Recently returned from the Irish Business and General Aviation Association annual conference, I find my enthusiasm for business aviation thoroughly refreshed. Appearing on a conference panel was an enjoyable first; I said words, some of which apparently made sense, but none of which I can remember. There is something quite unique in how the IBGAA delivers a conference and I wonder if attendance ought to be compulsory.
The NBAA-BACE event is also fresh in the memory. I was delighted to speak with CAE’s David Bienvenu, Global Leader Maintenance Training, and Timothy Schoenauer, Senior Director Global Business Aviation Training Solutions, at the show. They revealed in considerable detail how CAE is expanding its training offer, good news that we pass on in this edition.
Gogo enjoyed a busy NBAA-BACE and we’ve explored some of the company’s recent success by speaking only with a partner and two of its customers. You need to read the story for the details, but from the reactions to the questions we asked it seems Gogo has customer service nailed.
One of the reasons behind aviation’s enduring fascination is the diversity it engenders. I recently found myself telling my family about the falconry season that is so important across the Middle East and which I had only recently heard about thanks to a press release from Chapman Freeborn. Claudia Krajhanzl, Vice President Passenger IMEA at the charter specialist explains in this edition how the valuable birds are transported by private jet.
The industry is also one of characters. Of them, Joel Thomas, Founder and President of Stratos Jet Charters is among the more surprising. His franchise model has enabled others, including Antonio Ferrara, to establish their own charter brokerage. Ferrara’s The Allied Jet Agency is an extension of his aviation entrepreneurship, and both men reveal the industry’s more caring side.
Diversity, characters… what else makes aviation perennially fascinating? Heritage. With a new era of electric seaplanes potentially just around the corner, EVA looked at the glorious past of intercontinental Clippers and spoke with Captain Raymond Schwab, whose Horizon Sun Charters proves there is already a niche for seaplanes in VIP aviation.
Finally, back to Ireland and the Alliance Aviation Group. That a company based in Dublin has created a VIP terminal at Dublin International Airport is impressive but not entirely unexpected, but to find out that it is pioneering business and general aviation infrastructure in Saudi Arabia is something else. “We’re making tracks,” says Brendan McQuaid, Co-founder and Managing Director at Alliance Aviation, “in a place where no one of our calibre has been before.” Now that’s quite a claim!
