Shell, SkyNRG Collaborate on European SAF Plant

Shell Aviation will support its long-term strategic partner SkyNRG in the development of the first dedicated sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production plant in Europe. The fuel company will provide technical and commercial expertise to the DSL-01 project in Delfzijl, Netherlands, which is slated to be commissioned in 2022, and in doing so, will secure the option to purchase SAF produced at the facility.

“This first dedicated plant is a crucial milestone in accelerating the supply of sustainable aviation fuels in Europe and will contribute to a reduction in emissions in the aviation sector,” said Anna Mascolo, Shell Aviation’s vice president. “At Shell, we have started the journey, although we recognize there is a lot more to do to avoid, reduce, and offset carbon emissions.”

DSL-01 will utilize waste feedstocks such as used cooking oil and will be powered by locally sourced sustainable hydrogen. The plant will produce 100,000 tonnes of SAF a year, corresponding to a reduction of lifecycle CO₂ emissions of approximately 270,000 tonnes. Combined with the green production factors, the lifecycle carbon emissions for the fuel produced there will be around 85 percent lower than that for conventional jet fuel.

“The shared ambitions and collaborative approach of the companies involved sends a strong signal to the rest of our industry of the actions required to deliver a sustainable future for aviation,” said SkyNRG managing director Maarten van Dijk.

Preowned Bizjet Sales Drop Sharply

The inventory of preowned business jets for sale inched higher while the number of sales transactions fell sharply in the first nine months of 2019, according to data released yesterday by JetNet. Business jet sales transactions dropped 16.9 percent compared with the same period a year ago, the Utica, New York-based business aviation data company said. 

The percentage of the business jet fleet for sale—2,187 of 22,241 in-service aircraft—rose 0.9 percent, from 8.9 percent in the first nine months of 2018 to 9.8 percent in the current period. “The increase in business jets for sale percentage shows the industry remains below the 10 percent mark and [is] a seller’s market,” JetNet commented. It’s also taking nine fewer days, on average, to sell a business jet versus the first nine months of last year, the report noted.

For business turboprops, the percentage of the fleet for sale—1,051 of 15,676 in-service turboprops—edged lower, to 6.7 percent in the first nine months of 2019 compared with 6.8 percent in the nine-month period of 2018. Turboprop sales transaction percentages also fell sharply by 12.2 percent between the nine-month periods. Average days on the market for a business turboprop for sale moved higher by one day.

Avflight, Pentastar Team on Michigan FBO

FBO chain operator Avflight, which plans open to its newest location at Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford International Airport in the second quarter of 2020, will partner with local aviation services provider Pentastar Aviation to provide a full range of services at this facility.

Pontiac, Michigan-based Pentastar, which was the highest-ranked FBO this year in AIN’s annual FBO survey, will occupy an office in the 5,000-sq-ft terminal and provide charter, management, and MRO evaluation services there.

“While our facility includes all the amenities of a high-end FBO, we want to have comprehensive services for business aircraft customers,” said Joe Meszaros, Avflight’s v-p of operations. “Pentastar, also a Michigan-based company, has a long history of customer service excellence, and its expertise in charter, management, and maintenance make them the perfect partner.”

For Avflight, an Avfuel-sister company, this new location will be its 22nd in the U.S. and Europe and its sixth in Michigan. In addition to a 30,000-sq-ft hangar, it will provide fueling, ground handling, deicing, and concierge services.

“This partnership will allow us to expose Avflight customers to the full spectrum of services we provide, and having an office at the Avflight facility in Grand Rapids will make it easy for them to take advantage of our combined offerings,” noted Brad Bruce, Pentastar’s executive v-p of maintenance and sales.

Infrastructure Expanding in Asia-Pacific as Fleets Grow

Infrastructure in Asia-Pacific is showing signs of expansion as growth in business jet and civil helicopter fleets in the region places increasing demand for airports, FBOs, and MROs, Asian Sky Group (ASG) reports.

In its 2019 Infrastructure Report, ASG notes that the business jet fleet in Asia-Pacific had grown from 1,157 at the end of 2016 to 1,206 at the end of 2018. The number of civil helicopters over that period grew from 3,929 to 4,265.

“This requires immediate support,” said ASG managing director Jeffrey Lowe, “and the industry is beginning to see signs of this.”

The number of airports in the region grew from 1,071 in 2017—the first year ASG released a report on regional infrastructure—to 1,184. Also, Lowe said, “Across the region, as business and general aviation matures, the overall number of FBOs and maintenance facilities has grown since ASG first published this report.”

FBOs now number 69 in the region. Meanwhile, MROs have increased to 229, 116 of which support fixed-wing aircraft and 136 support helicopters. With 253 airports Australia has the most developed infrastructure, including 21 FBOs, 17 fixed-wing MROs and 35 helicopter maintenance facilities. But Hong Kong “continues to face severe over-capacity issues” with 128 business jets housed there. China now has 250 airports, 12 FBOs, 35 fixed-wing MROs, and 31 helicopter support facilities. 

GlobalJet Execs: Positive Work Culture Boosts Safety

Improving an organization's culture directly relates to improved safety, two leading training specialists say, adding it also can provide a boost to efficiency. During Bombardier’s Safety Standdown yesterday, JD McHenry and Rich Bean, the respective CEO and president of business aviation maintenance training provider GlobalJet Services, emphasized the importance of the “human side” of culture, particularly how leaders and managers interact with their teams. “We work really hard on the technical skills, but I think it’s time we really focus on our soft skills” to build a positive culture, McHenry said.

“If you want to enhance your safety culture, if you want to enhance…the people who work around you and yourself, you have to be a leader,” Bean added. The trouble is, many skilled professionals are rewarded by being promoted into a leadership role, but they aren’t given proper training for it, McHenry said.

McHenry and Bean stressed that leadership and management skills are important for everyone and should be used continuously, both at work and at home. “If you are happy in your home life, you are going to be happy at work,” Bean said.

With that in mind, he said GlobalJet does what it can to foster that on both sides, including keeping an open dialog on home issues. Also, GlobalJet discovered flexibility has helped tremendously. The company adopted flexible hours and saw an 85 percent increase in efficiency in various departments. 

Sleep Expert Stresses Need for Fatigue Management

Organizations can implement targeted fatigue risk management programs and still operate within their economic goals, says a leading fatigue expert. But if they don’t pay attention to fatigue risks, the results could have safety consequences, added Daniel Mollicone, CEO of sleep research specialist Pulsar Informatics, during Bombardier’s annual Safety Standdown yesterday. Pulsar, which analyzes helicopter accidents and reports to FAA on the potential of fatigue involvement, found that as many as one in five has a fatigue factor, Mollicone said.

Sleep deprivation adds up and can result in serious degradation of performance. Studies revealed that a person who remains in the six-hour-a-night group for a week has reached the cognitive level of a person who has lost an entire night’s sleep. But the “six-hour group systematically underestimates how badly they are doing,” Mollicone said. Long days matter. Cognitive impairment starts to set in after 17 hours. At 22 hours of wakefulness, the mind is the equivalent to those with a blood alcohol content of .08. 

The goal is to identify those scenarios in flight operations where the risk of incapacitation becomes real and to mitigate that, he said. That doesn’t mean pilots won’t ever be fatigued. But what they don’t want is for pilots to be pushed to the point of incapacitation. By carefully monitoring risk areas, an organization can manage fatigue areas, Mollicone said.

Dallas-area Airport To Extend Runway

Dallas-area dedicated GA gateway McKinney National Airport (TKI) has received a $15 million grant from the Texas Department of Transportation for the expansion of its lone runway. The project, which will commence in 2021 at the conclusion of the environmental review and design processes, will add 1,500 feet to the current 7,002 feet of Runway 18/36.

Over the past year, city-owned TKI reported more than 156,000 operations, but due to the existing runway length, large aircraft taking off from the North Dallas airport during the height of summer are occasionally forced to depart with their tanks less than full. The 20-year planning period for operational activity at TKI calls for increased use of such aircraft with heavier loads and longer leg lengths. With numerous alternatives in the Metroplex boasting longer runways, the airport's executives wish to remove that concern from the minds of customers who might be tempted to try other airports.

"Today, business aircraft intending to operate out of McKinney must add congestion to one of the commercial service airports if their operations require additional runway length,” said TKI director Ken Carley. “Extending the runway by 1,500 feet will benefit the entire DFW area by allowing the airport to more effectively serve its role as a reliever for the region's commercial service airports."

First U.S. AW169 HEMS Fleet Operational

The first fleet of Leonardo AW169 helicopters in the United States to be configured for EMS and search-and-rescue is now in service. Travis County’s (Texas) Star Flight began operating its third AW169 medium twin earlier this year in south-central Texas, an area notorious for flash flooding and with a population of more than 1.2 million, including Austin.

Star Flight’s AW169s are equipped for 24/7 operations. Missions include emergency medical transport, still- and swift-water rescue, search-and-rescue, high-angle rescue, fire suppression/aerial reconnaissance, and law-enforcement safety assistance. Star Flight also transports neonatal, pediatric ICU, and high-risk obstetrics medical teams and patients. The cabins are configured to transport up to two patients and five medical personnel. Each of Star Flight’s AW169s is also equipped with a rescue hoist and a 300-gallon Simplex belly tank for fire suppression.

The AW169 has a maximum range of 440 nm and cruises at 160 knots. Standard avionics include four-axis, dual-duplex digital automatic flight control, and a night-vision-compatible cockpit. More than 200 AW169s have been ordered worldwide, including from parapublic customers in the United Kingdom, Japan, Republic of Korea, and New Zealand.

AIN Webinar: Key Steps to a Successful Aircraft Transaction

There are several steps where business aircraft deals can go sideways, including miscommunication, ethics issues, misunderstanding of regulations, and any number of traps for the unwary. Learn how to identify and assemble the right team early in the aircraft buying or selling process, a checklist of action items/steps, and caveats for financial stages. Join us for this free webinar on December 10 at 1:30 p.m. EST as AIN editor-in-chief Matt Thurber moderates a panel of experts that includes Keith Swirsky, president of GKG Law, P.C.; Keith Hayes, senior v-p and national sales manager at PNC Aviation Finance; and Jad Donaldson, past chairman of the NBAA Business Aviation Management Committee, a past co-chair of the annual NBAA Leadership Conference, and now director of aviation for Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Sponsored by Duncan Aviation and Mesinger Jet Sales.