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For the first time in the organisation’s history, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) announced last week that its membership has now reached 10,000 registered members.

The 10,000th member is named as TCB Air LLC from Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The NBAA was founded in 1947 by a small group of the Wings Club who met in a New York hotel in 1946. They realised the critical need for some organization within Business Aviation in the area of air space management and air traffic control.

Founding member, Mr Palmer J Lathrop or Bud to his flying associates, stressed the importance of the promotion and protection of the interest of business aircraft operators and led the way in an informal meeting of 13 aviators on May 17 1946.

Mr Lathrop wrote to the Presidents of a number of aviation companies and invited them to take representation at a further meeting to continue the important discussions.

A total of sixteen companies were eventually represented at the meeting on 21st November 1946 and led to the formation of the Corporation Aircraft Owners Association which was later to become the NBAA in 1953 following the Korean War, but the first A stood as Aircraft until 1997 upon its 50th anniversary, when the final decision was made to settle upon the National Business Aviation Association that it is today.

GoGo Introduce In-Flight Talk and Text Service for Passenger Connections

November 8, 2013

In-flight Wi-Fi is not breaking news; its popularity continues to grow as passengers begin to expect more from flight operators in terms of connectivity.

In light of this, GoGo has introduced its latest in in-flight technology, giving Smartphone users the opportunity to make phone calls and text as though they were on the ground.

The GoGo air-to-ground connection will operate through the aircraft’s wireless network instead of the picocells, traditionally used for telephone connections.

New rules, sanctioned by the FAA, now give passengers permission to use their electronic devices; Smartphones and tablet technology during the entire flight, even during take-off and landing, of course, still subject to the requirements of the individual airlines.

Data transfers must still be restricted to ‘airplane mode’ and transmissions across cellular networks are still a ‘no-no’, but with a GoGo app, Smartphone users will be able to roam on the aircrafts in-flight service as though they were on the ground.

Other providers of such in-flight Wi-Fi solutions, such as ARINC Direct, offer seamless connectivity to business aviation passengers. The business passenger places a generally higher demand upon the airline operators in terms of connectivity and welcome the ‘office-in-the-sky’ scenario.

Business Aviation Has Worst Month in Europe for Six Years

November 7, 2013

October 2013 was the worst recorded month for European business aviation since October 2006, showing a 2.1% decrease in activity, according to WINGX Advance monthly report.

The number of Charter flights dropped by 3.5% year-on-year, which amounted to 800 fewer flights made on business jets than there were in October 2012.

There were a few regions that experienced growth; however, with Greece growing by 14% and Turkey growing by 3%, Italy reported a small increase, and Portugal the highest at 16%.

Richard Koe, managing director of WINGX Advance said, “The generally improving economic context in Europe is not yet feeding through to demand for business aviation.”

The Global Express from France’s Bombardier, was the most used aircraft, closely followed by the Citation CJ4, the King Air 350 and the Phenom 300.

ARINC’s John Monto to Speak About TETRA Solution for Mission Critical Transmissions of Aviation Communications

It has been announced that John Monto, ARINC’s Director of Radio Technology Solutions will speak at the inaugural TETRA conference about mission critical transmissions of aviation communications, specifically for LAX airport.

Mr Monto will look at the implementation process of the TETRA deployment, following the recent FCC approval for its use in mission critical transmissions.

TETRA could bring potential benefits for ground-based, physical security issues at LAX and at airports across America, particularly in the transportation and utilities sectors.

“ARINC is dedicated to ensuring our customers have clear connectivity to communicate vital information to airline personnel, passenger services, ground handlers, terminal security teams, and all airport ground support staff,” said Monto. “I am excited to discuss how our valued customers at LAX are using TETRA and the benefits it is providing that’s enabling them to get their jobs done in a more timely and efficient manner.”

ARINC Asia-Pacific/AEROTHAI GLOBALink Partnership Install 100th Remote Ground Station

The GLOBALink partnership between ARINC Asia-Pacific and Aeronautical Radio of Thailand (AEROTHAI) began back in 1998 when ARINC first sought to expand their data link presence in the region.

Now, the GLOBALink service stretches across 14 countries in Asia with AEROTHAI and both companies are now looking to the installation of their milestone 100th Remote Ground Station in the area at the end of this month.

GLOBALink data link coverage is a seamless, industry-leading service solution, used on a daily basis by 78 airlines and more than 3,000 aircraft in Asia. The partnership have great plans to further expand into the new emerging markets such as Pakistan, Nepal, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Very recently, the ARINC Company announced the installation of the 500th Remote Global Ground Station – a double celebration of sorts for ARINC Inc.

Tanzania Introduces e-Border Management Solution for Residence Permits

Under the Capacity Building for Border Management (CBBM) project, Tanzania introduced a biometric e-border management system for residence permits, with an aim to capture biometric samples from the applicants, when registering their data in an electronic database.

The system is based at the Immigration Department Headquarters in Dar es Salaam and is customised to the specific needs of Tanzania. The new system will increase the speed and efficiency of the entire process reducing instances of human error and will result in an automated, paperless application process.

Funded in a joint project by the EU and UN Tanzania, Japan International Co-operation Agency, Refugees and Migration (PRM), the US State Department’s Bureau for Population and Servico de Estrangeirose e Fronteiras (SEF) it is hoped that the electronic border management solution will improve border security and streamline operations within the two-year project.

The immigration departments of the participating countries have received extensive training during the project for migration and health, identity and data management, counter trafficking and security documentation, in addition to the training received during workshops on the concept of the One Stop Border Post (OSBP), electronic border management information system and on standard SOPs

The Principal Commissioner of Immigration Service said, “Tanzania immigration department has been waiting for a long time to have such a system, which will considerably improve our ability to deliver an efficient and fast service to our customers.”

The implementation of the electronic border management system is amongst the last aims of the CBBM project, which has been targeted towards the establishment of an efficient and secure borders information management system across the borders of Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi.

Electronic border management solutions help to improve security and speed up operations, allowing airports and border control departments greater productivity. In airports across the world, communications companies, such as ARINC, provide messaging solutions to help this process of electronic border management.

Improvements to Aviation Security Called for by IATA

IATA has announced a call to action for the aviation industry, regulators and governments across the world to reform aviation security through a partnership with a focus on a globally harmonised system.

Tony Tyler, Director General and CEO of IATA, while speaking at the 22nd AVISEC World Conference, held in Istanbul, said “Aviation security stands at a crossroads. Global passenger numbers will be approaching four billion per year by 2017, and the aging systems and outdated procedures of the current security system will not be able to cope. We need to change from prescriptive one-size-fits-all measures and embrace performance-based regulation if the economic benefits of aviation growth are not to be curtailed by security inefficiency.”

The move comes in direct support of the swift delivery of advance passenger information (API) to enable government departments and border security to screen passengers before they arrive on the ground at their destination. High risk passengers can be identified and prevented from boarding the initial flight, or stopped from entering the destination country.

More than 45 states already operate API or PNR programs. It is critical for the swift delivery of such information that the entire system is harmonised in line with ICAO regulation. The issue of cost of collection of the vital information has yet to be finalised.

Mr Tyler went on to say, “Governments and industry can work together to make better use of the data collected. A good example is the checkpoint of the future initiative, which aims to improve the security and convenience of passenger screening by moving to a risk-based approach and adopting advanced technology. The flying public is eager to see the checkpoint of future deployed as quickly as possible. Stakeholders are aligned behind a staged implementation that will see the first versions in 2014. Subsequent stages will see us move from re-purposing equipment and using data more thoughtfully to the eventual deployment of new equipment in the final stage, around 2020.”

ARINC Marks Milestone with vMUSE Over Windows 7 at Dubai

November 5, 2013

ARINC EMEA has marked a major milestone at Dubai International this week being the first global site to use vMUSE for a total of 34 international airlines, all newly certified to run over Windows 7. This list includes Emirates airline, which use their Mercator Airport Control System (MACS) with ARINC’s passenger processing vMUSE platform.

A new five-year agreement was signed between ARINC and dnata in 2012 for the upgrade of the iMUSE to the latest vMUSE version of the platform. ARINC provided the software, Emirates the hardware, offering an advanced Virtualised Dual Core solution that has delivered a balance for Emirates between technology and cost.

vMUSE is also being utilized to support multiple airports from a common infrastructure. Graham Parker, Manager Business Technology ‐ dnata Airport Operations and Cargo said, “With vMUSE live at Dubai International, we have begun the rollout at Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central for the passenger terminal opening in October.”

“We are delighted with the success of vMUSE at Dubai International,” said Tony Lynch, ARINC’s Regional Director, Middle East & Africa. “It is the perfect migration path for airlines and airports embarking on CUPPS regardless of where they are today and where they plan to be in the future. Whether it’s an iMUSE terminal emulator, CUPPS application, or airline native application, vMUSE can support it, and can handle any combination of these simultaneously.”

ARINC are directly focussing on the growth from emerging markets in the Middle East and now have a site in Arabic for ease of use in the sector.

Best Practices in Russian Aviation Fuel at IATA Forum

November 1, 2013