Major Events In 2015
GSE Expo
March 10-11
Las Vegas, NV
GSE Buyers & Ramp Ops Conference
April 13-15
Milan, Italy
IATA 28th Ground Handling Conference
April 26-29
Istanbul, Turkey
AAAE 87th Annual Conference & Expo
June 7-10
Philadelphia, PA
inter airport Europe
October 8-11
Munich, Germany
NBAA Business Aviation Conference & Exposition
November 17-19
Las Vegas, NV
Business Buzz
U.S.-based Liquip Aviation and Beta Fluid Systems are now BETA Fueling Systems. The former Liquip Aviation management as well as German manufacturer Alfons Haar are managing partners in the company. Liquip Aviation’s Beta Fluid Systems was formerly owned by Australia-based McAleese Group. Representatives from the respective companies completed the sale transaction on Oct. 31. Alfons Haar, based in Hamburg, Germany is a global technological leader in the design and manufacture of fueling systems, components, and technologies for aviation and petroleum industries.
Aéroports de Montréal and Aéro Mag inaugurated a state-of-the-art ethylene glycol recovery, recertification and reuse facility at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport's deicing center that will significantly reduce the airport's environmental record while reducing deicing charges for airlines. Representing a $10 million investment, the facility uses a process to concentrate ethylene glycol employed in aircraft deicing operations and restore it to at least 99.5 percent purity for reuse by way of distillation tower supplied by Vilokan Sweden AB.
The UK operations for dnata continue to grow with the addition of ground handling services at Manchester International Airport. This is dnata’s second passenger handling operation in the UK, supplementing its cargo operations at the airport. The company’s ground handling operations commenced with Emirates’ three daily flights, and is expected this month to add Cathay Pacific’s four weekly flights from Hong Kong. To ensure the smooth handling of each flight, dnata hired 110 new employees to support dispatch, along with ramp and passenger services. This more than doubles the company’s employment at the airport.
Swissport International continues to seek justice in the Ukraine. In open letters to Ukraine's President and Prime Minister, the ground service provider asked for both politicians to support its case to regain control over its former ground handling subsidiary.
Menzies Aviation and the Service Employees International Union will work together to set new health and safety standards for thousands of workers at LAX. The joint effort follows a more than $77,000 fine imposed by California regulators following the death of a Menzies worker at the airport.
The partnership plans to establish:
• Joint health and safety committees staffed with Menzies and union officials, health and safety advocates and Menzies employees.
• Worker health and safety training programs developed with industry experts to address the hazards faced by LAX ground service workers.
• New vehicle and heavy equipment inspection initiatives.
• New ways for workers to raise health and safety concerns with top-level Menzies management.
ASIG has hired more 100 new employees in the past month to help service its first airline at Changi Airport. A manpower shortage led to severe disruptions to Jetstar Asia flights. SATS, which had been handling ground support for the airline had to step back in at the request of the airline. In response, ASIG reportedly offered higher pay and promised retention bonuses. As a result, ASIG may have 270 people at the ready.
UAS International Trip Support was named “Ground Service Provider of the Year” and also received the “Corporate Social Responsibility” award, at last November’s Aviation Business Awards 2014.
LEKTRO, Inc. announced the sale of its 4,500th electric towbarless tow vehicle to Jet Aviation Dubai. The milestone purchase establishes LEKTRO’s leadership in the aircraft towing industry as having sold more towbarless tractors than any other company in the world. On opening day of NBAA convention, Eric Paulson, LEKTRO’s president, handed the keys of the 4,500th LEKTRO tug, a model AP8850SDA, to Stefan Benz, vice president of Jet Aviation MRO and FBO Services, EMEA & Asia.
Thanks to the increased demand for its TCS 3000 electronic register/flow computer, Total Control Systems built a dedicated automation center within its 95,000 sq. ft. North American facility.
Clyde Machines Inc. is expanding its production facility by 35,000 sq. ft. This will bring the total square footage to more 100,000. The added space will feature a new semi-automated powder coat paint system, which will double the company’s current painting capacity, as well as a new welding department.
Cv International has upgraded and added equipment in the machine and welding shops in order to streamline the machining and fabrication process. Additionally, the fabrication and assembly of tubes and hoses (used on CvI’s hydraulic systems as well as nitrogen products) has been brought in-house in order to control product quality, delivery time and price.
PASSUR Aerospace and INFORM are integrating their existing solutions for airline and airport turn management and hub control into a new offering. The new integrated product will help airlines and airports successfully minimize the short time intervals between arriving and departing aircraft. In addition, the product will help forecast potential ground delays, prevent gate conflicts, out-of-position ground crews, and unnecessary gate changes, including other last minute disruptions that can interfere with a smoothly choreographed arrival-departure sequence.
Plug Power Inc. successfully completed the installation of its first GenFuel hydrogen infrastructure for the ground support equipment market at the Memphis Airport. This GenFuel infrastructure deployment includes a standard hydrogen storage tank, compression system, fuel pipelines, and Plug Power’s first outdoor GenFuel hydrogen dispensers that will be used for a fleet of 15 airport tugs powered by Plug Power fuel cells.
Xcēd Aviation Services has launched a Cargo Loader Trade-In program to help customers affordably obtain new cargo loader equipment for their fleet. The program is the first of its kind in the industry and was designed in direct response to the customer’s wish for a more flexible, equipment lifecycle management solution. Under the trade-in program, Xcēd provides a value to customers wishing to replace their aging cargo loaders. The trade-in reduces the customer’s capitol cost of leasing a new loader through Xcēd. The solution offsets the rising maintenance costs associated with old units, and eliminates the need to store, recycle, or dispose of inactive, underutilized old cargo loaders. Newer, higher efficiency equipment can also operate at full capacity for longer, reducing maintenance downtime and service interruptions.
The Boeing 737 is now officially certified for TaxiBot dispatch towing by the
European Aviation Safety Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel. The Supplement Type Certificate was issued for Boeing 737 Classic aircraft. TaxiBot, a semi-robotic pilot-controlled vehicle, is designed to transport airplanes from airport gate to the runway and back, without using the airplane's engines. TaxiBot in-service evaluation will start in the next few weeks, with regular commercial Lufthansa Boeing 737 flights departing from Frankfurt airport. Since 2009, Both TLD and IAI, in cooperation with of Lufthansa LEOS, have been developing the TaxiBot, with the support of both OEMs Airbus and Boeing. Lufthansa LEOS has also integrated this project into the “E-PORT-AN” initiative.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx recently awarded $10.2 million in Federal Aviation Administration grants to six airports around the country to reduce emissions and improve air quality through the FAA’s VALE program.
The airports to receive VALE grants for GSE-related improvements include:
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport, $2 million – to allow the airport to install an underground fuel-hydrant system, eliminating the need for diesel-powered fuel trucks. The system will provide fuel for 20 gates in Concourse F.
- Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, $2 million – to help the airport install 12 electric gates at Terminal B and install and connect seven pre-conditioned air units for parked aircraft. The air-unit connection with terminal power will preclude the need for diesel or jet-fuel powered auxiliary power while passengers load and unload.
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, $2 million – to allow the airport to install 43 charging units in Terminals A and B to support electric ground support equipment such as luggage loaders and aircraft tugs. The electric GSE will reduce the use for conventional fuels and reduce emissions.
- Yeager Airport in West Virginia, $3,678,168 – to fund both gate power units and pre-conditioned air units at seven of the airport’s gates. The units will allow parked aircraft to connect to terminal power while passengers load and unload and preclude the need for diesel or jet-fuel powered auxiliary power.
The stock of Southwest Airlines has soared 110 percent this year, making it the best performer in the S&P 500. Outside the stock exchange index, American, Delta and United are all enjoying stock gains between 50 percent and 80 percent this year.
JetBlue Airways plans to eliminate free checked bags for its lowest fares and decrease legroom on its Airbus A320 fleet. The baggage change leaves Southwest as the only large U.S. airline that allows all passengers to check at least one bag for free.
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day is traditionally the most crowded for the nation's airports. However a study by U.S. Travel and Cambridge Analytics shows that congestion is poised to reach that peak level on a regular basis for America’s top 30 airports by the end of the decade. The association analyzed Federal Aviation Administration forecast data that found the nation's airports are expected to see peak congestion levels sooner than predicted because of a steady increase in demand for air travel and a failure to invest in needed infrastructure.
New Deals
BETA Fueling Systems received an order from Delta Airlines to supply 10 HT-800s, its newest hydrant truck series, for Delta’s operations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Access Control Group has acquired the GSE Minit charger division from ECOtality North America. A new company has been formed called Minit Charger LLC. Access Control Group provides cutting edge solutions for mobile asset and battery management. The company is planning to introduce a smaller 10-12 KW opportunity charger.
B GSE Group received orders for Marine Corp Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, Luke Air Force Base, Arizona and Iwakuni, Japan to supply F 35 hangars with 270VDC power, high-pressure air and service PIT delivery systems. Since 2010, BGSE Group has been awarded every major F 35 hangar project in the world to supply required POWER, AIR and PIT delivery systems.
I.D. Systems received a $500,000 order to expand its GSE tracking system with a leading U.S. airline. The airline previously implemented the AvRamp system at two major U.S. airports, and the new order extends the AvRamp deployment to a third major U.S. airport.
Spanish airport authority, AENA, received 167 bids for ground handling business at 19 airports. Iberia, Globalia, Acciona and Menzies are the confirmed participants. Five of the airports (Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat, Málaga-Costa del Sol, Alicante-Elche y Palma de Mallorca) expect to have three agents and 15 licenses are up for bid. The other 14 airports (Asturias, Bilbao, Fuerteventura, Girona, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Menorca, Tenerife Sur, Tenerife Norte, Reus, Santiago, Sevilla, Valencia y Gran Canaria) expect to have two agents each and 28 licenses.
Signature Flight Support announced that Menzies Aviation of Barcelona, Spain, has joined the Signature Select network. The FBO facility can accommodate up to 75 aircraft of varying sizes. Services include ground handling, fuel coordination, passenger handling, catering, aircraft cleaning and VIP ground transportation services.
Integrated Deicing Services has been awarded a deicing contract for Spirit Airlines at Detroit Metro Airport. IDS began its relationship with Spirit at ORD. The association grew with an additional award at MSP.
Gazpromneft-Aero has concluded a long-term agreement for two years with airBaltic for refueling new scheduled flights from Riga to Moscow. The new agreement has allowed Gazpromneft-Aero to double the total refueling of airBaltic aircrafts at the Moscow Air Hub since November to 3,000 tons of aviation fuel per year. This is the second agreement concluded between Gazpromneft-Aero and airBaltic concerning refueling at MAH. In accordance with the current agreement, the company shall refuel the airline's aircraft at Sheremetyevo International Airport until 2016.
Iberia Airport Services renewed its contract with Lufthansa at airports of Bilbao, in Spain’s Basque Country, and Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. In 2013, the ground service provider served nearly 73 million passengers and more than 310,000 aircraft.
Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide and its partner Copelouzos Group have been selected as preferred investor for a 40-year operating concession by the Hellenic Republic Assets Development Fund for 14 regional airports in Greece, including Aktio, Chania (Crete), Kavala, Kefalonia, Kerkyra (Corfu), Kos, Mitilini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos, Thessaloniki - Greece's second largest city - and Zakynthos. Combined, these airports served a total of about 19.1 million passengers in 2013.
Winner Aviation, a full-service FBO at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, has branded with Avfuel Corporation. Previously known as Beckett Aviation, Winner Aviation has operated in Youngstown since 1946. Over the years, the company has expanded jet aircraft business while adding or expanding other services, including a Part 135 charter operation as well as offering retail parts and ground handling.
Baltic Ground Services will provide Travel Service Airlines, a Czech charter carrier with ground handling and fueling services at Vilnius International Airport. Travel Service is currently operating charter flights to and from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. In other news, the ground service provider extended an agreement with Wizz Air ground handling services at Vilnius International Airport for another 3 years.
Aviall is expanding its stocking of aircraft ground support equipment designed and manufactured by Tronair. In other news, Tronair has selected Derco Aerospace, Inc., as its exclusive channel partner for the military aftermarket in a three-year agreement.
People In The News
Jon DeLine has been named president and CEO of BETA Fueling Systems, LLC, and part of the Alfons Haar Group. “Jon has built a foundation for future growth with a strong leadership team over the last three years and has established a reputation for delivering customer focused growth and results,” said Thomas Haar, managing partner of Alfons Haar. “He and his management team have grown profitability while improving product reliability, customer support, and on time delivery consistently over the last three years.”
“I am passionate about delivering to our customers a better experience by providing reliable fueling equipment, providing great after sales support, and doing what we say we are going to do on time,” said DeLine. “I’m excited to extend this proposition further into the aviation industry and into other near industries in the future.”
Liquid Controls is pleased to introduce its LC Aviation Team. The LC Aviation Team is an interdepartmental team of Liquid Controls employees dedicated to providing fueling solutions for the aviation industry:
- Frank Montalvo - Aviation Business Line Leader, [email protected]
- Bill Hughes - Aviation Sales Manager, [email protected] - 847-612-6396
- John Mardoian - Aviation Sales Engineer, [email protected] - 1-800-458-5262 ext. 1
- Atiq Rai - Aviation Product Technician, [email protected] - 1-800-458-5262 ext. 2
- Teri Gulke - Aviation Software Engineer, [email protected]
- Hans Hetrick - Aviation Marketing Specialist, [email protected]
Malabar International promoted Executive Vice President of Operations Chris Advani to president of the recently acquired DAE Industries, Inc. John E. Carroll, Jr., Malabar chairman and CEO, said: “I feel this is a very positive move for our company. With DAE complementing Malabar’s product lines and Malabar’s well established market position, having Chris’s excellent talents at DAE will help Malabar meet its expanded commitments to the worldwide commercial and defense aviation markets.”
“I am excited to tackle this new challenge and guide DAE in streamlining how it brings its products to market,” Advani said. “We will ramp up production, add new products and meet delivery schedules that satisfy our customers’ needs.”
Michael Göntgens will head the communications team at Lufthansa Cargo. Previously, Göntgens worked as a team leader for PR and internal
communications for the freight airline. In his new position, he will
report to Lufthansa Cargo CEO Peter Gerber. He will take on responsibility for internal and external communications and marketing communications for the Lufthansa subsidiary.
Brian Goodsite was promoted by FlightSafety International to manager of the company’s Cessna Aircraft Maintenance Learning Center in Wichita, KS. He succeeds John Brasfield who is now leading FlightSafety’s efforts to restore the training programs affected by the recent accident at the company’s Learning Center in Wichita, Kansas. Goodsite joined FlightSafety in 2005 as an instructor and was subsequently promoted to supervisor of maintenance training.
