AirportBusiness Blogs

… is up and running in Oshkosh, WI this week as some 10,000-plus aircraft and an estimated 600,000 attendees fill the grounds at Wittman Regional Airport. Associate editor Brad McAllister reports that Tuesday at AirVenture the exhibit halls were “packed full”. Having been to some 20 annual EAA shows since 1987, I’ve constantly been impressed with how the event has grown geometrically through the years and still maintained an air of commonality. Spectators, general aviation pilots, and high-time commercial pilots have a common appreciation for AirVenture.

Of course, our friends at USA Today this week made a point of highlighting the negative. Says the newspaper, “Amid the festive atmosphere of thousands of pilots camping beneath their planes and the daily acrobatic displays, there is another side to the show. From 2000 through last year, an average of nearly six aircraft at the air show, or headed to or from the event, were involved in accidents or incidents, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) case files. In that time, 30 people died in accidents associated with the show, an average of three a year.” All true enough. Yet, anyone who attends the show – particularly when the aircraft first begin arriving, landing up to three at a time – walks away impressed at how safe this event actually is.

FAA used the setting to highlight its ongoing safety efforts with general aviation. DHS and TSA were on hand to unveil a new "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign, along with a streamlined system for vetting passengers and crew on general aviation aircraft entering and exiting the U.S. through a single, department-wide process.

For many in the GA community, an EAA highlight may be a general aviation coalition forum held this week with the Environmental Protection Agency, which has called on the industry to come up with a replacement for 100LL avgas. According to EAA, the forum “produced this overarching message: Aircraft owners and operators shouldn’t panic about the future lack of a 100LL replacement just yet, but they reiterated that the challenge of finding an avgas replacement is complex and won’t be solved quickly.”

EPA, meanwhile, told the coalition that the agency is prepared to work with the industry and FAA to find an alternative fuel. In a letter from Margo Tsirigotis Oge, director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, the agency told the coalition, "EPA has not established or proposed any date by which lead emissions from aircraft operating on leaded avgas would need to be reduced. In fact EPA does not have authority to control aviation fuels." EPA, she noted, is responsible for determining which chemical or physical properties of a fuel or fuel additive endangers the public health. However, only the FAA has the authority to regulate which fuels aircraft may burn.

Comments EAA chair/president Tom Poberezny, "We see EPA’s announcement as a positive step in finding a safe, viable alternative to 100LL. It reaffirms there is no immediate threat to the availability of 100LL as we pursue a long-term solution to identify and transition to an unleaded fuel."

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Final note: Last week’s blog suggested that there might actually be movement on Capitol Hill this week on long-term FAA reauthorization. Unless something miraculous happens by Friday, it now appears we’re headed for another continuing resolution to keep the system running. So much for Congress doing the right thing.

Thanks for reading. jfi

Last week one arrived from PETA, the animal rights organization. Now that was a shock. What in the world does PETA have to do with aviation? Nothing, I guess, but PETA would like to change that. 

This release was so out of the ordinary that I confirmed it with PETA just to be sure it isn’t a hoax. It is not.

PETA sent a letter to Hawaiian Airlines  offering to promote the airline to PETA’s 2 million members and supporters if the airline becomes the official airline of PETA’s “sea kittens.” Sea kitten is the term devised by PETA to “raise consciousness about the wonderful animals who are commonly known as fish.”

The letter included a picture of a Hawaiian airliner with a sign saying “The Official Airline of Sea Kittens.” I have no information about the response of the airline to PETA.

Before you label this as a cockamamie idea, consider this: Even if it never happens, PETA will get a lot of media attention. After all, you’re reading about it here, and I bet you’ll see it elsewhere, too. They must have sent those releases to a blue jillion media outlets, and some of them will pay off.

This reminds me of Kulula Air’s “Flying 101,” a 737 with a blueprint of the airplane painted all over the exterior. That got great publicity all over, so now everyone knows the name of the South African passenger jet.

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… might actually pass long-term FAA reauthorization by next week. No, really. That’s right, Spike, our elected representatives could finally do the right thing. At least that’s the word from Eric Byer, vice president of industry and government affairs for the National Air Transportation Association.

Congress recently passed a one-month continuing resolution to keep FAA operating and the stop/start funding process moving. Even Byer is having trouble remembering what number continuing resolution we are currently on – is it 12, or 13?

Byer says that the impasse was broken this week when Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) agreed to back off the FedEx/UPS provision which ultimately seeks to bring unions to FedEx (the two carriers are regulated by different federal laws due to the fact that UPS began as a ground carrier). Relates Byer, “I think it was the fact that Oberstar was willing to allow the Senate to get off FedEx provision. I’m not sure why he did. That’s pretty much been the major sticking point all along.”

Other issues still on the table include expanding the DCA perimeter rule to allow flights to the West Coast, and continued “wrangling” over an increase in the passenger facility charge cap, currently set at $4.50. Airport groups want the cap raised to at least $7; Byer says he’s hearing talk of “perhaps a dollar” increase.

Another sticking point has been Rep. Oberstar’s call for more stringent piloting requirements, following last year’s Colgan Air crash in Buffalo. It’s been expected that those heightened requirements would extend to Part 135 charter operators as well. FAA has been reviewing the Part 135 regs for some six years, and an industry aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) made a list of recommendations several years back which, Byer says, FAA incorporated into a proposed rule and then nothing happened.

Comments Byer, “The rewrite, if you will, is what came out of the ARC six years ago. They came out with a list of recommendations which FAA put into rulemaking format but then never issued and listed in the Federal Register; I don’t know what happened.”

Apparently, Congress plans on adjourning the latest session a week early, so next week is the target. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading. jfi

… brings to light how far the corporate aviation services business has come in the past quarter century. An eventual product of the corporate flight department of the Mary Kay cosmetics empire, Million Air would grow to become a franchise operation with independent companies signing on to the Million Air nationwide marketing concept.

I got into this business in1984 as communications manager for the National Air Transportation Association. Shortly thereafter, I met Ed Blair, a marketing guru who had sold the Mary Kay organization on the Million Air franchising concept. I recall having conversations with Blair in which he expressed his frustration at how the industry initially expressed shock (disdain?) with the Million Air name; some felt it held an air of pretentiousness or sent a negative symbol of the industry. (It’s comparable to the hesitancy the National Business Aviation Association had about hosting its annual convention in Las Vegas, which proved to be arguably its biggest draw.)

But there was more. The new Million Air facility, which opened in 1984 at Addison Airport north of Dallas, was unlike most fixed base operations of the day. It may have been the first modern corporate aviation facility, as we know them today. Sleep rooms; a theater room; workout gym; the amenities – Million Air brought the limousine into the corporate flight facility. Today, it’s become a norm.

Another interesting aspect of Million Air Dallas is that through all the buyout frenzy of the past decade, ownership didn’t sell out. One has to imagine there were at least one or two lucrative offers. An FBO located at a major city reliever airport selling as much as 500,000 gallons of fuel a month was undoubtedly attractive to the investors of the day. The owner didn’t succumb.

The Million Air Dallas FBO continues to be a first-class facility, and the company recently invested a significant chunk of change on upgrades. They’re looking at a new hangar complex that will include its own lobby for aircraft management/charter customers – a growing profit center over the past five to seven years. It is yet another concept that may be ahead of the market.

In the mid-80s when Million Air was founded, the FBO industry was experiencing nothing short of a depression. It wouldn’t rebound and surge in growth until the mid-90s with the advent of the fractionals and the new players they brought to the industry – some whom became FBO buyers/investors.

Million Air Dallas general manager Jack Hopkins relates that everything about the facility was questioned back in 1984, when he started with the company. It’s interesting, he says, how in time many chose to follow the lead. The industry changed; one FBO was ahead of the curve.

Thanks for reading. jfi

(Look for a more detailed report on Million Air Dallas in the July issue of AIRPORT BUSINESS magazine.)

The so called “Barefoot Bandit” has been caught.

You know the story—this is a punk kid who has stolen many things since age 12, including several airplanes, even though he has no pilot certificate. Big deal—if I remember correctly, he wrecked all of them.

I hope they throw the book at him. It has always irritated me when the media elevate some creep like this into a public figure as if s/he was Robin Hood (a direct ancestor of mine, BTW).

It is particularly irritating when airplanes are involved. How many kids will now believe it possible to steal an airplane and fly it away with no training? How many will try it? How much more must we spend on airport security just because this derelict acted like the hopeless loser that he really is?

Back in the days of drug running in GA airplanes, the media referred to some of the stupidest criminals as being “the brains” of this operation or that. Listen, we dealt with some of those brains back when I was in the FBO end of our industry, and most of them were anything but brainy. How smart is a person serving time for drug running, anyway?

Long may this barefoot jerk languish at guvmint expense.

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… and there are those, including the Government Accountability Office, who have doubts the milestone will be reached. The 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 mandated that Department of Homeland Security establish a system to screen 100 percent of cargo flown on passenger aircraft in the U.S. by August 2010. GAO (www.gao.gov) recently conducted a study to review the Transportation Security Administration’s progress in meeting the screening mandate, and it concludes that TSA and the industry likely will fall short.

Among GAO’s recommendations is a call for TSA to develop a contingency plan in the event the deadline isn’t met, something the latter deems as not feasible. GAO also sees significant challenges regarding inbound cargo – that is, cargo bound for the U.S.

During a recent interview with Peter Kant, vice president of government affairs for Rapiscan Systems, one of the providers of TSA-approved cargo screening equipment, he too expressed serious doubts about where airports, airlines, and TSA are in meeting the August deadline.

Comments Kant, “I think from an industry perspective it’s probably still very far behind for the August deadline. We’ve been filling many orders for a number of the TSA-approved inspection systems, but looking at where the market is and having talked to customers, I still think there’s a fair amount of cargo that is at risk of not being inspected by August 1.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of questions, a lot of surprise shipments, a lot of things going by ground – and hopefully a little more clarity on what enforcement will look like. It’s not clear right now what will happen if things aren’t scanned.”

People are scrambling, says Kant; yet, he emphasizes that the deadline is real – it isn’t going away. “There’s been a lot of talk about whether or not TSA is going to pay for these machines,” he says. “There is no indication that’s going to happen in the current government budget environment. There’s no way it’s going to happen. So, for those airports or airlines who continue to wait to see if that’s going to happen, the ship has already sailed.”

One of the primary obstacles through this screening journey, relates Kant, has been TSA’s inability to effectively communicate with stakeholders on what would be allowable. Call it déjà vu – one of the major frustrations for airports after TSA was created was a lack of clear direction on what would or would not be approved regarding passenger screening systems. Kant says TSA has since improved its communication skills; however, he says the lack of direction caused an 18- to 24-month delay in the procurement cycle for some airlines and airports – which has put a crunch on suppliers such as Rapiscan.

Will TSA ground flights come August? Will it come up with a contingency plan? Will airlines lose cargo revenue because freight will be forced to move via ground? Those are a few of the questions out there. The answers are pending.

Thanks for reading. jfi

(Look for an expanded interview with Rapiscan’s Peter Kant in the July issue of AIRPORT BUSINESS.)

… what, if any, impact that will have on the agency’s bureaucracy and the aviation industry’s security remains to be seen. There are skeptics.

On Thursday, John Pistole, currently the second in command at the FBI, will officially become head of the Transportation Security Administration, after passing the muster of Senate confirmation hearings last week. Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-WVA) sums up the attitude of many with his comment, “It’s embarrassing, you know, that such an enormous undertaking doesn’t have the leadership that it needs.”

At the head of the class among the skeptics sits Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the ranking member of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, who expressed his thoughts candidly recently with a commentary at Politico.com. Mica charges that the agency is in “disarray and bogged down in bureaucracy”.

A few of Rep. Mica’s thoughts …

… TSA “has bloated from a modestly sized, pre-September 11 force of 16,500 private airport screeners into a massive, inefficient bureaucracy of more than 60,000”.
… “Another problem is that more than 200 TSA staffers earn more than the agency’s top position. This critical position requires more stability, and the TSA must be able to attract the most qualified individuals to lead it.”
… “The TSA bureaucracy does all it can to thwart any conversion to a system with more private-sector operations and strong federal oversight and standards. This agency cannot, and should not, do it all.”
… “Given TSA’s troubled history and multiple failures in aviation security, I remain concerned that we are not as prepared as we should be to assess, prevent, and respond to terrorist threats to our nation’s other transportation systems.”

Rep. Mica calls TSA a “rudderless agency” that is in need of re-evaluation and reorganization. Right now, the focus on Capitol Hill and the White House appears to be on the organization of TSA employees via unionization. One has to wonder how serious Washington is about aviation security when at various confirmation hearings a primary discussion topic has been about unions and TSA employees. Rep. Mica expresses concern that there are too many bureaucrats already at TSA and many may already be overpaid; the ruling party in Washington seems more concerned with entrenching those bureaucrats.

Personally, as Rep. Mica’s opinion piece suggests, I’m all for more privatization of the security regimen. Then let the unionization chips fall where they may. But then, calls for less government are not in vogue in Obama’s Washington, so it’s almost a sure thing that TSA and the unions will soon join forces. Whether or not security will be enhanced – well, only time will tell.

We wish John Pistole the best in getting his arms around this bureaucratic monster.

Thanks for reading. jfi

Hey, can I pick ’em, or not? Back in the May 2009 issue of AOPA Flight Training magazine, I had a column on one Lt. Col. Bill Powley and his amazing crusade to introduce teens to aviation. In today’s AOPA eBrief, I learned that Lt. Col. Powley has just received the A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year Award.

It was typical of Lt. Col. Powley that he was teaching students at a summer leadership camp in West Virginia when his wife Phillis called to tell him of his great honor. I called today to congratulate him and he, again this is typical of the man, started telling me that the real credit goes to the great team of supporters and donors that has helped him over the years.

Powley and I are members of the Erwin, TN, Kiwanis Club and on July 13 he will present the program. I imagine he will tell us all about his crusade, the teens who participate and the people who help him with the program.

Powley will receive two seats at the National Aviation Hall of Fame President’s Reception and Dinner, where he will receive the award and $1,500. I’m proud to say I knew him back when.

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… on the role of GA airports in disaster relief, and along the way uncovers some interesting results. Most notable, says James Smith of the American Public University System, may be the fact that general aviation airports often are not included in disaster management plans, even though aviation operations are.

Dr. Smith, who is also president of the airport/disaster consulting firm Smith-Woolwine Associates (www.swith-woolwine.com), next week will present his preliminary findings at the AAAE General Aviation Issues & Security Conference in Morristown, NJ. He says he has completed two of three parts of the study – an initial survey of some 331 airports, which drew a 10 percent response; and site visits at some ten GA facilities, which will conclude with his visit to Morristown Municipal Airport.

Comments Smith, “The way I wanted to do it was to look at historical involvement and current capabilities and current wishes. And then try to see which states had done any planning that included GA airports –planning for disasters, not airport construction type sort of planning.

“I started looking at national and state plans that I had come across for my previous work with the [Part] 139 airports, and I found no mention at all of GA airports. They’re just invisible. Yet, for most of the country, a GA airport is the only airport within 50 miles geographically. There are whole swaths of this country without a commercial airport within 50 miles.”

One conclusion, says Smith, is there needs to be some way to communicate more effectively with GA airports. “At nearly all the airports I surveyed and visited,” he relates “more than three-quarters say they are active in state aviation planning, but far fewer in disaster planning.” He points to Louisiana as one example in which the state coordinates disaster and planning among various stakeholders, including GA airports.

“I’d like to see an expansion of the role of the state aviation offices to enable wiser use of airports in disasters. This means there has to be some kind of funding found. It won’t be free but it won’t be very expensive.”

Another conclusion, says Smith, is that he’d like to see GA and Part 139 airports more thoroughly brought in on national plans. “It’s worked out at local levels … brilliantly in Florida,” he comments. “Often, it’s informal. Every place I went [in Florida], the airport and the local government have a good working relationship and are highly aware of each other’s capabilities and needs.

“There needs to be an awareness and a commitment.”

Look for an expanded report on Dr. Smith’s efforts in the upcoming July edition of AIRPORT BUSINESS magazine.

Thanks for reading. jfi

… about the impact of various fees on ticket sales. Target No. 1 for the airlines is the proposed increase in the cap on passenger facility charges (PFCs), under consideration in Congress and vehemently opposed by the carriers. Barclay, the long-time president of the American Association of Airport Executives, has a history of taking a low profile and delegating the role of expressing the organization’s positions through his well-qualified staffers. Thus, when Chip makes the point of presenting an industry position, it is worth noting.
In a recent opinion piece in the Aviation Daily – a newsletter via which many policymakers and legislators in D.C. get their aviation news – Barclay tries to clear up the airline industry’s practice of “Confusing Sin Taxes and Fixed Costs”. It’s a must read … and can be found at www.aaae.org (Press Release section).

A few excerpts …

“Most of the airlines’ calculation is made up of fees charged for facilities and services other industries consider fixed costs for plant and production lines. Local airport PFCs can only be used for capital aeronautical improvements at airports served by the airlines, or the airlines’ equivalent of other industries’ ‘plant.’ The federal ticket tax and segment fee go almost entirely to running the FAA and the air traffic control system, the airlines’ equivalent of other industries’ ‘production line,’ and a grant program that also is restricted to federally approved, aeronautical development at airports (more plant).”

 “… one of the few places they enjoy an advantage over other industries is precisely in the area of fixed capital costs for plant and production lines.”

“… in the airline business, local governments provide the plant (airports) and the federal government provides the production line (ATC) — both at cost, without profit, and using tax-exempt financing as an added bonus.”

This week American Airlines announced a new customer service approach, allowing customers to pay yet another fee – this time to move up in the boarding queue just after priority boarding. That means that for a few dollars more, passengers can make sure they get on board quickly enough to stash that luggage that they didn’t want to have to pay to check. Then there’s Spirit Airlines’ proposal to charge passengers for carry-on bags, which has just about everyone shaking their heads and asking, “What the … ?”

While boarding at O’Hare this week I watched a family of five, obviously headed for their vacation, check in with their array of bags. I recall thinking … Do you suppose the Dad who just used his credit card to pay for all that baggage handling ever even thought about what he is paying in PFCs, which of course make much of the terminal facilities the family will use possible? Probably not. One can rest assured, however, he’s going to remember all those “airline” fees the next time he books the family trip.

Thanks for reading. jfi