AerCap completes acquisition of GECAS
AerCap Holdings announced this week that it has completed its acquisition of the GE Capital Aviation Services business (“GECAS”) from General Electric. The acquisition positions AerCap as the worldwide industry leader across all areas of aviation leasing: aircraft, engines and helicopters. The combined company will serve approximately 300 customers around the world and will be the largest customer of Airbus and Boeing. AerCap now has a portfolio of over 2,000 aircraft, over 900 engines and over 300 helicopters, as well as an order book of approximately 450 of the most fuel-efficient and technologically advanced aircraft in the world. The aircraft fleet represents approximately 90% of the assets of the combined company. Under the terms of the transaction agreement, General Electric received 111.5 million newly issued AerCap shares, approximately $23 billion of cash and $1 billion of AerCap notes. General Electric now owns approximately 46% of AerCap’s outstanding shares. www.aercap.com
Revised COVID-19 requirements for entry into U.S. by air
NBAA welcomed revised policies from the White House, which provided new details on COVID-19-related entry requirements to facilitate safe international travel. Starting Nov. 8, non-citizen, non-immigrant air travelers to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated, and to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination status prior to boarding an airplane, with only limited exceptions. Fully vaccinated U.S. citizens must produce a negative viral test result within three days of travel to the U.S.
Unvaccinated travelers – whether U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents or the small number of excepted unvaccinated foreign nationals – will now need to produce a negative test result taken within one day of departure.
There are some exceptions to the vaccination requirement for foreign nationals, including those with medical contraindications to the vaccines, those with non-tourist visas from countries with low vaccine availability and other narrow categories. Children under 18 are also excepted from the vaccination requirement for foreign nationals. However, children between the ages of 2 and 17 must receive a negative test result taken within three days of departure, if traveling with fully vaccinated adults, or within one day of departure if traveling with unvaccinated adults or alone.
Further, the list of acceptable vaccines will be expanded to include not only FDA-approved or authorized vaccines, but also World Health Organization emergency-use listed vaccines. All operators flying into the U.S. must retain contact information to allow public health officials. www.nbaa.org
NBAA launches new safety management certificate program
The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has introduced a new Safety Manager Certificate Program to provide introductory to mid-level education on safety in business aircraft operations. The program includes education and testing in six key areas of safety management: leadership, safety policy, safety risk management, safety assurance, safety promotion and emergency response.
“The primary objective of the assessment-based certificate program is to help flight department personnel who have been assigned safety management responsibilities, typically as an ancillary duty, so they can effectively manage a business aviation organization’s safety management efforts,” said NBAA Director, Safety and Flight Operations Mark Larsen. The Safety Manager Certificate Program is intended to establish a baseline knowledge, identify resources safety that managers can rely upon as references and inspire a desire for more advanced learning in the areas of safety management. The program is being offered in two eight-week periods each year, and will include several hours each week of asynchronous learning modules, independent self-study reading reference material, webinar interaction for additional learning and an “ask the experts” component. Candidates must complete the course modules and pass the final exam to receive a Safety Manager Certificate.
People: Jet Aviation appoints Jeremie Caillet, SVP regional operations EMEA
Jet Aviation recently announced the appointment of Jeremie Caillet to senior vice president regional operations Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Caillet serves as a member of the Jet Aviation leadership team and reports to Jet Aviation president David Paddock. He succeeds Stefan Benz who is leaving the company. In his new role, Caillet is responsible for EMEA operations, encompassing Completions, MRO, FBO, Aircraft Management and Charter, and the Middle East Joint Ventures.
Caillet, who has over 15 years’ experience in the aerospace industry, joined Jet Aviation in 2008 and has held a number of roles within engineering, key account management, project management, operations and most recently, as vice president VIP completions. Caillet’s career began at Dassault Falcon Jet in the US. He holds a Master Engineering Degree from Estaca, France, and a Master of Science in Aircraft Design from Linköping University, Sweden.
Benz joined Jet Aviation in 2011 as vice president MRO and FBO sales EMEA and Asia, before taking on the role of SVP Operations MRO and FBO EMEA and Asia in 2014. Following the acquisition of Hawker Pacific in 2018, Benz focused solely on the EMEA region.
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