NATA News

Did you know that NATA offers three Programs tailored for air charter businesses to help assist with pilot acquisition and retention?

- Loss of License Insurance Program further protects your pilots — a crucial advantage in the current challenging environment for pilot staffing and retention. All participants are treated as one entity through the NATA plan, allowing for an easy underwriting experience and premium reductions created by the larger buying pool.

-  The NATA FAA Medical Certification Services benefit program is available to all Part 135 air carriers and their pilots, as well as Part 91 corporate flight departments and their pilots, for a budget-friendly flat, per-pilot monthly fee. NATA members are eligible for a significant additional discount.

-  NATA-Med powered by AirDocs is an exclusive program that improves operational safety and inflight assistance, 24/7. NATA-Med reduces liability by giving pilots inflight access to medical personnel. In addition, the service helps avoid costly and unnecessary flight diversions and coordinates ground assets post flight. The program assists before, during, and after flights.

Jet management and card membership provider Jet Linx has introduced a new empty-seat marketing program as part of its revised mobile application. Called OpenSeat exchange, it offers the company’s jet owners and members the ability to buy or sell empty seats on its flights on a per-seat basis, exclusively through the app. Clients can use the new app "to further improve, enrich, and elevate the Jet Linx private jet travel experience,” said Jamie Walker, president of the Nebraska-based company, adding that last year there were more than 40,000 empty seats on Jet Linx flights. “Open Seat Exchange is a solution that gives our clients the ability to buy and sell these empty seats on a per-flight, per-seat basis. It’s a secure, trusted, peer-to-peer exchange of open seats within the Jet Linx community.” Read more.

Duncan Aviation has announced that its MRO facility in Provo, Utah, has received Stage I accreditation from the International Standard for Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH). The Duncan Aviation facility in Provo is only the second MRO in the United States to have earned this accreditation, and the first was the full-service Duncan Aviation facility in Lincoln, Nebraska. “Duncan Aviation in Provo is one of the very few large MROs to achieve IS-BAH accreditation. It’s challenging to achieve this level of quality for a Fixed Base Operator (FBO) that is only a few months old,” says Provo FBO Manager Bob Cornett. “We have a tremendous group here who has faced hurdles every day since we opened in January. In spite of the many challenges, the team stepped up and agreed that it was tremendously important to take on the extra work necessary to secure this accreditation.” Read more.

Business Jet Center (BJC), one of five (soon to be six) FBOs at Dallas Love Field, has completed its newest and largest hangar, which will begin accepting tenant aircraft immediately. The 46,000-sq-ft Hangar M is already fully leased and brings the facility to more than 250,000 sq ft of total aircraft storage space. The $8.5 million project took a year to build, features 28-foot-high doors, and can accommodate the latest ultra-long-range business jets such as the Bombardier Global 7500. The full-service FBO experienced a record-breaking year in 2018, with continued growth through the first half of this year. Despite the addition of Hangar M, the facility remains near capacity in terms of aircraft occupancy. “BJC is positioned well to serve the continued growth in aviation traffic at Love Field and, most recently, we have begun design of our next hangar facilities to meet additional demand for hangar space,” said company partner Mike Wright. Read more.