Subscription-based global charter provider VistaJet has notched record new program members’ sales in the first half of 2021, up more than 300 percent over 2020’s first-half figures in the U.S., and 53 percent globally, VistaJet U.S. president Leona Qi told AIN at NBAA-BACE 2021.
Among corporate customers, the Malta-based company has seen a 49 percent increase over 2020 figures, and has launched a new Corporate Membership in response, offering “a full suite of flexible travel solutions for businesses and executives,” Qi said.
“Our goal is to be there for supplemental lift, not as a replacement,” for in-house flight operations, and to “open new opportunities.” Flying with VistaJet provides a “distinct advantage,” she said, as executives’ movements, unlike on their corporate fleet aircraft, “are not traceable—if they’re making a deal, their competitors will never find out.”
To help meet the growing demand, VistaJet has exercised all its options for its flagship Bombardier Global 7500. It is currently the only access provider operating the 7500. Four are in the fleet now, and six are anticipated by year-end. VistaJet also ordered 10 Challenger 350s late last year, with the first arriving by the end of this month. The additions will bring the company’s owned and operated large cabin, long-range jet fleet to 80 by month’s end, and 96 by the end of 2022.
Training provider FlightSafety International is benefitting from the boom in business aviation travel, according to CEO Brad Thress. “The amount of business aviation travel resurged since the middle of the year,” he said. “And it caused our business to climb to serve those folks. It’s still a little light from international clients, due to travel restrictions. But there is strength in business aviation.”
That strength is causing challenges not only for FlightSafety but also for clients as pilot and instructor candidates thin. “We’re seeing this tremendous churn among our customers about how is the industry going to get pilots,” Thress said.
However, FlightSafety has the advantage of being able to hire instructors who don’t need to hold a medical certificate. Many are able to work part-time, for example, after retiring, Thress said, “and a lot are on their second or third career for us.”
On the technology front, FlightSafety continues to explore new training tools, including one project involving research on new concepts in stabilized approaches and landing overrun prevention for the typical owner-pilot who flies single-pilot jets.
Training methodology is getting an update, too, with new tools such as FlightSafety’s mixed-reality simulation. Mixed reality works on desktop computers that run fixed-base trainers and motion-based platforms or even on a laptop. The trainee wears virtual-reality goggles fitted with external cameras.
Textron Seeks Autonomous Capability for Its Aircraft
Textron Aviation is to jointly develop autonomous flight capability for its current and future aircraft under a partnership with Xwing. A non-exclusive agreement signed on October 12 calls for the companies’ engineering teams to develop and certify remote piloting technology for Textron’s Cessna Grand Caravan utility aircraft.
California-based Xwing is already operating a converted Caravan under an experimental certificate for research and development purposes with a supervising pilot on board. In addition, it has commercial operations with Caravans through its Part 135 subsidiary San Antonio Air Charter. It has applied to the FAA for clearance to fly its experimental aircraft commercially with a ground-based pilot and safety pilot on board, and this approval is still in process.
Textron has asked the Xwing team to provide expertise on autonomous flight technology and help it with design and manufacturing work to integrate these systems into existing and new aircraft. In return, the U.S.-based aircraft manufacturer will provide its partner with engineering and certification support.
The agreement does not specify how Textron and Xwing might jointly market converted and new-build autonomous aircraft. However, Xwing has acknowledged that the partners are discussing this prospect and view strong eCommerce-fueled growth logistics and express delivery air services as a driver for autonomous operations, especially in view of the anticipated pilot shortage.
MRO provider Mid-Continent Aviation Services (MCAS) announced yesterday at NBAA-BACE a more than $5.7 million project in which it will build a 31,500-sq-ft hangar at Wichita Eisenhower National Airport and double its workforce. A Part 145 repair station, the company provides maintenance, repair, and overhaul of business jets, turboprops and piston airplanes, and rotorcraft, with a specialization in Hawker 800 series and 4000, as well as and Beechcraft Premier jets.
It also stocks and locates hard-to-find legacy aircraft parts inventories. An outgrowth of Colwich, Kansas-based ICM Inc.’s flight department, MCAS also plans to hire an additional 23 employees, which will push its total employment to more than 40.
“As a world-class MRO we are excited to expand our footprint and capabilities for our customers,” MCAS director Kelly Lousch said. “Being located in the Air Capital of the World, the deep-rooted manufacturing skillsets of our local workforce have driven our past success—and we look forward to the next generation of growth for our team.”
The new hangar will replace a 15,000-sq-ft hangar that has been razed. Lousch told AIN that the new hangar, expected to be operational in early 2022, is large enough to accommodate A-checks on Part 121 aircraft, which could represent a new segment of business for MCAS.
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Argus Unveils Highest Safety Rating with Platinum Elite
Argus International has rolled out what will be its highest safety rating of Part 135 operations called Platinum Elite, which instead of the traditional two-year audit is a real-time operational safety performance monitoring program. The audit company said Platinum Elite provides timely visibility to significant changes in an operator's safety management system (SMS) and connects operator SMS conformance to real-time operational safety performance.
The audit program was developed over six years with the assistance of charter operator Jet Linx, which provided input and data to Argus during Platinum Elite’s development cycle. Omaha, Nebraska-based Jet Linx also becomes the first Part 135 operator to achieve a Platinum Elite rating. On Wednesday, Argus announced two additional operators to achieve Platinum Elite: Alerion Aviation and N-Jet.
“Since our initial partnership with Argus in 2007 as one of the first private aviation operators to receive an Argus Platinum rating, we have been steadfast in our commitment to elevate safety in our industry,” said Jet Linx president and CEO Jamie Walker. “We are excited to usher in a new standard of safety...and in transparency.”
Because Platinum Elite operators are monitored on a constant basis, it also benefits charter operators by saving them time from being subject to the traditional lengthy audits, Argus v-p of business aviation Ed Wandall told AIN. “It’s going to make things super-efficient for the operator."
Jet Support Services Inc. (JSSI) has integrated its customer portal with valuation, performance, and operating cost data from its Conklin and de Decker subsidiary, the company announced this week. Every customer enrolled in a JSSI maintenance and support program will have free access to this data. JSSI acquired Conklin and de Decker in 2018.
Company CEO Neil Book said the data offers “key performance metrics of [selected] aircraft types, operating cost information, and the ability to create real-time comparisons between different aircraft. This is something we've wanted to do since we acquired Conklin and de Decker. It’s in line with our overarching principle of allowing our clients to make informed decisions by providing transparency."
The portal gives JSSI customers the ability to access a wide cross-section of company services from a single location, report their flight hours, and receive invoices. They can also use it to access more than 40,000 lines of parts inventory and parts prices, as well as order parts, Book said. Customers can access other services, including aircraft appraisals and maintenance event management.
Book said the jet market is changing “very, very quickly. We're working hard to stay on top of it and provide the most up-to-date information that's possible. There are cases, though, with some of our fleet customers where they're flying at utilizations that we've never seen before.”
SmartSky Poised To Start Airborne Internet Service
By the end of this year, SmartSky will switch on its air-to-ground airborne connectivity service covering “80 to 90 percent of continental U.S. business aviation flight routes,” according to CEO David Helfgott.
“Interest is high, demand is very high, and after a long wait we’re getting excited [for the launch of service],” he added. “I've been here almost 11 months, and we’ve knocked out more than 30 technological milestones we had to accomplish from January to this point."
SmartSky is in deployment mode, he said, with 10 teams working in the U.S., installing antennas on cellphone towers to complete the SmartSky network. “We already have the majority of towers in place and selected,” he added. “All the fiber and the core network is complete, and the data center and NOC [network operations center] are complete. The last piece is the antennas on the towers.” By the end of the year or early in 2022, SmartSky should have completed 90 percent of the 330 towers needed for full continental U.S. coverage.
Meanwhile, SmartSky has already certified equipment installations on the Cessna Citation XL/XLS; Gulfstream IV, G350, G450, and G550; Bombardier Challenger 601 through 650; Embraer ERJ-135/145, and Beechcraft King Air 200 and 300 series. Certification programs for several additional aircraft types are in progress, but more than 4,000 airplanes are covered by those initial supplemental type certificates.
NATA Fall Event To Tackle Issues Around Demand Uptick
Incorporating a few changes to its annual fall Aviation Business Conference, NATA is tailoring the event to foster collaborative discussions on strengthening the industry and making it safer as it addresses the current surge in demand. Typically held in Washington, D.C., with a focus on government and regulatory issues, NATA’s fall conference this year will take place November 3 and 4 in Miami, piggybacking with the Corporate Jet Investor Miami event.
The agenda, NATA said, focuses on the future and will cover emerging trends, lessons of the past two years, and challenges and opportunities facing the industry. NATA senior v-p Ryan Waguespack said the industry needs to engage on key issues, such as safety and workforce, as it deals with preparing for the future.
The uptick in demand is good business, Waguespack said, but he asked how the industry will manage once the airlines begin looking to business aviation for hires. He also expressed concern that the market opens the possibility for illegal charter.
Waguespack added that the industry must prepare for what happens after the surge and work through issues surrounding the acceptance of SAF and the emergence of eVTOLs. “The volume is through the roof,” he said, adding that this presents “an amazing opportunity to learn from each other and improve as an industry. Let’s be better…better than we thought we could be.”
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