to grow the business by $1.5 billion in the near term. “LCI is delighted to expand and solidify its relationship with SMFL through this transaction. Together we intend to reinforce LCI’s position as a leading provider of leasing, financing, and investing solutions in the aviation industry,” said LCI CEO Jaspal Jandu.
Libra Group unit LCI first partnered with SMFL in 2020 by launching a $230 million joint venture (JV) covering the purchase of 19 helicopters. Subsequently, the JV has grown to cover more than 50 aircraft valued at over $550 million. LCI has orders to expand its fleet to nearly 350 aircraft including substantial commitments to acquire 165 eVTOL aircraft from manufacturers Elroy Air and Beta Technologies.
“The investment by SMFL into LCI is the next step in what we hope will be a series of strategic collaborations across the helicopter and relevant industries, which enables both of us to further strengthen LCI’s business,” said Masaki Tachibana, president of SMFL.
“We expect to progressively grow and deepen our relationship with SMFL over the years, our long-term outlook and belief system are strikingly similar. The possibilities for collaboration are endless, from aviation to maritime to renewable energy and all that lies in between,” said George Logothetis, Libra Group executive chairman.
Atlantic Aviation, which operates the sole FBO at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport (KASE) in Colorado, has nearly electrified its entire fleet of ramp service equipment there. The company has introduced battery-powered ground power units, which, in addition to eliminating noise pollution, will also save 180 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year.
The chain has also stationed some of the industry’s first all-electric refuelers—unveiled at NBAA’s Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference earlier this year—at the location.
These are the latest steps Atlantic has taken to lessen its environmental impact at KASE. Since 2007, it has utilized all-electric tugs at the airport and in 2018 converted its entire facility to energy-efficient LED lighting. In 2021, the company began pumping sustainable aviation fuel—making it only the second location in the state to offer continuous supplies of SAF.
“Our efforts in Aspen are a key part of a cohesive strategy to raise the bar on what we as a company and as an industry can do to minimize business aviation’s impact on the environment,” said Brian Corbett, Atlantic’s chief commercial and sustainability officer. “Our work at KASE sets a high standard for sustainability and noise reduction which we will be able to replicate at other locations across our network.”
Atlantic’s long-term lease at KASE will expire in September and the company is competing with two other chains over whether it will receive a renewal.
The U.S. House aviation subcommittee today turned its attention to new market entrants, such as drones and eVTOL aircraft, as it considered its position on the pending FAA reauthorization bill. In opening statements before industry testimony on March 30, several congressmen were critical of the Biden Administration, accusing it of failing to support the emerging advanced air mobility (AAM) sector.
Comparing the newcomers to the U.S. aviation system to runners in a marathon race who can’t find the finish line when signposts are removed after 25 miles, subcommittee chairman Rep. Garret Graves (R-Louisiana) said the industry has been thwarted by its own government. “We don’t have a government that has the processes in place to provide predictability in decision making, or that gets the urgency to certify and integrate these products,” he told the hearing in Washington, D.C.
Subcommittee ranking minority member Rick Larsen (D-Washington) echoed some of the Republican chair’s critique, calling for an end to “organizational inefficiencies” at the FAA to create the regulatory bandwidth to certify new aircraft and approve access to the national airspace. He characterized the challenge as an opportunity to create some 280,000 jobs in the new sector, while also opening the door to new technology that could significantly cut aviation’s carbon footprint.
UAE helicopter and fixed-wing charter operator Falcon Aviation Services has obtained a second air operator certificate (AOC) from San Marino’s Civil Aviation Authority (SM-CAA) to add to its UAE General Civil Aviation Authority AOC, marking “a significant milestone in its operations.”
Falcon Aviation COO Ramandeep Oberoi confirmed to AIN that this was Falcon's second AOC. “Under the GCAA, we have presently 33 helicopters and five fixed-wing aircraft. Under San Marino, we will manage four jets to start with,” he said. The launch aircraft for the first customer on the AOC will be an Embraer ERJ 135BJ, which Falcon hopes to use to provide “an extended range of bespoke services and a wider scope of customer offerings.”
Falcon was established in 2006 and has bases at Al Bateen Executive Airport (OMAD) in Abu Dhabi and Al Maktoum International Airport (OMDW) in Dubai. It offers aircraft charter and management, helicopter tours, an OMDW FBO, MRO, continuing airworthiness management, and heliport management.
“Our AOCs enable owners to optimize the utilization of their assets, backed by the highest quality standards,” said Oberoi. “Over the past year, we have witnessed a substantial increase in aircraft management as customers recognize Falcon Aviation's stability and value our unique one-stop-shop services, which are supported by a highly skilled team of multinational experts.”
Access to parts, rental engines and competitive pricing: more reasons why EAP says you should have your engines on an hourly maintenance program
Maintaining your engines helps you maintain the value of your aircraft, but Engine Assurance Program (EAP) knows hourly engine programs offer even more power to operators. With aircraft utilization at close to record levels, there’s increased competition for the already limited resources needed to keep engines in peak condition. That’s where enrolling on a program can save the day.
Colorado’s Durango/La Plata County Airport will see the installation of a Baron Weather radar system that will allow more accurate detection of extreme weather and the issuance of appropriate warnings.
Baron will supply the C-band dual polarization weather radar as a turnkey installation, along with a radar display and analysis system. The company will also construct the accompanying 70-foot radar tower.
When completed by the end of May, the system will serve the Four Corners region, an area that experiences numerous weather systems. Because of the earth’s curvature and obstruction due to mountains, the closest radar, in Grand Junction, can't accurately detect precipitation in the region. The Baron system is expected to fill this gap in the National Weather Service’s (NWS) radar coverage.
“The Baron radar will have the same capabilities that the NWS radars are equipped with,” said Jon Tarleton, Baron’s v-p of integrated weather systems. The company has sold, installed, and performed upgrades to more than 350 radars worldwide.
“La Plata County conducted an extensive search process for our new weather radar system and selected Baron based on their professional reputation,” said La Plata County Manager Chuck Stevens. “We have been extremely impressed by their level of service and technical solutions and we have complete confidence in their ability to complete the project on time and on budget.”
A new report from consultancy Oil & Sea Analytics paints a dire picture of challenges facing the offshore helicopter industry. The firm finds that “The ability of the industry to keep enough serviceable aircraft active to meet demand is now in question.” The company characterized the situation as “sleep-walking into a crisis,” saying the scenario “has been developing over a period of years and it will take years to resolve.” Data supporting this conclusion comes from the consultancy’s upcoming “Heavy & Super-Medium [helicopter] Fleet Census."
“The challenge is that whilst we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of contracted aircraft in the heavy and super-medium segment, this is not translating yet into a comparable increase in aircraft flying,” said the report. “Behind closed doors, operators are hugely frustrated that they cannot return aircraft to service due to supply-chain issues... At the present time, the industry is returning aircraft to the line only slightly quicker than they are coming off it.” It concluded that within the next 12 months, “there will be end users that see lower availability of their service and interruptions to their crew change activity.”
Oil & Sea Analytics also predicts that oil companies will be hit by “substantial price increases and lower availability of aircraft” and pins the blame for the current situation squarely on those oil companies.
The Canadian Business Aviation Association (CBAA) said the new pilot fatigue risk management system (FRMS) regulations do not work for unscheduled commercial operations. Thus, the organization plans to develop a working alternative.
Following CBAA’s meeting with Transport Canada officials in late January, the two parties agreed that the association would develop a “pilot project” that will attempt to find a better way forward. “Our intent is to leverage fatigue science, technology, and a robust safety management systems (SMS) to find an alternate means of compliance.”
Revisions to duty time and rest regulations for Canadian-registered commuter and air-taxi operators of turbine and non-turbine aircraft (CAR Parts 704 and 703) went into effect on Dec. 12, 2022.
Transport Canada said the changes include prescribed flight and duty time limits that respect modern scientific research and international standards to limit the amount of time a crewmember can be on the job; and fatigue risk-management systems that will require operators to demonstrate that any variance to the prescribed flight and duty time limits will not adversely affect the level of flight crew fatigue or alertness. It is the latter requirement that CBAA’s pilot program intends to address.
In September 2021, the White House issued the SAF Grand Challenge, calling for U.S. industry to supply three billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel a year by 2030 and 35 billion gallons a year by 2050. Now, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended in a report to Congress that the government departments involved in the process develop and incorporate performance measures into their roadmaps indicating how they expect those goals to be reached.
When the Grand Challenge was announced, the U.S. Departments of Transportation, Energy, and Agriculture signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to accelerate research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities toward achieving the challenge goals.
The GAO was tasked with reviewing the federal government’s role in supporting the development of SAF production and assessing how those agencies will monitor progress. It found that while the supply of SAF has been slowly but steadily increasing, with 15.8 million gallons produced last year, it still represents but a microscopic percentage of the more than 17.5 billion gallons of fuel consumed by the major U.S. airlines as they return to pre-Covid activity levels.
The GAO pointed out that this recent goal setting was not the first time such plans were announced. In 2012, the FAA set a goal for U.S. airlines to use one billion gallons of SAF per year starting in 2018, which was not met.
Sustainability Question of the Week
Sponsored by
What actions can be taken by a flight department to improve ESG standing?
A. Calculate carbon footprint and offset it through credits and/or reduce through the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
B. Switch to more energy-efficient lighting in office locations and/or hangars.
C. Install solar panels on a building roof or replace any owned crew cars with electric vehicles.
D. All of the above.
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