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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 0468.PDF
BUSINESS AVIATION RULEMAKING FAA to debate air tour regulation US administration has agreed to extend online meetings to garner feedback and will hold gatherings next month The US Federal Aviation Admini stration has bowed to pressure from the business and general avia tion industry and US Congress and agreed to hold public meetings to discuss the impact of its charity/sightseeing notice of pro posed rulemaking (NPRM) on the air tour community. The agency has also extended the formal com ment period for the second time, from 19 April to 18 June. The decision is a welcome fillip for the industry, which has univer- Many sightseeing businesses could go under if the NRPM comes into force sally condemned the FAA for hold ing an online meeting to garner feedback on the unwelcome NRPM which seeks to shake up the regulations and require certifica tion of all Federal Aviation Regulation Part 91 air tour and sightseeing operations under Part 135 or Part 121 commercial rules. The NPRM proposes to establish, under a new subpart, stricter opera tional requirements for low-level flight, stand-off distance, visibility limits, cloud clearance and over- water operations. Charity flights will remain under Part 91, but the NPRM also pro poses raising the minimum num ber of hours required for private pilots conducting charity fundrais- ing flights from 200h to 500h. The industry, which is supported by the US Small Business Admini stration's Office of Advocacy, says BUSINESS AIRCRAFT PrimeFlight to fix snags on scheduled services CHARTER Club Air sells seats online A new members-only airline is being created in the USA by start-up company Club Air, de signed to sell individual seats on business jets via the internet and drive down the cost of charter. Club Air is developing reser vation software that will allow passengers to post a trip online and invite other members to book a seat on the same flight. Once the flight is full, members are sent a voicemail or email, to which they must respond, and a travel itinerary then follows. Club Air vice president of operations Ian Becker says annual member ship costs $3,000, but payment will only be enforced a year after the member's first flight. The reservation software should be completed in the fourth quarter, but Becker says the programme will not be for mally launched until Club Air has built up a portfolio of around 5,000 members, to make the programme viable. UK business aircraft operator PrimeFlight has suspended its scheduled service for five months while it irons out technical and operational hitches that have been hampering its fledgling operation since it began on 1 March. PrimeFlight is continuing to offer charters with its Piaggio P180 Avanti, wetleased through Piaggio's Bologna-based subsidiary FoxAir, and is also pursuing its newly cre ated Members Club venture. (Flight International 30 March - 6 April). PrimeFlight director Giles Atkinson says the twice-daily ser vice to Brussels National from Northern Ireland's Belfast Inter national airport has built up a small but loyal customer base, some of whom use the company for char ters. "There is strong demand for a scheduled service from Belfast to Brussels," Atkinson says, but admits the company was not prepared for the problems it encountered. "Customers would reserve a seat online using our own sales and dis tribution system, but the software would indicate that there was no availability when there was," he says. PrimeFlight operated from the Abelag fixed-base operation in Brussels, but many customers would arrive at the main airport terminal, where its flights are not listed on the departure screens, and the airport's information desk has no record. Atkinson says the company had two choices, "to carry on and not hit our targets, or come back in with all guns blazing, having sorted out the problems". PrimeFlight is seeking to join a proprietory reservation system, such as Amadeus, Galileo or Worldspan, which it hopes will strengthen and widen its coverage. The company is also holding talks with Brussels National to list its service on the terminal flight infor mation system. the new proposal could lead to the closure of thousands of businesses and is calling for the NPRM to be withdrawn (Flight International 13- 19 April). The FAA says it decided to hold the online meeting, which attracted around 1,000 partici pants, as many of the affected par ties are located in small communi ties around the country. "Congress asked us to also hold public meetings so concerns could be addressed directly to FAA repre sentatives. We agreed to do so due to the strong interest in the pro posed rule," it adds. Since the proposal was pub lished last October the FAA has received more than 2,100 over whelmingly negative comments. The meetings will be held in Washington DC on 11 May and in Las Vegas on 21 May. CORPORATE BUY US financial services company Dean Phillips has become the first corporate operator to take delivery of a Bombardier Challenger 300 super mid-size business jet. The handover marks the sixth delivery of the super mid-size jet since the air craft entered service in January. The first five Challenger 300s are operated by Bombardier's Flexjet fractional ownership pro gramme. TAG ADDS TAG Aviation USA added 10 business aircraft to its turnkey management programme in 2003, for a total of more than 100 by year-end. PAINT HANGAR Midcoast Aviation has broken ground on a new paint hangar at St Louis Downtown Airport in Missouri, to open in October and able to accommodate aircraft as large as the Bombardier Global Express. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 27 APRIL - 3 MAY 2004 21
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