March 16, 2017 - No. 022 In This Issue Aviation Maintenance Industry Honors Foxx for Technical Education Leadership Jet Aviation Basel Completes BBJ Winglet Upgrade ACSF Symposium Emphasizes Safety Program Execution Aviation Authority to build $11M maintenance facility Defunct Clearwater private jet company Avantair goes from boom to bankruptcy to federal court New Report Shows Aviation Maintenance with Positive Balance of Trade, Growth Prospects Over Next Decade The Three Trends Taking Off in Civil Aviation MRO in 2017 Government in talks with Airbus, Boeing for training programmes IATA: Africa Still Not Ready for Projected Growth Bombardier Teams With Italian FBO on Line Service Depot Aviation Maintenance Industry Honors Foxx for Technical Education Leadership WASHINGTON - Aviation maintenance industry executives gathered on Capitol Hill March 15 to honor House Education & Workforce Committee Chairman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) with the Aeronautical Repair Station Association's (ARSA) 2017 Legislative Leadership Award. ARSA is the trade association representing the global aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul sector. During more than a decade in Congress, former community college president Foxx has established herself as champion for career technical education (CTE). She was a leading force behind efforts to modernize and reform the nation's workforce development system through the 2014 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and has continued to work to improve CTE through Perkins Act reauthorization. Aviation maintenance companies have consistently identified the skilled worker shortage as a major strategic threat to the industry. Fifty-six percent of respondents to ARSA's 2017 member survey said they plan to add positions in the coming year, but industry leaders are concerned that a shortage of qualified applicants my restrict MRO sector growth. Eighty percent of ARSA survey respondents reported having difficulty finding workers to fill technical positions over the past two years and half reported their companies had open, unfilled technical jobs. "Maintenance providers throughout the country owe Chairwoman Foxx a debt of gratitude for her tireless efforts to improve CTE," ARSA Executive Vice President Christian A. Klein said. "ARSA looks forward to continuing to work with her in the 115th Congress to shed light on the nation's skills crisis and work towards solving it." The award was presented during ARSA's Legislative Day, which is held each March in conjunction with the association's Annual Repair Symposium. To see what else happened during the event, visit ARSA.org/symposium. ARSA is the only association devoted to the unique needs of the global civil aviation maintenance industry. It is dedicated to helping member companies operate more efficiently and effectively, while continuing to ensure the safety of aircraft worldwide. To learn more about the association's work on behalf of both industry stakeholders and the flying public, please visit ARSA.org. http://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12316307/aviation-maintenance-industry-honors-foxx- for-technical-education-leadership Back to Top Jet Aviation Basel Completes BBJ Winglet Upgrade Jet Aviation's maintenance facility in Basel, Switzerland, has completed its first retrofit of split- scimitar winglets (SSW) on a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), the global aviation services provider announced yesterday. The project, completed under an EASA-approved supplemental type certificate, involved installing a new Aviation Partners scimitar-tipped ventral strake, reinforcing the internal wing and winglet structure, and replacing the existing winglet tips with new aerodynamically shaped scimitar tips. Currently installed on all factory-new Boeing 737 NG BBJs, the split-scimiter winglet is FAA and EASA approved forreetrofit on all in-service BBJs, BBJ2s and BBJ3s. "We have been working closely with personnel from Aviation Partners to gain experience and proficiency with the SSW retrofit to ensure we meet customer requirements and the highest business aviation standards," said Neil Boyce, Jet Aviation's senior vice president and general operations manager at the Basel location. "We look forward to supporting more Boeing aircraft owners and operators with SSW retrofits in the future, whether in conjunction with routine maintenance, an interior refurbishment, a green completion or as a standalone installation." http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2017-03-15/jet-aviation-basel- completes-bbj-winglet-upgrade Back to Top ACSF Symposium Emphasizes Safety Program Execution The Air Charter Safety Foundation's (ACSF) recent annual safety symposium, held March 7 and 8 in Ashburn, Va., carried the theme "Safety is a choice you make," and proceedings underscored an intended double meaning. The message: while adopting safety-enhancement initiatives is a choice, it is not enough. Operators must also elect to put forth the effort required to ensure these programs deliver measurable results beyond preventing accidents. Put another way, it is not enough for business aviation to sign on to safety efforts such as an Aviation Safety Action Program (Asap). The success of such programs depends on operators' treating implementation as an early step on the risk-management journey, rather than a box- checking exercise. And a safe operation in macro terms-zero accidents or major incidents-might make an unaware operator even more susceptible to risk escalation. "Success, in my view, is something that breeds complacency," said Joe Salata, chairman and v-p of the ACSFand v-p for flight operations at Flight Options. The good news is that more operators appear to be embracing risk-management programs. ACSF, an FAA-designated third-party Asap manager, counts 65 companies in its four-year-old program and has 20 more in the queue. Participants are roughly split between Part 135 and Part 91 operators. Among the program's extra benefits: ACSF handles 90 percent of the administrative burden, removing one potential obstacle for smaller operations concerned about manpower. While initiatives such as Asap and corporate flight operations quality assurance (C-FOQA)-flight data-monitoring-programs help identify risk areas, they are of little value if the lessons they teach are not applied. PATTERN OF NONCOMPLIANCE Investigators probing the May 2014 accident that killed all seven people on board a Gulfstream IV attempting to take off at Hanscom Field in Bedford, Mass., gained significant insight about the flight crew's tendencies from 303 hours of quick-access recorder (QAR) data. Among the patterns discovered: a habit of skipping full pre-flight checks of the flight controls. The NTSB's final report on the accident listed this "intentional noncompliance" in the series of errors that caused the crew to attempt to take off with the GIV's gust lock engaged, leading to an attempted rejected takeoff and high-speed runway overrun. The GIV's operator was enrolled in C-FOQA, Tom Huff, Gulfstream's director of safety, told symposium attendees. "What we don't know is how they were using the information," he added. The operator's only employees-two pilots and a flight attendant-were killed in the accident, leaving the Safety Board with few leads for gaining insight into the operation's inner workings. A study last fall in response to an NTSB recommendation generated by the Bedford accident suggests that many operators participating in data-monitoring programs are missing clues. An NBAA-led group analyzed business aviation FOQA program data from 144,000 flights between 2013 and 2015, looking specifically at pre-flight checks. Their findings: on 16 out of every 100 flights, crews performed partial checks but were not in full compliance with manufacturer recommendations. On two out of 100, no checks were done. "That's [3,000] flights where the crew did no flight control sweep at all, and that's disturbing," Huff said. "And these are just people who participate in a FOQA program. This is a small percentage of the operators worldwide." Evidence of such habitual noncompliance exposes another weak link in the safety-program chain: the value of industry ratings and related audits. The Bedford GIV's operator passed International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS- BAO) in 2010 and 2012. The second, a Stage 2 audit, recognized several notable achievements, including "demonstration of an effective [safety management system]," the NTSB report noted. Passing an IS-BAO Stage 1 or 2 audit does not require a check ride, and the GIV operator's 2012 audit report noted that flight operations were not observed because no flights were scheduled during the audit period," the NTSB report said. While an audit check ride might not uncover issues such as pre-flight checklist noncompliance, the NTSBargued in its report that "audit standards could have included a provision indicating that company policies and procedures should specify preferred methods for checklist execution." While not guaranteeing flight-crew compliance, the existence of such standards "would have provided a clear message to the flight crew about best practices regarding checklist execution," the Board continued. The NTSB recommended that the International Business Aviation Council, IS-BAO's steward, change its standards. The group did, telling the board in February last year that a new standard calling for operators to "comply with best practices for checklist execution," and providing examples, is now part of IS-BAO. While such changes may create tools that flight departments can use to hold themselves accountable, ultimately, meaningful execution of a safety program comes down to internal commitment. "I think this is an organization that fooled itself," NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said of the Bedford GIV's operator, citing the IS-BAO audit results. "You can fool the auditors, but never fool yourself." http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2017-03-15/acsf-symposium- emphasizes-safety-program-execution Back to Top Aviation Authority to build $11M maintenance facility The Jacksonville Aviation Authority intends to start construction in the fall on its $11 million maintenance facility at Jacksonville International Airport. Spokewoman Debbie Jones said the authority is relocating and rebuilding an existing maintenance facility and consolidating its warehouse/inventory facility. "The new facility will bring much needed upgrades and capabilities for the maintenance department that are not being met in the current building, which was constructed in the late '60s, early '70s," she said. Jones said the warehouse and inventory office space now is in an air cargo building. Upon completion of the project, that and the maintenance facility will be in the same location "for greater efficiency to repair and maintain vehicles/equipment, and store and distribute supplies," she said. The city is reviewing a permit application for the project, shown as a 47,410-square-foot enclosed building and 20,368 square feet of unenclosed space at 14201 Pecan Park Road. It comprises three buildings and a vehicle-storage canopy, the permit says. No contractor is specified on the permit application. http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=549538 Back to Top Defunct Clearwater private jet company Avantair goes from boom to bankruptcy to federal court In early 2012, Avantair was the darling of the charter plane industry and Tampa Bay business executives, a publicly traded company with a fleet of 56 executive airplanes and hundreds of employees based at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport. That's all gone now - Avantair collapsed in 2013, a year after federal investigators began looking into why one of its planes flew without a critical piece of its tail. Shoddy maintenance was ultimately to blame. Workers were furloughed, planes grounded, lawsuits filed and customers left out to dry. Now a new chapter for Avantair has opened in federal court: David Esteves, 52, a former director of maintenance at the defunct company, pleaded guilty on Friday to charges that he tampered with evidence. He was charged with interfering with National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration investigators looking into what led an Avantair plane's left tail elevator to fall off unexpectedly in 2012. While no one else has been charged in this case, federal documents note that Esteves was acting at the suggestion of his superiors at Avantair. Amy Filjones, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa, said the federal investigation is ongoing. Esteves' lawyer, Scott Robbins, said in court Friday that Esteves was cooperating with authorities. Before it failed, Avantair allowed wealthy individuals and companies to buy shares of each plane. They could schedule private flights on demand. "As quickly as it was a good company, it was a bad debt," said financial adviser Neil Kishter, who was owed $100,000 in private flight time when the company went into bankruptcy. According to federal records, the charges stem from Esteves asking a maintenance contractor in Las Vegas to cover up evidence after Avantair pilots landed at an executive airport in a Vegas suburb on July 28, 2012, only to discover their plane was badly damaged. The pilots, speaking in the cockpit after a difficult landing, noted the unusual feel of the plane as they came in to the runway. It was soon revealed that the plane's left tail elevator, which allows the plane to pitch up and down, was nowhere to be found. According to a statement by Leslie "Lefty" Kenyon, an aviation maintenance contractor, Avantair's maintenance dispatcher asked him to evaluate the damage and send him pictures. After examining the plane's tail, Kenyon found that a nut on the right elevator was on the verge of falling off. The dispatcher asked him to tighten them. Kenyon refused - in those situations, planes are supposed to be quarantined for federal investigators. A few days later, Esteves asked Kenyon to remove the right elevator and ship it to Clearwater. He also told him to run the aircraft for 30 to 45 minutes, Kenyon said in his statement to the NTSB. Kenyon said Esteves told him that would have wiped clean the data recorded by the plane's cockpit recording device. Kenyon refused. The next week, Mark Keefer, an FAA safety inspector in Tampa, went to company headquarters to interview Esteves. According to the inspector, Esteves said he had difficulty remembering the details of his conversations with the contractor in Nevada. Esteves, after conversations with a company vice president, eventually asked Keefer to give him the questions in writing. Months later, Avantair voluntarily grounded its whole fleet for October 2012. The picture worsened the next year. The FAA found the company wasn't properly tracking parts that due to safety regulations could only be flown on a certain number of flights before being replaced. The fleet was grounded again, and employees were furloughed. Creditors moved swiftly to force the company into bankruptcy soon after in July 2013. Owners scrambled to find their planes. Nine were found in a hangar Avantair rented at Dallas Love Field in Texas. According to owners, Avantair had cannibalized a good portion of them to keep other planes running. Engines were missing, and there was no record of how the planes had even ended up there. Owners of those "donor planes" that were used for parts discovered at the bankruptcy in 2014 that they would lose much of the hundreds of thousands of dollars they had spent on the partial ownership of their planes. The bankruptcy case eventually made it to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which finally ruled in early 2016 that owners of dismantled planes would have to deal with what they had bought. "When you start to get people who get behind financially in aviation, they just start to cut corners," said Don Andersen, who represented a private prison corporation that had partial ownership of three Avantair planes, one of which he said was in particularly bad shape. A U.S. magistrate judge did not set a sentencing date for Esteves, who was released on his own recognizance. In court, his lawyer said it was difficult to say whether his client would face prison time. http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/airlines/defunct-clearwater-private-jet-company- avantair-goes-from-boom-to/2316493 Back to Top New Report Shows Aviation Maintenance with Positive Balance of Trade, Growth Prospects Over Next Decade WASHINGTON - Aviation maintenance, an often overlooked but vital segment of the aviation industry, is not only a major employer nationwide making a substantial impact on the U.S. economy; it has achieved a positive balance of trade, a new report finds. According to the 2017 Global Fleet & MRO Market Assessment, prepared by consulting firm Oliver Wyman for the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA), the U.S. civil aviation maintenance industry employs more than 277,000 people across the United States and generates $44.1 billion in annual economic activity. The report found there are more than 3,800 American firms across all 50 states performing maintenance services. Contrary to popular perceptions about the industry, most aviation maintenance work is done "off the aircraft" by highly specialized Federal Aviation Administration- certificated facilities working on engines and components. The vast majority of these repair stations, close to 85 percent, are small-to-medium sized businesses employing 50 or fewer people. Overall, thanks to strong performance in component and engine-specific services, the United States enjoys a positive balance of trade for maintenance: American maintenance exports exceed imports by almost $850 million. The report was released March 15 at a Capitol Hill briefing conducted as a part of ARSA's annual Legislative Day, an event that has become a highlight of the transportation policy community's spring calendar. David Marcontell, Oliver Wyman vice president, presented this year's report. The total worldwide market for commercial aviation maintenance in 2017 is expected to reach nearly $75.6 billion, Oliver Wyman found. By 2027, global sales will expand to more than $109 billion, based on the firm's projections. Maintenance providers will see steady demand growth, as fleets expand and new technologies emerge, Marcontell noted during the briefing. As a further enhancement to this year's report, the 2017 assessment includes an economic sensitivity analysis that tests the $109 billion projection against four alternative economic scenarios. Ranging from "cloud nine" robust growth to "black swan" disaster, the maintenance market fares relatively well against each variation. In fact, in three of the four situations considered, the market actually outperforms Oliver Wyman's baseline economic projection. Even when bearish assumptions are made for a "weakened economy," airline dependence on legacy aircraft would still bolster maintenance, repair and overhaul spend to $111 billion by 2027. "Basically everything would have to go economically haywire in the global market for maintenance spend to not at least meet projections," Marcontell said about the analysis. "Even then, the numbers are still in the ballpark of $100 billion in 10 years' time; in terms of dollars and cents, this is a very durable industry." "The most important takeway from this report for members of Congress is that you may not know it, but the aviation maintenance industry plays an important part in your state's economy," ARSA Executive Vice President Christian A. Klein said. "So, whether you're reauthorizing the FAA, refining the tax code, changing trade policy or overhauling the regulatory system, lawmakers need to consider the impact on repair stations and their employees." Highlighting the hundreds of thousands of American workers involved in avatiion maintenance, Klein concluded: "We say it a lot, but it bears repeating: We can't fly without them." The report's executive summary, as well as a fact sheet illustrating U.S. state-by-state employment figures, can be found in ARSA's economic data center at arsa.org/news-media/economic-data. For more information - including live updates - on ARSA's 2017 Legislative Day & Annual Repair Symposium, visit arsa.org/symposium. ARSA is the only association devoted to the unique needs of the global civil aviation maintenance industry. It is dedicated to helping member companies operate more efficiently and effectively, while continuing to ensure the safety of aircraft worldwide. To learn more about the association's work on behalf of both industry stakeholders and the flying public, please visit ARSA.org. http://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12316092/new-report-shows-aviation-maintenance- with-positive-balance-of-trade-growth-prospects-over-next-decade Back to Top The Three Trends Taking Off in Civil Aviation MRO in 2017 The civil aviation industry is one of the most asset-intensive industries in the world. With parts that are high-cost and low in numbers, even the slightest of improvements in asset functionality and maintenance can yield significant cost and efficiency advantages. Kevin Deal, vice president aerospace & defense at IFS, explains how two much discussed technologies - the Internet of Things (IoT) and augmented reality - will develop dramatically during 2017 and start to unlock real benefits for civil aviation companies. 1. IoT Driving Take Up of AHMS Health Checks and Condition-Based MaintenanceGiving fleets a healthy checkup The civil aviation industry is booming. Aircraft fleets are set to triple by 2034 in the Asia-Pacific region, superseding both North America and Europe, while carriers in the Middle East had the strongest annual traffic growth in 2015. The Internet of Things (IoT) market is following this lead. Gartner predicts there will be over 20 billion connected 'things' in use by 2020, with total spending topping $3 trillion globally. These two together will drive the use of Aircraft Health Monitoring Systems (AHMS) in 2017. AHMS bring vast improvements in the utilization and analysis of big data to enhance availability, reliability, and safety of aircraft, which in turn drives the take up of condition-based maintenance (CBM) projects to streamline MRO. An Oliver Wyman MRO Survey reported that 63 percent of respondents from leading airlines said AHMS increased reliability, with 35 percent also saying that it helped reduce maintenance costs. The collection and analysis of data from IoT-enabled sensors constantly measuring aircraft health and performance can consider factors such as speed, torque, vibrations, and pressure data to pinpoint faults before they become a major problem and provide actionable information to make better informed and more focused maintenance decisions. These in turn could reduce cancellations, improve operational and flight safety, reduce fuel consumption, help identify rogue serial numbers, and enhance both passenger and crew experience. The Internet of Flying Things To put this into context, the number of detectable faults on a Boeing 767 in the 1980s was 9,000. Now, intelligent sensors on a Boeing 787 can detect 45,000 faults, five times as many as 30 years ago. With AHMS, data from one aircraft detecting a fault can be used to analyze an entire fleet for the same problem. The ROI from AHMS in civil aviation is plain to see. The streamlining of maintenance operations and the almost instant reactions to faults that AHMS brings could drastically reduce the chance of aircraft on ground (AOG) for airlines - the cost of which ranges between $10,000 and $150,000 for just a couple of hours of downtime. This is a major benefit as most airlines need every possible piece of revenue from every single flight just to stay out of the red. I predict we will see a rise in the number of operators adopting AHMS, driven by affordable IoT- enabled sensors, powerful data processing systems and machine learning - enabling airlines to make processes smarter and maintenance leaner. 2. The Next Step: Not Just Predicting Maintenance, But Prescribing the SolutionPredictive maintenance: Handing engineers the crystal ball Global MRO spend is anticipated to increase by 46 percent by 2026, driven by a combination of growing passenger numbers and aircraft fleets. Because of this, airlines are looking at the next step in asset management, from condition-based maintenance to predictive maintenance, able to detect early signs of potential failure and rectify matters before it impacts service delivery. Picking out the relevant data patterns being fed back out of the myriad information produced through IoT-enabled parts, will allow the true benefit of scheduled maintenance to be extended into every aspect of the MRO support chain. IoT and predictive maintenance allow for better sharing of both operational and maintenance experiences between airlines, aircraft operators, and third-party MROs, enabling further cost reductions. By feeding the data into the EAM or MRO solution, the parts can be sourced and the work schedules of engineers optimized - meaning potential downtime can be drastically reduced. But airlines aren't stopping there. Giving maintenance a healthy prescription Prescriptive maintenance is the next step beyond simply predicting the status of an asset. While predictive analytics answer the 'what will happen, when, and why', prescriptive goes one step further, allowing operators to not only predict what will happen, but offer 'what-if' scenarios to show how each possible event will impact operations. IoT data is fed back from the sensor into the analytical system to optimally define the prescribed maintenance activities based on the best outcome, in terms of reliability and asset uptime. The main benefit of this is allowing airlines to know what they could do better in the future - if they know an asset may fail, they want to know the most efficient way to reduce the failure rate while also achieving the most effective accomplishment of any rectification actions. Prescriptive analytics can guide maintenance engineers, with sequences of tasks to execute in order to isolate the issue, when is the right time to do the repair and the correct tools to use, helping reduce aircraft downtime. Prescriptive maintenance will revolutionize MRO. IDC predicts that 50 percent of all business analytics software will incorporate prescriptive capabilities by 2020. In the future, it won't be a bunch of engineers telling you how and when to repair an asset because the asset itself will tell you what it needs and how it needs it. The technology is still in the early stages of adoption in civil aviation, but watch this space as the technology starts to mature in 2017. 3. Resource Shortages Hindering Growth in Asia-PacThe demand is there, but is the support? Airbus forecasts a need for over 33,000 new aircraft globally by 2035, largely driven by the rising demand in the Asia-Pacific. However, this rapid expansion has the potential to be hindered due to a lack of MRO capacity, lack of indigenous training capabilities, and lack of skilled workforce in the region. More passengers mean more planes needed to carry them - more planes mean more maintenance. There are currently not enough fully qualified, trained and certified maintenance personnel to meet the needs of this growing market. Boeing predicts that the aviation industry will need over 600,000 new maintenance technicians globally in the next 20 years as current personnel retire, with much of this demand coming from Asia-Pac. Meeting this demand and matching the requirements of the next generation of maintenance workers will take innovative solutions, including new technologies and training methods. AR/VR preparing the worker of the future experienced aircraft engineers are proving to be few and far between. It currently takes up to eight years for a maintenance worker to pass stringent training tests and become fully licensed, time that the aviation industry cannot wait. Airlines and MRO operators in the APAC have avoided this by hiring personnel from other countries, but this is proving to be a significant cost challenge. Augmented reality is emerging to help bridge this gap - a cost- and time-friendly solution which provides expertise on demand from any location, no matter how remote. Companies such as XMReality have developed a telepresence and data transmission solution that connects onsite operators with a technical expert anywhere in the world, in real-time, giving maintenance workers in remote locations access to a virtual pair of expert eyes and hands to guide them through complex tasks. I expect we will see a sharp increase in adoption in APAC as the technology fully matures to plug this resource shortage gap. Riding the technology wave New technologies and the digitization of services are creating big benefits for airline and MRO operators to streamline maintenance, reduce operating costs, and take full advantage of the skyrocketing air travel demand. Early adopters of these three trends will see operations completely transformed. Watch out for these technologies coming to MRO near you in 2017. http://www.aviationpros.com/article/12295869/the-three-trends-taking-off-in-civil-aviation-mro-in- 2017 Back to Top Government in talks with Airbus, Boeing for training programmes NEW DELHI: The government is in discussions with plane manufacturers Airbus and Boeing to set up a "finishing school" to train aircraft maintenance engineering mechanics. The Civil Aviation Ministry's move is a part of efforts to address the skilled manpower crunch in the domestic aviation sector, which has been growing at over 20 per cent for the last two years. "In the form of a partnership with Airbus and Boeing, we will be launching a finishing school. Here, we will .. While the domestic aviation sector has been registering double digit growth, airlines are grappling with talent crunch, especially in terms of pilots and skilled mechanics. The domestic aviation sector would grow three times its current level in the next 15 years and it is "very essential to focus on skill development as human resource is a bottle neck", the minister said. Speaking at an event on SpiceJetBSE 1.51 %'s AME apprenticeship programme here, he also said that the long-term growth rate for domestic volume in the aviation sector has been around 12-13 per cent. SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh said the Indian aviation sector has witnessed the fastest growth globally at the rate of around 25 per cent. "Airlines have placed an order for hundreds of planes. So, there is a massive employment opportunity in the aviation sector. This programme will benefit SpiceJet but this is also a national asset," he said. Minister of State Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who was also present at the event, offered to support SpiceJet's apprenticeship programme under the National Apprenticeship Scheme. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/government-in- talks-with-airbus-boeing-for-training-programmes/articleshow/57655672.cms Back to Top IATA: Africa Still Not Ready for Projected Growth Despite projections that traffic will grow at a rate of 5.4 percent a year over the next two decades, airline industry stakeholders have effected little fundamental change in addressing the problems facing African aviation, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA) regional head of member and external relations for Africa and the Middle East Adefunke Adeyemi. While international passenger numbers in Africa should triple to 300 million by 2035, excessive red tape, high costs and lack of air liberalization remain serious concerns, she told delegates at last month's Aviation Africa 2017 conference in Kigali. She compared the action being taken to the movie Groundhog Day. "It's the same stuff, every day," she said. "What is at stake? Why are we here? What are we talking about? Is there a sense of urgency?" she asked rhetorically, in wondering whether Africa could ever realize its air transport potential. She drew attention to the fact that fragmentation has marred economies of scale, as cooperation between African carriers remains extremely limited. "Only Ethiopia and Kenya have connections to more than half the other countries in Africa," she said. "Airlines need to be profitable to support connectivity," she added. Net post-tax profit margins showed gains all over the world except in Latin America in 2015and in Africa, which saw net profit margins fall around 5 percent in 2015 and 3 percent in 2016. Net losses for African airlines totaled about $500 million in 2013, but projections for the four years up to the end of 2017 showed annual losses of more than $750 million. Industry EBIT margins hit positive territory in 2010-11, before moving decisively negative in 2012, and projections called for a fall to between 3 and 4 percent in 2015-17. However, Adeyemi said the right policies for Africa could lead to an extra 35 million passengers compared with baseline forecasts, bringing the total toward 350 million in 2035 and more than tripling the 2015 figure of around 100 million passengers. Competitiveness affected the ability to deliver value. She said the Seychelles, Cape Verde and South Africa ranked highest on the continent for quality of air transport infrastructure, citing recent World Economic Forum global competitiveness data. Speaking with AIN on the sidelines of the conference, Girma Wake, chairman of Rwandair and former Ethiopian Airlines CEO, cited the cases of South African Airlines and Kenya Airways as prime examples of the failure of African governments to nurture airline growth. "It's good for the governments to push change. But they [themselves] should also change," he said. "They should stop interfering in [the airlines'] performance, carefully select company CEOs, and leave the airlines to manage [themselves], instead of micro-managing them. That's one problem. "The other is for the government to say, 'Look. I have given you the freedom. But there's no more money.' Because today [governments] are pumping money, the airlines do not feel responsible to cover their own costs. That is why 90 percent of African airlines are losing, because they know they have fallback government [funding]." Wake added that sub-Saharan African countries are not ready for private airlines. "First of all, a private man will never make money, so why should he [invest]?" he said. "There is no control on traffic rights. That's one area where they kill an upcoming carrier. They just say 'No traffic rights unless you pay.' And then you lose," he said. "If it is completely made free, and there is no nationality issue, and people can move around, and operate from wherever they choose, then things will change." http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2017-03-15/iata-africa-still-not-ready- projected-growth Back to Top Bombardier Teams With Italian FBO on Line Service Depot Italian aviation services provider SEA Prime has signed an agreement with Bombardier to establish a new line-service station for the airframer at its FBO at Milano Linate airport. The deal is part of Bombardier's commitment to establish five new maintenance stations across Europe. The facility will provide line service for the OEM's Global, Challenger and Learjet families. "We are delighted that a market leader such as Bombardier has chosen Milano Linate Prime to establish its presence in Italy," said Chiara Dorigotti, the location's general manager, adding that the company has worked to boost its maintenance service offerings since it embarked on major infrastructure development plan in 2015. "The presence of a Bombardier line maintenance station in Milano Linate Prime will bring further added value for our customers and confirms [the FBO] as an attractive hub for international investments and partnerships." http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2017-03-15/bombardier-teams-italian- fbo-line-service-depot Curt Lewis