AircraftOwner Online

In our last post we talked about some of the new fees airlines are charging to stopgap losses. While we understand that imposing fees for extra or unusual services can be a good way to recoup losses without raising ticket prices, we wonder if a consumer backlash isn't developing that will hurt the airline industry. Perhaps instead of "nickel and diming passengers to death" (a sentiment expressed by the guy sitting next to me on a recent flight), airlines should consider a few less visible solutions.

Swapping out-dated ground handling equipment that is expensive to operate and maintain in favor of energy efficient, ergonomic aircraft tugs can offer airlines and FBOs significant savings and practical advantages without negatively impacting customer relations.

• Lindy's battery-powered aircraft tugs are more energy efficient and run greener and cleaner that old-fashioned energy-gobbling gas-powered tugs.
• Unlike noisy gas-powered tugs built on lawn mower engines, Lindy's battery- operated electric ;aircraft tractors run quietly, decreasing noise pollution.
• Streamlined Lindy's aircraft tows can be stored in any empty corner. They don't require the massive storage commitment of their behemoth-sized gas-powered counterparts.
• The ergonomic design of Lindy';s aircraft tows protects the health and safety of your workers, eliminating the risk of potentially debilitating musculoskeletal injuries from moving heavy aircraft.
• Ergonomics is proven to decrease workplace injury and its associated costs, significantly decreasing medical costs, insurance premiums, workers' compensation expenses, and expensive rehabilitation expenses.
• Ergonomic equipment like Lindy's ergonomic aircraft tractors decrease employee break times, absenteeism and eliminate lost work days due to muscle strain and injury. The bottom line is workers are happier and more productive.

Savvy airlines and FBOs are replacing old-fashioned, gas-powered aircraft tugs with Lindy's new, battery-powered, ergonomic aircraft tugs; shouldn't you be one of them? To find out more, visit the Lindbergh Aircraft Tug Co. website.

A year ago FBOs were sitting pretty. Corporate aircraft traffic was cruising and not a cloud marred the bright blue skies. The future looked bright for FBO owners. Of course, that was before the economy went into free fall, pulling the airline industry and FBOs along with it into a downward spiral. Now a good month sees a 3% decline in FBO traffic with many bases experiencing monthly declines of 20% and more. The key to FBO survival is finding ways to do more with less.

Wisely chosen ground equipment can help FBOs cut costs and maximize use of the smaller workforces mandated by slack customer traffic. Preference should be given to aircraft tow equipment that combines universal use with versatility:

• Aircraft tow equipment that allows a single worker to move heavy aircraft that would otherwise require the muscle of two or more workers.
• Ergonomically-designed aircraft tugs that allow any worker, no matter his/her size or strength, to safely maneuver aircraft. Because ergonomic tug equipment is designed to accommodate any worker, maximum use can be made of smaller workforces, allowing FBO management to make more effective use of available workers.
• Ergonomically-designed aircraft towing equipment significantly decreases risk of injury from pushing and pulling heavy aircraft, making it safe enough for customers to use. Offering customers more self-serve services is one way to cut FBO costs.
• Versatile aircraft tow equipment that can easily accommodate aircraft of various configurations maximizes equipment use while minimizing cost. For example, Lindy's aircraft tug work great on tail dragger aircraft and several models accommodate aircraft with and without wheel pants. Employing versatile equipment decreases equipment costs.
• Compact aircraft tractors like Lindy's walk-behind aircraft tugs require minimal storage space.
• A green alternative to gas-powered tugs, quiet, energy-efficient, battery-operated aircraft tows decrease fuel consumption and expenditures.

For information on Lindy's versatile, ergonomically-designed aircraft tugs, visit theLindbergh Aircraft Tug Co. website.

It can be a real strain to get a heavy airplane up the incline that seems to lead into most hangers and over that annoying lip right where the hanger meets the apron or ground. The laws of physics tell us that it takes more force to push a heavy object uphill, but for some reason the amount of muscle effort required to maneuver a heavy aircraft over that tiny elevated bump at the edge of the hanger seems worthy of Hercules or the Hulk. In that 1/2 inch to an inch of pavement differential lies tremendous potential risk for injury.

Anyone who has used resistance training to build up his abs knows that muscles strain harder against resistance. When the airplane wheel bumps up against that lip at the edge of the hanger, it creates resistance. Generally, when pushing or pulling a heavy object, the greatest effort is required to overcome inertia and put that object in motion. However, the resistance created when a wheel impacts an obstacle requires similar excess effort to overcome the resistance to forward movement created by the obstacle. The body's muscles are forced to work harder which can result in painful muscle strain. The risk increases as FBO workers perform this operation again and again, day after day.

The same type of problem can occur at small grass and dirt airstrips where airplanes must be manually maneuvered across bumpy fields. Each step across the field can require unanticipated fluctuations in muscle exertion as you push and pull airplanes over small bumps caused by weather or frost upheaval.

Lindy's AircraftCaddys are ergonomically designed to eliminate muscle strain caused by pushing or pulling heavy aircraft over uneven surfaces, up inclines and over annoying bumps at hanger entrances. Lindy's aircraft tractors andaircraft tugs allow you to maneuver airplanes up to 35,000 pounds with ease. Visit the Lindbergh Aircraft Tug Co. website for more info.

Despite current problems, European commercial aircraft builder Airbus predicted a rising global market for the airline industry over the next 20 years. Reported in the Wall Street Journal online, the French-based aeronautic manufacturer predicted demand for 25,000 new aircraft worth $3.1 trillion over the next two decades, an annual passenger traffic growth rate of 4.9%. The world's biggestaircraft manufacturer, Airbus expects airline manufacturing growth to come from emerging economies,airline expansion,discount carriers and replacement of aging airplanes.

As WSJ points out, the new prediction represents a 2.9% increase over the 24,300 planes/$2.8 trillion market prediction Airbus made just 19 months ago in February 2008. That's good news for the aviation industry. If airline manufacturers are starting to see light at the end of the recession's bleak, black tunnel, an industry turnaround can’t be too far off in the future. Don't look for blue skies yet though. Airbus expects the current passenger traffic retraction (pegged at 2% in 2009) to continue through the end of this year before a gradual expansion (Airbus predicts 4.6%) begins in 2010. Of course, for the first couple of years we'll just be climbing back up to previous norms. But in the long term, airline travel and the myriad businesses and people it supports is expected to recover and prosper.

Airbus expects even greater and faster growth in airline cargo traffic as businesses ramp back up to fill restocking orders and meet increasing customer demand, particularly in developing countries. Airbus predicts 5.2% average annual growth in cargo traffic over the next 20 years requiring 3,440 additional air freighters. While most of these freighters are expected to be passenger jet conversions, a need for 850 new aircraft is predicted.

Airbus' predictions mean a lot of airplanes are going to need to be pushed around hangers and airports in the future. Lindy's aircraft tugs and aircraft tractorswill ensure that you're ready to meet the challenges of the future.

Pundits are calling it the "Silver Tsunami." It's the graying of the American work force. Today, 19% of American workers are age 55 or older. By 2016, that number will climb to 25%, according to a recent survey by the independent Pew Research Group. America's most numerous generation, Baby Boomers are pushing retirement back and working longer. The reasons are numerous:

 

• Better healthcare has extended the average U.S. lifespan to 78, and many Americans are living into their 80s (the country's fastest growing demographic) and even 90s.
• Many retirees bored with retirement are returning to work part-time and even full-time or are seeking second careers.
• Loss of retirement investment value and savings during the recent recession has forced many older Americans to push retirement back by a number of years. They simply can't afford to quit working.

With fewer young workers moving up from the next generation to replace aging workers, businesses can't afford to lose the experience and knowledge older workers bring to the table. Adopting ergonomic practices and utilizing ergonomic equipment will be key to accommodating America's aging work force and essential to avoiding age-discrimination suits.

As bodies age they lose strength and flexibility. Ergonomically-designed equipment like Lindy's AircraftCaddys is designed to remove physical effort from common tasks such as transporting aircraft at airports, FBO, corporate and private air fields and ground operations. Like all carefully designed ergonomic equipment, Lindy's aircraft tugs and plane tows reduce the risk of injury that can occur while performing pushing, pulling, lifting and transporting tasks.

Lindy's aircraft tows and aircraft tractors allow a single individual to easily move aircraft up to 35,000 pounds. Ergonomic design eliminates back aches and muscle strains that can injure and disable airline and FBO workers of any age and particularly older workers. Lindy's ergonomically designed airplane tugs allows older workers to perform ground control tasks with the same ease as younger, stronger, more agile workers.

"Recession Is Over" headlines blared last week. After analyzing key economic data for August, the nation's top economists assigned the most severe recession since the Great Depression to history. A 12.8% annual increase in the index of leading indicators over the past three months led economic analysts to proclaim that the "contraction" has ended. For the first time in 19 months manufacturing indicators rose, led by a surge of new orders. August also saw a slowdown in the job-loss rate, although unemployment continued to rise in about half of the country's major metropolitan areas.

However, pronouncements of the recession's end were quickly tempered by cautionary statements that recovery will take time, possibly years. And don't expect things to return to the way they were. The depth of the recession and the unsustainability of the inflated economy that preceded it are forcing America to recalibrate. No one's sure what the new "normal" will look like, but changes are coming.

So what does this mean for the aviation industry? With money tight, savings decimated and jobs on the line, Americans have been traveling less. In August, American Airlines reported an 8.1% decrease in traffic, and United's traffic was down 5.8%. As demand has declined, major carriers have reduced seat capacity. In August, American’s capacity dropped 9.4%; United’s fell 8.9%. International carriers which draw from a greater passenger pool have experienced less loss. Continental Airlines reported a 3.9% decline in August traffic resulting in a 6% reduction in seat capacity.

On the plus side, offering passengers fewer flight choices has increased load factors, or number of filled seats per plane, allowing major carriers to operate more efficiently. American's load factor rose from 83.5% to 84.7%, and United's load factor increased from 84.3% to 87.2% over the past year. Continental reported record load factors.

Ergonomic design is one of the features that sets Lindy's aircraft tugs above the competition. Ergonomics is the science of fitting the equipment to the person, not forcing the person to contort his body into uncomfortable positions to operate the equipment. Most equipment is built as one size fits all. But we all know that people come in all shapes and sizes: tall and short, fat and thin, muscle-bound and average Joe or Jill. Ergonomic design is the great equalizer. Ergonomics makes it possible for a 24-year-old, weightlifting stud and a feisty, 55-year-old grandmother to operate the same motor-powered aircraft tow with equal ease. Ergonomics takes physical size and ability out of the work equation.

Ergonomics was developed to minimize the overexertion and cumulative trauma that often occur during manual lifting, pushing, pulling and, stretching tasks, such as stacking heavy airplanes in a hangar or moving them onto the flight line. Particularly when such tasks must be performed repeatedly, damage to soft muscle tissues especially of the back and shoulders can occur. When the burden of maneuvering heavy airplanes is shifted from the operator to the material handling equipment, as it is in the ergonomic design of Lindy's aircraft tractor, inappropriate exertion is eliminated and the risk of musculoskeletal injury is significantly reduced.

With pilots getting older, that's something to consider. The average age of active pilots was 52 in 2000, and more than 63,000 pilots over the age of 60 hold current medical certificates, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association website. Some pilots are still going strong into their 90s! While age doesn't affect their ability to pilot a plane, it probably affects their ability to move one without injuring themselves. The ergonomic design of Lindy's aircraft tugs decreases the chance of that happening.

Lindy's ergonomically-designed, walk-behind ;aircraft tugs are a safe alternative to gas-powered lawn-mower drive aircraft movers. As noted in our August 14 post, on a recent trip to Alaska, tugs were much in evidence at Anchorage's Ted Stevens International Airport. The world's third busiest shipping hub (after Atlanta and Hong Kong), Anchorage buzzed with tugs in constant motion towing small and mid-sized planes around the tarmac, to and from hangers, and into position on runways. Tugs competed with other planes, ground crews and equipment, and waiting passengers for space. The volume of people and equipment sharing the same small space seemed a recipe for disaster. It was the perfect application for Lindy's aircraft tugs; here's why:

• Lindy's aircraft tugs are compactly designed for quick and easy maneuverability in tight spaces. Stacking is faster and easier with Lindy's tugs than with conventional, bulky rider tugs.
• Lindy's battery-operated aircraft tugs are designed for quiet operation, diminishing hanger/tarmac noise, ensuring that operators have full use of all senses, including hearing, for maximum safety.
• Lindy's aircraft tugs are ergonomically designed to be operated by a single individual without stress or strain, protecting the health and safety of employees and allowing maximum use of personnel. One-man design makes them a perfect solution for individual owners, corporations and small FBOs.
• Lindy's walk-behind tugs are less costly than rider tugs, making them affordable for use as hanger equipment or secondary tugs when rider tugs are in use. Affordability and one-person handling makes Lindy's tugs the perfect solution for individual owners, corporations, private airstrips and smaller FBOs.
• Lindy's aircraft tugs place the nose wheel of the aircraft over the center point of the tug's drive wheels, creating better traction in Alaska's difficult weather conditions.

For more information on Lindy's Aircraft Tugs, visit our website.