newstodate.aero
Jun 15, 2010 (newstodate): The new Icelandic ACMI provider under formation, Proaviation is still stuck on ground - but waiting for things to move.
According to the plan, Proaviation will be an ACMI provider targeting the air cargo business with one or probably two Boeing 757 or Boeing 767 converted freighters.
-One obstacle to be overcome is to find the right aircraft available for our purpose. This is in itself not an easy task, given the existing shortage of aircraft on the world market, says Valdimar Saemundsson, Iceland Aerotech, who has served as consultant to the group and will take the position as Proaviation technical director.
-Another obstacle that has proved to be no less difficult to handle is the extremely long processing time required by Iceland's CAA to approve our application and issue the AOC necessary to take the next steps.
-The Icelandic CAA, always very helpful to the industry, was earlier able to process these things much faster, but workloads seem to be piling up, with insufficient manpower to cope with demands.
-Unfortunately, these two factor combine to land us in a "catch 22" situation; as we do not have the AOC, aircraft owners are hesitant to allocate aircraft to us in a heated market. And as we do not have the aircraft it is difficult to finalize commercial agreements with potential customers.
-The recent world economic and financial crisis have not, of course, been helpful to the project either, but we remain confident that once we receive the AOC we will realize our business plan and launch services with the right aircraft at hand, says Mr Saemundsson.
According to the plan, Proaviation will be an ACMI provider targeting the air cargo business with one or probably two Boeing 757 or Boeing 767 converted freighters.
-One obstacle to be overcome is to find the right aircraft available for our purpose. This is in itself not an easy task, given the existing shortage of aircraft on the world market, says Valdimar Saemundsson, Iceland Aerotech, who has served as consultant to the group and will take the position as Proaviation technical director.
-Another obstacle that has proved to be no less difficult to handle is the extremely long processing time required by Iceland's CAA to approve our application and issue the AOC necessary to take the next steps.
-The Icelandic CAA, always very helpful to the industry, was earlier able to process these things much faster, but workloads seem to be piling up, with insufficient manpower to cope with demands.
-Unfortunately, these two factor combine to land us in a "catch 22" situation; as we do not have the AOC, aircraft owners are hesitant to allocate aircraft to us in a heated market. And as we do not have the aircraft it is difficult to finalize commercial agreements with potential customers.
-The recent world economic and financial crisis have not, of course, been helpful to the project either, but we remain confident that once we receive the AOC we will realize our business plan and launch services with the right aircraft at hand, says Mr Saemundsson.