In a demonstration of how a “circular economy” could work for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (KDFW), SAF producer Neste, and fuel distributor Avfuel collaborated to see the Texas airport receive its first load of SAF this week.
Neste subsidiary Mahoney Environmental has been collecting waste cooking oil from the airport’s concessionaires for the past two years as part of Neste’s global feedstock pool to produce SAF. To complete the circle, Avfuel delivered an 8,000-gallon load of blended SAF to airport-operated FBO DFW Corporate Aviation. The volume represents a 19-tonne lifecycle carbon emissions savings over conventional jet fuel, and in its neat form SAF can provide up to an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over its lifecycle.
DFW, Avfuel, and Neste will continue to explore opportunities to bring more SAF to the airport, the second busiest in the world, including use by airlines and cargo operators.
“The introduction of SAF to DFW Airport marks a major milestone in our effort to reduce our sector’s overall carbon footprint,” said Robert Horton, the airport’s v-p of environmental affairs. “We recognize our future success depends on our ability to protect our natural resources, and we are committed to continuing to serve as an industry leader in sustainable practices."
AINsight: Managing To Fly
Many first-time and experienced aircraft buyers have entered the market to purchase a private jet and travel far away from commercial airports. But the aircraft they plan to fly may be no more than an expensive paperweight until the right management organization helps the owners get their aircraft safely off the ground.
Since Covid-19 disrupted air travel in 2020, the demand of first-time and repeat aircraft purchasers of whole and fractional aircraft has climbed sharply and reduced the available inventory of aircraft to historical lows. At the same time, Part 135 operators have experienced a burst in demand for chartering, creating significant pressure to provide services to customers beyond the operator's normal capacity. The stress makes the careful selection of a management company more important than ever before.
To navigate the purchase and operation of the aircraft, owners can and should assemble a highly-experienced aviation team to help sort out the complexities of aircraft ownership, including aircraft management services. With safety being the paramount standard, an owner should diligently evaluate management companies, understand their core values and accept only the optimal service model for themselves. It seems appropriate to caution owners that settling on anything less may ultimately be a choice the owner may not live to regret.
A UK court today jailed David Henderson for 18 months after finding him guilty of endangering the safety of an aircraft. The charge resulted from his role in arranging the January 2019 flight from France to Wales in which soccer star Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson died when an illegally chartered Piper Malibu crashed into the ocean. Henderson’s legal team said they will consider an appeal.
At a sentencing hearing in Cardiff, judge David Foxton said the 67-year-old former RAF officer was guilty of “a flagrant breach” of air safety regulations and must have been aware that Ibbotson did not hold a commercial pilot’s license, that he was not qualified to fly in IFR conditions at night, and that his type rating for the single-engine Malibu had expired. Prosecutors alleged Henderson’s aircraft management business had repeatedly breached rules governing commercial flights, describing his company as “a cowboy outfit.”
During the trial, in which a verdict was returned on October 28, the jury heard that the N-registered aircraft was owned by Fay Keely, who had refused to allow Ibbotson to fly her. Henderson’s company does not hold an air operator’s certificate. Prosecutors told the jury that, after hearing about the crash, he had texted associates instructing them not to speak about the circumstances around the flight out of concern it would “open a can of worms.”
Gogo SmartShield Can Protect Your In-flight Connectivity Investment
Gogo Business Aviation announced a new premium membership program called SmartShield that offers exclusive protections and benefits for anyone with a Gogo in-flight connectivity system.
A little over a month after completing its largest transaction this year—a firm order for 20 Challenger 3500s from an undisclosed customer—Bombardier sees Middle East demand for its Challenger and Global platforms intensifying to levels not seen since pre-2008, the company said on the eve of the Dubai Airshow that opens on Sunday. Further, the Canadian business jet manufacturer claims its portfolio will continue to be popular with a variety of operators in the region, particularly in the charter market.
“Bombardier aircraft are very popular in the region—and for good reason,” Christophe Degoumois, v-p international business aircraft sales, told AIN. “Bombardier boasts a strong portfolio of aircraft including the new Challenger 3500, which we introduced in mid-September, and the industry flagship Global 7500, which continues to flourish in its production ramp-up.
“The Middle East is a very important market for Bombardier with considerable growth opportunities, both from an aircraft sales and aftermarket perspective, especially in the medium and large-cabin categories,” he added.
Bombardier’s Specialized Aircraft group, the team that oversees aircraft allocated to special missions, will project a significant presence at the Dubai Airshow next week. “Our aircraft, with their high endurance and reliability, are well-suited to carry out several critical functions with governments and agencies around the world, missions like medical evacuation, surveillance, and reconnaissance, or command transport,” he said.
For more coverage of the Dubai Airshow, go to AIN's show landing page.
Gulfstream Aerospace has signed the World Economic Forum’s Clean Skies for Tomorrow 2030 Ambition Statement, building on the company’s commitment to sustainability. The move makes it the first business aircraft manufacturer to sign the statement, which seeks to increase use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which offers lower lifecycle carbon emissions, and boost SAF supply to meet 10 percent of global jet fuel needs by 2030.
“The Clean Skies for Tomorrow 2030 Ambition Statement is a call to action to grow the supply and use of SAF. We are committed to continuing to use and promote SAF…and hope that our signing and focus on this ambitious goal will be the first of many more manufacturers to follow,” said Gulfstream president Mark Burns.
Since 2016, Gulfstream has purchased more than 1.4 million gallons of SAF and flown more than 1.5 million nautical miles on SAF. In July, Gulfstream became the first company to earn the National Aeronautic Association's Sustainable Wings certification, which recognizes speed records set using SAF.
However, Gulfstream’s focus on sustainability expands beyond SAF and includes modernization of manufacturing and servicing facilities. The Savannah, Georgia-based aircraft manufacturer is focusing its sustainability efforts in three priority areas: energy and emissions; operations and culture; and learning.
Aviation safety software specialist Polaris Aero has released an upgraded version of its FlightRisk advanced risk-assessment program. Designed to help dispatchers, pilots, and other crews assess risk from the moment a flight is scheduled, FlightRisk automatically identifies potential aviation hazards and risk-mitigation procedures.
The updated version provides simpler, more user-friendly navigation; new drill-down options in “Insights” to provide an easier understanding of the hazards crews are facing; risk-rating filters with sort and grouping features; a hypothetical assessment option; and new scenario planner options. FlightRisk users were automatically updated to the latest version with no loss of previous data, Polaris Aero said.
Chris Connor, co-founder and CEO of Polaris Aero, noted that traditional flight risk-assessment systems typically are manual, relying on a pilot’s perception of risk, and can be cumbersome. “A lack of relevant experience can result in a misperception of that risk,” he said. “FlightRisk helps eliminate that potential for misperception and is fully automated.”
The company's program analyzes a range of pilot, environment, aircraft, and airfield factors to sort out the information most relevant to a particular flight. “By adding context to the information they receive, we make it more meaningful and relatable to a particular flight,” Connor added. “Essentially, we’re helping transform ‘information’ into ‘knowledge,’ and that’s a prerequisite for better, more effective decision-making on every flight.”
Mid-Canada Mod Center and MRO provider JD Aero have created an alliance to offer a broad range of modification and engineering services for the worldwide regional airline industry. The partnership also will provide support to special-missions operators of regional aircraft.
“This working partnership will see two of the most experienced companies in the industry working together to deliver innovative solutions for our joint clients,” said Mid-Canada president Bill Arsenault. “Discussions with [JD Aero managing partners] Don [McNabb] and Julian [Chin] quickly made us realize that JD Aero was exactly the type of company we want to get alongside. This perfectly complements what we already do for regional operators.”
Mid-Canada offers avionics integration expertise along with a portfolio of STC packages for regional aircraft and an expanded scope of avionics repair capabilities from locations at Toronto Pearson International Airport and Region of Waterloo International Airport. The company’s engineering division, ADS, provides design, engineering, and airworthiness support and structural repairs approvals through its Transport Canada Design Approval Organization.
JD Aero operates an MRO with 81,000 sq ft of hangar space in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and its services include scheduled heavy maintenance on Dash 8-, Canadair Regional Jet-, and Boeing 737-series transport aircraft, as well as Cessna and Embraer 170/175 aircraft. It can also perform complete structures and avionics support.
Business aircraft brokerage Par Avion has hired Matthew Gahrmann as executive sales director. In this newly created role, Gahrmann will support Houston-based Par Avion in the acquisition and sales of business aircraft for international clientele and be responsible for new business development. He is based near Charlotte, North Carolina.
Par Avion founder and president Janine Iannarelli told AIN in a recent interview that Gahrmann’s prior experience as a commercial real estate broker, project manager, and analyst handling complex, capital-intensive projects and with a history of closing multimillion-dollar transactions will serve her firm well. “I have no doubt he’ll be hitting it out of the park in six months to a year,” Iannarelli said, adding that Gahrmann is her godson and has “watched me in this industry."
In hiring the 2016 graduate of High Point University with bachelor’s degrees in business administration and strategic communications, Iannarelli is also thinking about the future of 24-year-old Par Avion, whose primary business is the exclusive representation and acquisition of aircraft with an emphasis on preowned business jets valued upwards of $75 million. “Is there someone who can step in?” she said. “I have to think about what I want to do with the brand. I’ve been giving that greater thought over the past few years.”
Photo of the Week
New meaning for flaring an aircraft.The C-17 will be one of more than a dozen aircraft that will take part in the daily afternoon flying display at the airshow, which opens on Sunday and runs through Thursday at the Al Maktoum International Airport. The C-17 will be one of more than a dozen aircraft that will take part in the daily afternoon flying display at the airshow, which opens on Sunday and runs through Thursday.
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