Serious About Cirrus Continued from page 35 with Lancaster, the emphasis is on Cirrus, which accounts for about 50 percent of the work at LOM. “Most of the repair and service business at LOM derives from tenant aircraft on the field,” said Glover. “With the exception of composite work, we have all the same capabili- ties at Wings Field that we have at Lancaster. In addition to Cirrus, we service Cessna, Beechcraft and Piper aircraft—and we added Bellanca to our repair station certificate at that location.” According to Glover, flyAD- VANCED’s owner, de Ramel, sought the management and operations contract for LOM because of its suburban Philadelphia location which he felt presented an opportunity to operate a flight school, and a base for charter services. Currently, the charter fleet at LOM is comprised of five Cirrus aircraft—three SR22s and two SR22T models. One aircraft, an SR22, is owned by flyADVANCED, while the other four are leased from their owners for the charter work. The flight school currently employs six instructors. “flyADVANCED is a At flyADVANCED, Charter Leads When Regis de Ramel purchased Aero Ways, Inc., he saw an opportunity to build upon a well-established aviation business with solid roots at the Wilmington, Delaware Airport. “Aero Ways had been in business for about 15 years, and had an established aircraft manage- ment and charter business, along with a mainte- nance facility, and an FBO,” de Ramel explained. “It presented a vertically integrated company that was very much in line with what I wanted to do.” The flyADVANCED charter operation continues to be based at the Wilmington Airport, providing aircraft manage- ment and on-demand charter. Currently, the managed/ charter fleet consists of 36 aircraft, 11 of which are turbine powered; ranging in size from a Gulfstream IV-SP to a Cirrus SR22. The plan is to bring additional aircraft under management and onto the charter certificate. As de Ramel pointed out, flyADVANCED has North Atlantic Track authority, which authorizes U.S.-Europe operations. In October 2016, flyADVANCED was granted Wyvern Wingman certification, which means that it complies with all IS-BAO (International Standards—Business Aircraft Operation) Stage II standards. “That is about the highest safety audit in charter,” said de Ramel. “In fact, I understand that only 101 on-de- mand charter operators, worldwide, have Wingman 36 certification.” He added that flyADVANCED also holds an ARG/US Gold rating, and expects to receive the ARG/US Platinum rating, sometime in 2017. Part of flyADVANCED’s success, de Ramel stressed, is that it offers the same level of service to its man- agement and charter customers, regardless of the aircraft type. At the same time, it is highly custom- ized. “No two of our managed clients are alike, and neither, of course, are their aircraft,” he said. “Because of this, we develop and carry out a manage- ment plan that each client wants. It’s a custom fit.” At ILG, flyADVANCED’s full service FBO is NATA Safety 1st certified, and FAR Part 139 compliant, which gives it commercial airline into-plane fueling authority. The FBO, one of three at ILG, is part of a complex which includes four hangars of 23,000 square feet, each. One is totally dedicated to maintenance. “Mainly, what we do there is line level work on our managed fleet, as well as transient aircraft, since we are not a FAR Part 145 certified facility at this time,” said de Ramel. “However, we are working on adding an avionics shop, which will require Part 145 repair sta- tion certification. Our plan is to accomplish this in the second quarter of 2017.” He added that the long-term plan is to expand hangar space at ILG by an addi- tional 50,000 square feet, but no date has been set. Aviation Business Journal | 4th Quarter 2016
