PuppySpot Turns To Private Aviation for Puppy Transport
When online canine marketplace PuppySpot found itself impacted by the Covid-19 airline slowdown, it turned to private aviation to deliver baby hounds to their new homes. PuppySpot matches customers with highly vetted dog breeders across the U.S. and commits to safely delivering puppies to their destinations.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, 80 percent of the animals were transported with trained chaperones via airline pet-safe programs. But starting in February, “Covid came in and handed us all kinds of complications, because routes and flight schedules evaporated for the airlines,” explained Josh Kreinberg, chief administrative officer and general counsel for PuppySpot.
PuppySpot, which works closely with veterinarians, scientific advisers, and animal trainers and chaperones, prides itself on humane and careful treatment of the animals. It began to research alternatives and ultimately decided to enlist MNX Global Logistics to organize private cargo lift for the puppies.
According to Kreinberg, PuppySpot has delivered approximately 800 puppies to their new homes in the past six weeks using private cargo aircraft operated by Castle Aviation in North Canton, Ohio. Aircraft used have included a Cessna Caravan, a Saab 340, and a Metroliner.
Flying the pups privately has proved revelatory for executives at PuppySpot, who are thrilled by the decreased travel times and newfound ability to control almost every aspect of the pups’ experience in the air.
While some key business aviation aircraft suppliers like the aero-engine manufacturers have been making the difficult longer-term decisions to adjust their production rate and cost bases to the new Covid-19-era realities, most of aircraft manufacturing—part of the supply side of the industry—has been managing through a transition period of production furloughs and work-from-home arrangements. The key question is whether these arrangements will be sufficient to manage through a period when new aircraft orders—a key component of the demand side of the industry—have faltered as most prospective customers are temporarily unable or unwilling to meet face-to-face with their aircraft sales professionals.
On the plus side, with the Northern summer just weeks away, demand for charter and fractional flights should strengthen, as families put in place plans to relocate to their preferred vacation homes.
Meanwhile, back on Main Street USA, unemployment is already at historically high levels. Sadly, these unprecedented economic shockwaves are pummeling shores far and wide and in all regions of the world. For business aviation leaders, the worldwide pandemic has temporarily slowed most national economies and business sectors, some of which provided sales opportunities to help weather past downturns.
Business aircraft flight activity in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean is now on the upswing, passing a Covid-19-induced bottom last month, Argus International v-p of market intelligence Travis Kuhn said yesterday during a webinar. May is expected to see what Kuhn described as the first-ever triple-digit month-over-month gain in flight activity—103 percent—though year-over-year will be down 44 percent.
“Importantly, that's a recovery of one-third of business aircraft activity losses seen since March 15,” the day Covid-19 started to take a heavy toll on flying, he said. The first day since mid-March with more than 5,000 business aircraft departures was May 13, Kuhn noted, adding that he anticipates this segment to consistently top 6,000 flights daily early next month.
Argus forecasters also expect June to see a similar month-over-month recovery, while traffic is projected to still fall 23 percent year-over-year. Starting in July, Kuhn then expects flight activity to start tracking with the stock market.
Overall, Kuhn said U.S. business aircraft activity should recover in six to 12 months, but international flying recovery will take longer.
October will be “the month” to watch in the U.S., as October is historically the busiest for flying activity. “Plus, we should see a boost from November elections. The more October is closer to 2019, the better this will bode for business aircraft flying in 2021,” Kuhn concluded.
Demand for large-cabin business jets is waning as turbulent markets and geopolitical uncertainties dampen the desire for the ultra-long-range segment, according to industry analyst Brian Foley. Sales of new large aircraft have declined from half of all business-jet deliveries in 2013 to less than a third in 2019, he said, citing data from GAMA.
This marks a turnaround from the past decade. “As the last decade commenced, the world had an insatiable appetite for the biggest of corporate jets,” Foley noted. But many of the demand drivers for that market have ebbed, he added. “Emerging markets...have fallen victim to lackluster stock markets, geopolitical instability, and a dive in natural resource prices. China, once the fastest-growing business jet market on the planet, has seen its fleet contract."
He pointed to a relatively strong U.S. dollar, which magnifies prices outside of the U.S., and ebbing oil prices. “Some analysts have postulated that up to one in five big corporate jets sold are either directly or indirectly dependent on the health of the oil industry,” Foley said. Preowned business jets brokers are reporting most demand at the small end of the market, he added.
“Longer term, the pendulum will inevitably swing back towards an improvement in big-cabin sales,” he said. “Until then, both new and used smaller business jets will garner most of the attention.”
EASA, in coordination with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), on Wednesday issued its guidelines for aviation safety and hygiene in the Covid-19 crisis. While the recommendations in the 27-page document are aimed at the commercial passenger travel process, the agency noted, “the concepts described would apply equally in the private/business sector,” and it encourages those operators to analyze the guidelines carefully to assess how they can apply them most appropriately in their operations.
Among the major points highlighted: observation of physical distancing wherever possible, wearing medical face masks to protect other passengers, and practicing scrupulous and frequent hand washing. As well, “Air passengers and the general population have to be assured that filtered air on airplanes is safer and cleaner than many of us breathe on the ground,” EASA explained.
“Passengers have to have confidence that taking to the skies again in a confined space with other people poses the minimum possible risk to their health,” said Adina Valean, European Commissioner for Transport. “We relied on our specialists from EASA and ECDC to define a set of concrete measures for the safe resumption of air travel within the EU. The protocol will reassure passengers that it is safe for them to fly and so help the industry recover from the effects of this pandemic.”
IADA Webinar: Preowned Bizjet Deals Still Getting Done
A recent International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA) webinar poll showed consistent optimism for a recovery in the preowned aircraft market following the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the poll conducted during the organization's state-of-the-industry webinar held last week, 66 percent were very optimistic about a preowned market recovery and 58 percent expected a stronger second half of the year. Fifty percent think pricing will adjust by 10 to 15 percent, and 52 percent were slightly optimistic about new aircraft sales.
From March 27 to April 30, IADA dealer members closed 53 aircraft transactions, which the organization said is about half of the normal average for the period. Thirty-one transactions were discontinued during the period but contracts on 58 aircraft were issued.
Asian Sky Group managing director Jeffrey Lowe told webinar participants that he’s optimistic that deals will finally begin to close starting as early as the third quarter. Business aviation analyst Brian Foley said on the webinar that he expects a lot of charter clients later this month or early next month to begin “a lot of leisure travel.” NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen told the webinar's nearly 400 participants that planning for NBAA-BACE in October in Orlando is “moving forward.”
Universal Avionics will permanently close its Wichita operation after nearly four decades, claiming it as a victim of the Covid-19 pandemic and an associated economic downturn. “It is increasingly difficult to maintain full repair capacity under current conditions,” Universal Avionics CEO Dror Yahav said in a letter Thursday.
The avionics manufacturer will consolidate product repair with its headquarters and Part 145 repair station in Tucson, Arizona, resulting in the loss of jobs for five repair station and support employees. Its three field service engineers will transition to working remotely while the company consolidates training in Tucson or offers it online.
Located in southwest Wichita near Eisenhower National Airport and Textron Aviation, Universal Avionics established the operation more than 37 years ago. Its closing is effective May 29.
“This is an extremely difficult decision, one that is taken with an attempt at preserving the long-standing relationships with our customers, dealers, and OEM partners, relationships that we value greatly,” Yahav added.
NATA Seeks Extension on Air Carrier Training Relief
NATA is asking the U.S. FAA to push off until the end of the year air carrier training and qualification deadline extensions as well as certain emergency procedure training requirements for crewmembers and certain other personnel. The FAA in recent months has issued a series of exemptions, extensions, and other relief measures to ensure the National Airspace System can keep operating to the extent possible.
Those efforts included an exemption issued in March providing two additional “grace months” for ground personnel and crew to meet their training and qualification requirements that were coming due before the end of May. This, combined with the grace month already afforded, provided in some cases until the end of August for these requirements to be met.
Separately, the FAA had issued an exemption enabling crews to use alternative means to meet certain emergency procedure requirements, including donning protective breathing equipment, through the end of May.
“The conditions and circumstances that provided the justification for the original exemption, issued 40 days ago, continue to exist,” NATA said in petitioning the FAA. In granting the original exemption to the training and qualification deadline, the FAA said the move was justified given the unprecedented circumstances associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
A key part of a pilot’s duty is to have in-depth knowledge of weather conditions, so it’s no surprise that, during a walk around inspection on the ramp at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport, first officer Brian Bartlett would capture the high lenticular and cirrus cloud formations as he looked west toward the Spring Mountain range. The brightly colored Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 perfectly frames this weather phenomena that occurred on May 1. Thanks for sharing, Brian.
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