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NATA Airline Services Council
NATA formed the Airline Services Council (NATA ASC) to further the interests of companies that provide services to scheduled air carriers as their primary business. The primary goal of the NATA ASC is to provide a voice within the public policy arena, especially in terms of issues that impact their viability and profitability.. |
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Professional Line Service Training |
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PLST Online provides the most up-to-date training available for line service specialists – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Line service supervisors can conduct the new PLST Online training anytime and from anywhere there is access to the Web. continued |
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| NATA ASC Chairman Recaps Successful Quarterly Meeting |
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On April 27th, the NATA Airline Services Council (NATA ASC) held its annual meeting. Two of the key benefits of being an NATA ASC member are the insight it gives member companies into what’s going on in Washington and the input it allows them to have on those activities. This meeting certainly provided both as we had critical updates on many timely issues.
- Labor Law – Roger Briton of Jackson Lewis LLP explained that President Obama made two recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The appointments, including that of a very controversial attorney who formerly represented big labor, are already having an impact. Proposed NLRB rule changes would make it easier for unions to organize and change some practices that have been in effect for decades. To view Briton’s presentation, please click here.
- Aviation Ground Services Update – Spencer Dickerson, senior vice president of AAAE, provided an update on U.S. airports and trends in aviation travel. While the number of passengers is on the increase, the volcano in Iceland had a significant impact on some carriers and some airports. Dickerson also listened to comments and suggestions the NATA ASC members present had on how things can be improved between service companies and airports. Key to this discussion was badging and the inconsistencies of practices and requirements from airport to airport.
- Aviation Fuel – Margaret Giugliano, a lawyer with McBreen & Kopko, provided an update on industry trends to turn more airports into fuel consortiums at medium and smaller airports rather than just major airports around the U.S.
- TSA Update – Gary Lupinacci of the Transportation Security Administration provided an update on the Certified Cargo Screening Program. As everyone should know, August 1st is the critical date for 100% screening of all cargo going on passenger aircraft. While tremendous progress has been made, achieving the 100% requirement established by Congress will not be easy, and time is running out. No slippage of the date is anticipated. To view Lupinacci’s presentation, please click here.
- Health Care Reform Bill – Dr. Robert Graboyes, senior health advisor to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), discussed what is known about the latest health care reform measure. While the briefing probably left more questions than answers, it is clear that the overall impact of the measure to businesses is going to be dramatic and possibly even devastating. While the bulk of the changes don’t start until 2014, companies must start preparing and planning now to anticipate all of the changes this will cause. For more information, go the NFIB Web site at www.NFIB.com/HealthReform. To understand all of the new taxes, reporting, and employer requirements, we highly recommend that someone in your company start learning about the impact of this legislation before it’s too late.
To view the complete Minutes from this week’s meeting, please click here.
We appreciate having the participation of those members who attended, and hope to see even more at our next meeting in Las Vegas on October 24th and 25th.
Jack Evans
NATA ASC Chairman | |
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| Challenging A Law Is Sometimes Not Enough, Making Sure It Is Easily Understood And Fairly Applied Is Sometimes As Important |
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| As I have stated many times in person and in my latest GHI Column, generally when all airline services companies are required to pay the same tax or fee, pay their employees the same or similar benefits or are otherwise treated in the same manner, there should be little effect on the bottom line since these additional costs can and should be passed on to the airline customer. I do understand that recently airlines have pushed back by demanding services companies absorb these new costs.
Making this worse are the efforts of airport authorities to increase revenues by increasing fees and politicians seeking to reward union constituencies by forcing new benefits on employers.
Naturally, every effort by an airport authority or governmental entity to increase a services company’s costs must be challenged. These challengers should be backed by all services providers since they are in the industry’s best interests. For this reason among others, our law firm has retained consultants at many gateway airports to lobby airport authorities and a former FAA airports official to help us frame challenge, including Part 13/Part 16 challenges to an airport authority’s actions.
However, there will be times when a fee increase or benefit requirement cannot be successfully challenged. At these times, it is in the industry’s best interest to make sure that such fee increase or benefit requirement is imposed equally on all industry participants. Perhaps more importantly, these requirements must be easily understood.
What bothered me about the recent additional benefit and wage requirements at LAX was not only the additional cost imposed on the service industry at a time of economic downturn, but the way the ordinance was handled. First, it was written in such a way that there were different interpretations of its implications. Second, these different interpretations almost caused uneven implementation.
Airport authorities are required by federal law to treat similarly situated companies (most airline services companies are similarly situated) in a similar manner and impose similar costs. By failing to draft an easily understood ordinance, Los Angeles violated at least the spirit of this law.
Thus, in the future, not only should the imposition of new fees and benefit requirements be challenged, we must also make sure that any new requirements are easily understood and fairly implemented.
Len Kirsch | |
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| New 2010 NATA Airline Services Council Brochure Now Available For Member Use |
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| NATA recently updated and published its 2010 NATA Airline Services Council (NATA ASC) brochure. This brochure provides information on the latest activities that the NATA ASC is undertaking, including issues, meeting schedule and member listing.
The 2010 NATA ASC brochure is now available for download by clicking here.
Those members interested in receiving professionally printed hard copies of this brochure may contact Eric Byer on the NATA staff. | |
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| New NATA ASC Logo Available For Member Use |
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| NATA has created a new NATA ASC logo that members can use on company stationery, publications and their Web site. The association recently provided members with two types of logos that members can use as appropriate. Members wishing to secure the new logo may do so by contacting Eric Byer.
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| LSST Features ServiceElements’ Dr. Martinez On Customer Service |
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| Come build career knowledge, confidence and success with NATA's Line Service Supervisor Training (LSST) Seminar in Windsor Locks. The LSST contains the most comprehensive technical line service and supervisory skills training in one place, at one time. This course also satisfies 14 CFR Part 139 Section 321 for fire safety training certification, an FAA requirement of line service supervisors to be completed every 24 calendar months.
This seminar also features several engaging speakers including Dr. Mario Martinez from ServiceElements. Martinez energizes LSST participants to problem solve together and come up with winning manager styles while challenging the group to START doing something new and STOP doing something they know they must.
 More About Mario Martinez, PhD
Mario Martinez PhD is a senior curriculum development analyst and facilitator for ServiceElements. He has worked as a professional speaker since 1997 delivering seminars in management, leadership, and various topics related to human and organizational dynamics. He also teaches graduate courses in the Higher Education Leadership program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and has taught in the MBA program at San Diego State University. Martinez has published several academic, professional and trade books including “Building a Customer Service Culture: The Seven ServiceElements to Success.” Prior to embarking on his speaking and writing career, he was a financial analyst for Hewlett Packard Corporation and later a strategy analyst in the Governor’s Office in the state of Arizona.
Links to articles by Martinez:
The Reality of Service Culture
What’s Your Value Proposition?
LSST Seminar Benefits:
- Discover your strengths and weaknesses through self-assessments
- Learn to promote safety and synergy through teamwork
- Instill a culture based on trust, partnership and respect
- Analyze the technical information crucial to performing your job
- Make your FBO more efficient by learning how to engage and motivate your staff
Click here for more details and to register for NATA's Line Service Supervisor Training Seminar in Windsor Locks, CT. | |
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| NATAPAC Reminder |
| Solicitation Authorization Forms Due |
| Every three years, because NATA is a not-for-profit 501(c)(6) organization, we must obtain written approval from NATA’s member companies before soliciting contributions from those companies’ employees for NATAPAC. Completing and returning the form in no way requires you to make a contribution; however, signing the authorization form allows you to stay informed and contribute to NATAPAC.
In the past, NATA has been successful in contributing to Members of Congress who have proven their leadership in supporting general aviation. NATAPAC will support the congressional campaigns of Members of Congress who support aviation businesses, regardless of party affiliation! With political fundraising and campaign activity at an all time high, we cannot afford to allow other interest groups to define the issues that will impact our members. To stay informed about NATAPAC, fill out the attached authorization form today!
To view the NATAPAC Chairman’s letter, please click here.
To view the NATAPAC brochure, including authorization form, please click here.
Additional information regarding NATAPAC can be found at www.nata.aero/natapac. | |
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| Quick Facts On Aviation Fuel Quality Control |
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| All aviation quality control systems are composed of many overlapping layers of protection from fuel contamination and degradation. One of those layers is the fuel filter differential pressures test. This test is designed to measure the difference in the pressure of the fuel flowing into and out of a filter vessel. Since fuel flowing across any filter experiences a pressure drop, this test provides an indication of the relative “health” of the filter elements. Gradual increases in the differential pressure across a set of filter elements over time is natural as those elements slowly become “clogged” with contaminates. A sudden increase in differential pressure provides an indication that a large amount of contaminates have been removed from the fuel by the elements. A sudden drop in differential pressure is an indication that an element seal may be leaking and allowing fuel to bypass the filters altogether. Either of these situations would require further investigation by a trained technician to ensure that fuel quality is maintained.
One of the often misunderstood intricacies of the differential pressure test is the relationship between fuel flow rate and pressure drop. The results of the differential pressure test are directly proportionally to the fuel flow rate (i.e. the higher the flow rate, the higher the pressure drop). This property of the differential pressure test is important to understand so an accurate record of differential pressure can be maintained. | |
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