The pilot shortage hits private aviation, possibly fueled by growth in business aviation, as airlines find SAFs cost prohibitive, and investors pile into Archer Aviation stock.
The dynamics in aviation are changing with new technology, disruptions, and booming segments that were lagging just a few years ago, while expectations for some developments, such as sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), are not going as well as intended. This could cause major shake-ups in the industry.
To learn more about the changing landscape within the aviation industry, see the articles below.
Private Aviation Has a Pilot Shortage. Here’s Why.
After Delta, United, and American Airlines recently announced that they were hiking salaries, private aviation’s pilot shortage suddenly became even more acute, in no way aided by the fact that some commercial airlines now pay six-figure signing bonuses. According to industry surveys, corporate pilots sometimes earn just 60 percent of their commercial-airline peers’ salaries during a 30-year career.
“The lure of a much bigger salary can be hard to fight,” says Sheryl Barden, CEO of Aviation Personnel International, who has seen veteran pilots from Fortune 500 flight departments—long viewed as the job to retire from—leave for the airlines. The outflow is also a lasting side effect from the pandemic.
By Michael Verdon | Yahoo
Business Aviation Is Climbing Fast Despite Private Jet Opposition
In Las Vegas, when it comes to conventions, one of the changes that’s constant are the badges.
On Thursday, as I walked through the lobby of the Wynn, it was filled with lanyards indicating the wearers were attending the National Business Aviation Association’s annual Business and Aviation Conference, known as BACE.
By Friday, the name tags were for something else, from companies selling electronics to medical devices and chemicals.
These conventioneers had no idea that the over 20,000 folks attending BACE, most of whom had just left, play an important role in helping their industries succeed.
By Doug Gollan | Forbes
Wizz Air chief: Sustainable aviation fuel’s journey to affordability will be ‘slow’
Wizz Air’s UK chief has warned it will be a “slow process” to make sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) affordable, tempering expectations for the substance that has become a key pillar of the sector’s route to decarbonise.
Marion Geoffroy told City A.M. “it’s going to be a slow process because of course, we need to have the fuel, the SAF, available and at a cost, which… it was until recently, seven times more expensive than fossil fuels. We cannot afford that.”
Geoffroy said the biofuel, which is made from food waste such as cooking oil and plants, was “getting cheaper as production increases” and ahead of looming mandates from the EU and UK.
But she warned “we need to have production available at affordable costs and that’s going to take a long time until we get to new technologies.”
By Guy Taylor | City AM
Archer Aviation: Invest Alongside The Big Investors
While the business model of the air taxi business has been questioned, Archer Aviation (NYSE:ACHR) continues to grab investments from large partners. The eVTOL company continues to make substantial progress towards aircraft certification and service launch by 2025. My investment thesis remains ultra Bullish on the stock trading at only $5.
Archer Aviation is building a new aircraft, so naturally the company will need a lot of capital to build a machine in volumes costing upwards of $5 million each. The good news is that large investment partners are lining up to hand the company money, including the latest purchase from Stellantis (STLA) of 12.3 million shares at $5.68 per share for an investment of ~$70 million.
The auto manufacturer is partnering with Archer Aviation on manufacturing the eVTOLs in Georgia. Stellantis now owns 31 million shares of Archer Aviation with a valuation of $155 million.
By Stone Fox Capital | Seeking Alpha
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