Atlantic Aviation has expanded its continual supply of sustainable aviation fuel in Colorado to all four of its FBOs in the state. In spring 2021, Atlantic and its supplier Avfuel announced that continuous supplies of Neste SAF would be available at its Aspen (KASE) location. Now the two companies have turned on the SAF spigot at Atlantic’s Montrose Regional Airport (KMTJ), Yampa Valley Airport (KHDN), and Rifle Garfield County Airport (KRIL) facilities as well.
The Neste fuel, at a blend ratio of 30 percent SAF to 70 percent conventional jet-A, saves 19 tonnes of lifecycle carbon emissions per truckload, the same amount of carbon sequestered by 22.5 acres of forest each year.
“We view SAF as the most viable and impactful step toward enabling a greener future for our industry, and are committed to supporting customer sustainability goals accordingly,” said Brian Corbett, Atlantic’s chief commercial and sustainability officer. “Striving to reduce our impact on the environment is a promise we’ve made to our customers, our staff, and the communities we serve.”
Bombardier Defense took delivery of the first of three Global 6000 business jets that will be modified to support Lufthansa Technik’s role in the Hensoldt-led Pegasus program for the German armed forces. The program is the first major European customer work package for the company's Wichita site since it was named the main hub for Bombardier Defense.
Bombardier’s role in the work includes major structural modifications of the airplane to accommodate the Kalaetron Integral signal intelligence system developed by Hensoldt. The system collects and analyzes military signals from radar and radio systems. Once the modifications in Wichita are tested and certified, Lufthansa Technik will complete the system integration at its special-mission competence center in Hamburg, Germany.
“The start of the structural modification phase indeed marks a major milestone, as it is an important prerequisite for the work packages of our special mission aircraft experts in Hamburg,” said Lufthansa Technik v-p of special aircraft services Michael von Puttkamer. “We thank Hensoldt and Bombardier for the good cooperation and progress, and we are already looking forward to building on the high-quality work of the colleagues in Wichita in the upcoming systems integration phase.”
Rapidly-expanding private hangar developer/operator Sky Harbour has opened its complex at Nashville International Airport. The 15-acre site, the company’s second to open, offers 150,000 sq ft of private and semi-private turnkey hangar space consisting of 13,350-sq-ft hangars, each capable of sheltering the latest ultra-long-range business jets. They include interior suites with offices, lounges, kitchens, bathrooms/shower facilities, and laundry, and each of the Sky Harbour locations provides its own dedicated ground handling crew.
The company also noted that its hangar facility at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport is scheduled to open before the end of the year. That location will feature a dozen 13,375-sq-ft hangars. Additional Sky Harbour facilities are under development in Denver, Phoenix, and Dallas.
“We welcome aircraft owners from around the country to visit us in Nashville (KBNA), Houston (KSGR), or Miami (KOPF) to meet the team and experience Sky Harbour home basing firsthand,” said Sky Harbour CEO Tal Keinan. “We know it will change the way you think about aircraft ownership.”
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The Canadian Business Aviation Association (CBAA) and NBAA recently joined other industry groups expressing opposition to an application from Ligado Networks Canada to operate an ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) in L-band, adjacent to bands used by the aviation sector.
CBAA and NBAA sent a joint letter this month to Martin Proulx, a director general for Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada, asking the agency to reject the application. The associations noted that Ligado is proposing to operate similarly to how it was authorized in the U.S. “However, Ligado Canada’s application is for significantly higher power levels (approximately 82 times greater) and relaxed out-of-band-emissions limits.”
They expressed concern that this may pose a threat to safety and noted the opposition to the application of numerous other organizations, including the National Airlines Council of Canada, Air Transport Association of Canada, International Air Transport Association, and Air Line Pilots Association.
The International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA) has partnered with industry sustainability solutions provider 4Air to assist the resale aircraft market in becoming more environmentally aware.
Under the deal, IADA member clients will receive a free carbon assessment and discounts on voluntary programs, along with regulatory monitoring and compliance services. Those customers will be able to use a web-based application to determine their carbon footprint to help them determine the impact of their purchase of any specific aircraft type.
“With today’s growing scrutiny of private travel and its impact on the environment, it’s increasingly important to be able to assist buyers and sellers [in answering] questions about prospective aircraft and their environmental impacts,” explained 4Air president Kennedy Ricci. “We provide an avenue to help those looking to make meaningful, verified, and documented steps in understanding and minimizing their environmental footprint.”
“The partnership with 4Air is a statement that the leaders in the business aviation resale industry place importance on sustainability,” added IADA chair emeritus and CFS Jets partner David Monacell, who has headed up the association’s environmental focus. “This new partnership gives IADA accredited dealers yet another tool to be the very best counselors available for buyers and sellers of business aircraft.”
Melbourne, Florida-based business aircraft brokerage JetAviva has partnered with Concept Aviation, a Brazilian aviation commerce and consultancy company, to provide its customers with increased access to Brazil’s aircraft market.
“This will expand JetAviva’s international reach and allow our customers turnkey brokerage and acquisition services throughout Latin America,” said JetAviva president Ryan Scott.
Concept Aviation aims to become one of the main resources in the business aviation market by establishing a commerce and consultancy portal in partnership with brokers from around the world.
Founded in 2006, JetAviva has gained significant share in turbine aircraft sales and acquisitions. Following a strong year in 2020, the company set a new record in 2021, touting more than 100 transactions and its highest-ever annual revenue that year.
In other news at the company, JetAviva CEO Emily Deaton was recently recognized as one of NBAA's 2022 Business Aviation Top 40 Under 40 Award winners. Deaton joined JetAviva in early 2019 as v-p of sales and was promoted to CEO in January. She previously held customer-facing leadership positions at Embraer Executive Jets.
Aviation Safety Question of the Week
Provided by
Which of the following statements is correct?
A. A straight wing could get to a higher critical angle of attack than a swept wing.
B. A swept wing could get to a higher critical angle of attack than a straight wing.
C. Vortex generators decrease boundary layer energy.
D. Answers A and B are correct, depending on whether the aircraft is military or civil.
UK aerospace and air transport companies are facing further uncertainty over the country’s post-Brexit regulatory framework resulting from a new law that is set to remove at least 2,400 pieces of legislation based on European Union (EU) law. The Retained EU Law (REUL) bill, which has already passed two of three sets of votes in the UK parliament, would remove hundreds of aviation-related laws from the statute books under “sunsetting” rules taking effect on Dec. 31, 2023.
Critics have complained that the UK government has yet to fully clarify exactly which pieces of legislation would be scrapped and when and how the new laws might replace them, potentially creating a confusing and disruptive regulatory void. A UK government “public dashboard” provides some detail on the volume of laws covered by REUL in terms of identifying broad categories covered by each government department, but there is almost no detail on specific items.
The dashboard shows that more than 400 pieces of transport-related legislation would be covered by the REUL sunset process and that up to around 100 of them could be specific to aviation. There is some indication, for instance, that laws covering passenger rights, airline market access, airspace management, aircraft noise, and emissions trading could be removed. The REUL bill makes some provisions for the “sunsetting” deadline to be pushed to 2026 following a review process.
Elevate Holdings, which increased its presence in the charter market and ventured into the MRO arena earlier this year with the acquisition of Keystone Aviation, recently folded its growing operations under the brand of Elevate Aviation Group. The brand ties together its Private Jet Services (PJS) brokerage, Elevate Jet charter firm, and Keystone charter/management and MRO operations.
Elevate Aviation Group gained a presence in business aviation with PJS, which arranges complex large-group charters, and added Elevate Jet in 2017 to expand into Part 135 operations. The January acquisition of Keystone from TAC Air brought maintenance operations in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Salt Lake City, along with a fleet of managed and charter aircraft. A new business line for Elevate, the maintenance facilities provide a venue to bring certainty for its clients, said founder and CEO Greg Raiff.
Recognizing that the MRO work extends beyond Elevate’s fleet, the group split the business out as a separate entity to assure its customer base that they are also a priority, according to chief marketing officer Will Dent.
The combined Keystone and Elevate managed fleet is now approaching three dozen, with plans to add a Gulfstream G550 and G650 by year-end. Elevate also is looking to expand further into aircraft sales consultation. To that end, the company hired Brooke Brown to serve as v-p of sales and acquisitions.
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