World Fuel Completes $170M UVair Acquisition

Miami-based World Fuel Services has completed its $170 million acquisition of the UVair fuel business from Universal Weather and Aviation, the companies said today. Announced in August, the deal also makes World Fuel the exclusive contract fuel provider for Universal Weather and Aviation.

World Fuel said the deal brings several benefits to UVair customers, including World Fuel Rewards, more contract fuel locations, and adding aviation retail credit card Avcard to their portfolio. Meanwhile, FBOs can use World Fuel Network’s marketing tools and World Fuel Rewards to market their locations to an expanded audience.

As part of integrating the brands, World Fuel will be issuing a new contract card design—the World Fuel | UVair Contract card—that works just like the World Fuel Contract card, complete with rewards and global acceptance. Known as the “new black” card, it will be provided to heavy UVair Fueling card users, as well as a replacement for lost or expired UVair cards.

Universal chairman Greg Evans said the sale of UVair allows his company to focus on growth and expanding digital offerings, the latter of which include the uvGO digital mission management platform. “We’ve got big plans moving forward…Universal has just begun to scratch the surface of where we’re headed,” he concluded.

Citation Crash Provides Lessons on Family Assistance

While much attention is paid to safety leadership, equally important is leadership on family assistance, attendees of the Air Charter Safety Foundation 2020 Air Charter Safety Symposium were told yesterday. “It’s a responsibility of everyone in this room,” said Don Chupp, president and CEO of Fireside Partners, which specializes in emergency response programs. “The best countermeasure to protect your house after a bad event is through the people that were most directly affected.”

Chupp introduced Tricia Coffman, who shared her experiences involving the loss of her husband, 34-year-old David Coffman, in the February 16, 2005 crash of a Circuit City-operated Cessna Citation 560, N500AT, 4 nm east of Pueblo Memorial Airport. Eight in all were killed in the accident. Coffman noted the NTSB probable cause of “the flight crew’s failure to effectively monitor and maintain airspeed and comply with procedures for deice boot activation on the approach, which caused an aerodynamic stall from which they did not recover.”

But her story was about her personal experience—how she learned of his death, how she explained it to her four children, and how Circuit City and the NTSB handled the aftermath. Circuit City stepped up to get her through her worst nightmare, even as executives were advised to stay away from the affected families for fear of liability, she recalled.

ATP Software Update Speeds Publishing of ADs

Aviation information services and software provider ATP has released an upgrade to its software that supports the publishing and distribution of maintenance manuals and airworthiness directives (ADs), the San Francisco-based firm announced yesterday. With the release of Production 2.0, maintenance manual updates and ADs can be published in real time through the company's cloud-based ATP Aviation Hub, a network for accessing technical manuals and ADs.

“For decades, [ATP Aviation Hub] has greatly reduced the amount of time and effort required by maintenance technicians in finding the right information to ensure their aircraft is safe and ready for takeoff,” said ATP CEO Rick Noble. “This new release will make the experience even faster and better.”

ATP’s platform has more than 45,000 users worldwide. It offers electronic access to technical manuals from a variety of OEMs, as well as ADs from both the FAA and European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

Acropolis Takes Delivery of First ACJ320neo

UK-based VVIP charter operator Acropolis Aviation has taken delivery of an Airbus ACJ320neo, G-KELT, following a 13-month-long interior completions project at AMAC Aerospace in Basel, Switzerland. Acropolis is the launch customer for the ACJ320neo. The interior design was overseen by Yves Pickardt of Alberto Pinto, a Paris-based interior-design firm.

Based at Acropolis’s Farnborough Airport facility, the narrowbody twin can accommodate 19 passengers and allows sleeping for 17. It also features a private master bedroom with an en suite bathroom and rectangular shower, a full-size galley, and an aircraft cabin air humidifier. Acropolis’s ACJ320neo is also outfitted with Collins Aerospace’s Venue cabin management system and Stage in-flight entertainment system, which allows movies and TV programs to be viewed on 19 individual iPads and four large TV screens. Wi-Fi internet is provided through Ka-band connectivity.

“We are absolutely delighted with the high quality of workmanship that has gone into the creation of G-KELT since it arrived green in January 2019,” said Acropolis Aviation CEO Jonathan Bousfield. “AMAC Aerospace has created something very special, which will set new standards of comfort and well-being within the VVIP charter market, fully utilizing the cabin space.”

Bombardier Adds Gogo Avance L5 Retrofit for Learjets

Bombardier Aviation is making its Gogo Avance L5 connectivity solution for new Learjet 70s and 75s available for retrofit on in-service Learjet 40s, 45s, 70s, and 75s, the company announced yesterday. Customers can have the system installed at all Bombardier service centers and authorized service facilities throughout the U.S.

Gogo Avance L5, which is lightweight and compact, accesses the Gogo Biz 4G ground network of more than 250 towers and delivers seamless connectivity over the continental U.S. and large swaths of Canada and Alaska. Designed specifically for business aircraft, the system offers audio and video streaming capabilities, as well as faster web surfing.

“Learjet aircraft are renowned productivity tools, and this enhancement ensures that our customers have the connectivity they need to maximize their time in the air,” said Michael Anckner, Bombardier Business Aircraft’s v-p of worldwide sales for Learjets and corporate fleets. “With various upgrades available for our large fleet of in-service aircraft and the recent unveiling of our Learjet 75 Liberty, there’s never been a better time to own a Learjet.” The Learjet 75 Liberty is on track to enter service midyear, he added.

EAA to FAA: Remote ID Rule Threatens Model Flying

The FAA’s proposed rule for unmanned aerial system (UAS) aircraft to have remote identification is an “overreaching answer” to integrating UAS aircraft into the National Airspace System and “threatens traditional pathways into manned aviation,” as well as model aircraft flying, according to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).

In comments submitted to the FAA, EAA said that, in an attempt for regulations to keep pace with UAS technology, the rule will harm the “freedoms and longstanding safe operations maintained by the traditional model aviation community. That community has little in common with UAS operations that the FAA seeks to regulate, especially in such areas as non-line-of-sight operations and within controlled airspace.”

Under the proposed rule, model aircraft would be permitted to operate without remote identification equipment if they are operated within visual line of sight and within an FAA-recognized identification area.

EAA offered alternatives it said would fully regulate UAS operations, while acknowledging the safety and compliance record of traditional model aviation. These solutions include allowing multiple model aircraft owned by one operator to remain a single registration; creation of a notification system not reliant on on-site internet connectivity; and establishment of FAA-recognized identification areas, such as model aircraft flying fields, via the FAA’s online operations safety system.

More than 44,000 comments on the proposal were submitted to the FAA by the March 2 deadline.

Stevens Macon Offering Mx Services for Mexico Bizjets

Mexico’s Agencia Federal de Aviación Civil (AFAC) has awarded Stevens Aerospace and Defense Systems’ Macon, Georgia facility approval to maintain and return to service aircraft registered in Mexico. Several Mexican customer business jet inspections are already scheduled at the Macon facility.

With this approval, Stevens Aerospace can provide full maintenance, avionics modifications, and interior refurbishment services for owners and operators of Mexican-registered business turboprops through large-cabin jets. Typical aircraft types that the Macon facility specializes in include Bombardier Globals and Gulfstreams, but the facility’s technicians are also experienced in maintaining Challenger, Learjet, Citation, Embraer, Hawker, King Air, and other airframe types.

“Over the years, our business with Mexican owner-operators has been built on Stevens’ unique blend of expertise, practicality, and hospitality,” said regional sales manager Miguel Gallardo. “We bring a realistic approach to each project, giving owners and maintenance supervisors smart options to maximize budgets without compromising safety and the quality of work.”

Stevens Aerospace’s Greenville, South Carolina facility has held Mexican AFAC approval for many years, and plans are to add that approval for the company’s Nashville facility later this year.

CAMI: Urban Air Mobility Must Be for Public Good

Public acceptance remains the most significant obstacle to establishing successful urban air mobility (UAM) operations, according to leaders of the Community Air Mobility Initiative (CAMI), which was formed in 2019 to stimulate constructive dialogue between the industry and communities where they would like to launch service. At a March 3 press briefing organized by the Vertical Flight Society (VFS), CAMI co-executive director Yolanka Wulff said that companies seeking to introduce eVTOL aircraft need to work harder to demonstrate the benefits they will deliver and prove that they will not have an adverse impact.

“If this [UAM] is just seen as flying limos for the rich, the 0.1 percent, it won’t win public acceptance; it’s got to make sense for the general public,” Wulff told reporters. She said eVTOL aircraft developers and service providers “need to start a conversation [with cities and states] and recognize that it must be two-way and that there needs to be a balance between hype and realism.”

Co-executive director Anna Dietrich maintained that if people can see public benefit—such as that derived from allowing helicopters to operate emergency medical services—they are more likely to accept some adverse impact. “With noise, perceived value is critical to whether something is considered to be too loud for the community,” she said.

Count on AIN for Full Coverage of NBAA S&D Conference

NBAA’s Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference (SDC2020) will be held from Tuesday, March 10 through Friday, March 13 at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Exhibitors with news to share ahead of the show should contact AIN senior editor Curt Epstein.