EBACE, like all other major industry events, is the perfect opportunity to inspire idea-sharing and create synchronicities. We at UAS wanted to bring different experts together to share their visions and hopes for the future, to give their companies a platform, and to support their ambitions to bring our industry forward. Therefore, we created The Forward Discussion and invited diverse experts to join us at our booth and discuss some of the most prominent trends in business aviation. Our second panel centered on sustainability and posed the question: How can we create a sustainable future for business aviation?
In the dynamic world of business aviation, day-to-day operational challenges mean that focusing on the long term is often put off till another day. Nonetheless, developments in sustainability, new technologies, and regulations are reshaping our industry. At the EBAA Ambassador’s Thought Leadership Session at EBACE, my fellow panelists and I were asked to reflect on the evolutions that will impact business aviation in the years to come and discuss strategies to embrace future changes for the benefit of the whole industry.
Having great industry data and insight available and easily accessible is such amazing support because it inspires market confidence, informs strategy, and—most importantly—creates a supportive community. Asian Sky Media’s latest fleet report for 2021 is a good example of this. It provides a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the Asia Pacific fleet so readers get all of the information to consider. The other extremes are agenda-based headlines and clickbait which misleads and doesn’t give the full picture.
The innovation that’s characteristic of the aviation industry is demonstrated in how brands are using the metaverse to showcase their offerings. The metaverse is a digital space that allows platforms using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to create immersive audience experiences like never before, and it’s about to revolutionize how we interact online.
The right fuel partner can make or break an operator. Jet fuel consumption represents the largest outgoing for airlines and operators. According to Statista, commercial airlines used 95 billion gallons (431 billion liters) of fuel in 2019. This dropped to 52 billion gallons in 2020 but has been consistently on the rise again ever since the height of the pandemic. Cost efficiency has never been so important, so I’m sharing five questions to ask yourself to make sure you choose the right jet fuel partner to meet your needs.
2021 was a year of excellent growth in our industry, and the WingX figures from January 2022 confirm activity and demand continue to rise – great news of course, but not without it’s challenges too. In a recent BNAA ‘News Hour’ webinar that marked the anniversary of the National Business Aviation Association, some of the US’ top experts discussed the BA outlook for 2022. They cited a rapidly growing demand for personnel as a key issue, along with huge MRO backlogs of up to six and eight months, and a decline in maintenance technician pools. It seems that some investment is needed to properly facilitate this continued growth.
Most people have the wrong idea about private aviation. Of course, anyone involved in the industry understands its value and benefits, but there are many others that hold dated and misinformed views. So, today I’d like to debunk three long-standing and damaging myths about business jet travel.
2021 saw business aviation demand flourish and enjoy a recovery that many wouldn’t have dared to dream. But the rise of the Omicron variant at the end of the year caused many countries to return to tight travel restrictions. Now at the beginning of 2022, it seems that we are returning to more international travel but to make assumptions about what could potentially happen throughout the year ahead is folly. What we can do is use the experience of 2021 to predict some business travel trends that will strengthen in 2022. Notwithstanding that travelers and operators will continue to demand enhanced efficiency for their business operations, here are three trends I think we will see a lot more of this year.
Mitch is the CEO of 30 West IP where he is also an instructor providing pilot training on international procedures. With an illustrious career of over 34 years in the cockpit, Mitch has acquired over 13,000 hours of flight time flying worldwide, with over 9,000 hours of this in Challenger and Gulfstream aircraft. He is an experienced safety officer and was also an IS-BAO project manager for a fortune 500 flight department. He has presented on Safety and Operations topics at the NBAA International Operators Conference and the Canadian Business Aviation Association Convention and is currently on the NBAA International Operators Committee and serves as the North Atlantic Regional Lead. Mitch is also a member of an FAA working group on General Aviation International Authorizations and Tabletop Exercises (GIATE). He was recently selected to represent IBAC as a member of the ICAO Personal Training and Licensing Panel (PTLP) and was also recently named as a 2020 recipient of the NBAA Tony Kern Professionalism in Aviation Award for his contribution to the business aviation community.
Henry ‘Duke’ LeDuc
Director Of Operations, Americas, UAS International Trip Support
Duke has been a dearly respected member of UAS Americas team and the UAS global family for more than five years. A safety-oriented, FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher, he oversees all of the operations of the elite UAS Operations Team. With twenty-five years of experience in aviation overall with more than fifteen years of experience in international flight planning and VVIP trip coordination, he is responsible for the development of the dispatch training program and involved in the strategic development of UAS Americas. With a myriad of rich aviation experience behind him, he has extensive experience in worldwide operations with both corporate and charter environments, including seven years as Operations/Dispatch Manager in an industry-leading, Fortune 500, IS-BAO Stage III Certified corporate flight department. Duke is frequently asked shares his knowledge at major industry events and is currently serving on the NBAA’s International Operators Conference (IOC) Planning Committee.
Dudley King
President and Founder, FlightBridge
Dudley is the Founder and President of FlightBridge, which he established in 2011 and has been focused on technology solutions for the private aviation industry since 2006. Since he graduated from Dartmouth in 1988, he has worked with an array of companies listed anywhere from VentureWire to the Fortune 100. A rare blend of executive, entrepreneur, and consultant, Dudley’s executive roles have included acting CIO positions for several companies and tech advisory services to CEOs trying to rebuild their technology organizations or looking for an external, professional point of view. Highly skilled at deeply understanding his customer’s business challenges and drawing from a long and varied experience in information technology services, Dudley excels at designing technology solutions to solve their problems.
Dr. Paulo Alves
Global Medical Director, Aviation Health, Medaire
Paulo has extensive experience in medical advisory in the aviation industry. As a cardiologist, he provides technical guidance and analysis for MedAire’s MedLink medical advisory service and is MedAire’s liaison with civil aviation regulators and industry associations. Paulo worked with Varig Brazilian Airlines for 23 years, 10 of which were spent as General Medical Manager. A member of the MedAire Medical Advisory Board, Paulo is also President of the Ibero-American Aerospace Medical Association, a member of the International Academy of Aerospace Medicine, a member of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Safety Committee, a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA), and a Fellow of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. Throughout his illustrious career, Paulo has held industry leadership roles including Chairperson of the AsMA’s Air Transport Medicine Committee, President of the Airlines Medical Directors Association, President of the Brazilian Society of Aerospace Medicine and was a member of the IATA Medical Advisory Group from 2002 to 2006.
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