Presidential Aviation (PRD, Fort Lauderdale Executive) is in the process of expanding its Part 135 fleet by three aircraft, chief operating officer Yoharner Echemendia told ch-aviation in an exclusive interview.

These will be two Challenger 604s and one G650, but Echemendia could not reveal the registrations of the aircraft as the process of adding them to the Presidential Aviation certificate is still ongoing.

“We tend to seek certain aircraft types. It makes it a lot easier to add them onto our charter certificate as far as the FAA is concerned,” he said, adding that the aircraft management company analyses each unit individually and brings it on board, if it is a viable addition. “That's how we've ended up with probably 10 to 12 different types of aircraft in the fleet.”

Adding new Bombardier Aerospace Challengers will mean a return for the type, as the last Challenger - specifically a Challenger 601-3A - stopped operating for Presidential Aviation in January while most aircraft of the family previously managed by the company were out of the fleet before 2021, ch-aviation data shows. It phased out the last Challenger 604 by 2015. In turn, the operator never had a G650 on its Part 135-certified fleet.

Aircraft currently on Presidential Aviation’s Part 135 certificate are two GIV-SPs, one Hawker 800XP, one Learjet 60, one Citation X, two G550s, one G200, one Phenom 300E, one Falcon 7X, and one Falcon 900LX. Echemendia added that Presidential Aviation also does Part 91 management, noting that that part of the fleet includes a G450, a G200 and, until recently, a G550 which has since been sold.

Streamlining the FAA and pilot shortage

Discussing the addition of new aircraft to the fleet and cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the context of vast political pressure in the United States to improve government efficiency, spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk, Echemendia commented that it is important to work on streamlining the FAA but not in any radical way. While cooperation with the regulator is often satisfactory, he said, issues do arise sometimes in terms of how long it takes to add an aircraft to a certificate.

Echemendia especially pointed out that there are some rules in the industry that the FAA would need to reevaluate because they make “zero sense”, especially in relation to pilot training.

“For example, imagine you are a GIV pilot and you have 1,500 hours in the type, so not total time but in type. Part 91: you can fly any GIV in the country, it doesn’t matter where it is. But, if you were going to fly Part 135 commercially, you need to go to a school under a specific certificate, and you cannot fly Part 135 under any other certificate, even though it is the same exact airplane. You are an experienced pilot. You are a GiV pilot. That makes zero sense,” the COO said, adding that such policies are contributing to a shortage of pilots in the industry and benefiting only training centres.

“It’s too early to tell what will happen at the FAA, but we will have to wait a little bit and see what kind of changes they do. I hope it's for the better,” the COO said.

Besides the pilot shortage, Echemendia pointed out that there is also a technician shortage. “AOG would get solved quicker earlier. Now, it takes a little longer to get support sometimes. That's why a lot of times we fly our own technicians to aircraft,” he said.

Supply chain issues

The COO stressed that supply chain issues are affecting older aircraft that are no longer manufactured the most. “As far as for new aircraft, it really depends. We have all sorts of airplanes. We have G200s and some parts are pretty difficult to come by. The GIV is an older aircraft, but it's an aircraft that was mass-produced. So you have a lot of parted-out aircraft and hence more of a stockpile of parts,” he explained. “Then we have newer airplanes, for example the Phenom 300, an aircraft that's still in production, so it's easy to get parts.

However, manufacturer support plays a key role too, Echemendia added. “Gulfstream Aerospace is renowned for having probably the best support in the business. That's something where, if you have a problem with a Gulfstream, you go Gulfstream and you're going to get help right away.”

He was more critical of Embraer’s support for the sole Phenom 300 in Presidential Aviation’s fleet. “I would imagine that it's because they tend to prioritise NetJets and Flexjet because obviously they've bought billions of dollars of orders, but to be honest, the treatment that my owner as a standalone owner has gotten, it's been pretty disappointing,” he said adding that he would not recommend anybody to buy a brand new Phenom 300 under a warranty as a standalone owner. “It's gotten slightly better, but we've had some major issues,” Echemendia said.

Heavy charter focus

When picking aircraft to manage, Presidential Aviation prefers working with owners who prefer to have their aircraft chartered out more extensively.

“We tend to seek out owners that utilise our aircraft but also want to charter it a little bit more than usual,” the COO said, noting that the company has aircraft that do from 250 hours of charter operations per year to 600 hours.

Echemendia added that Presidential Aviation’s core business remains aircraft management but that it also has a Part 145 maintenance facility and helps owners with aircraft sales and purchases as part of “long-term relationships” the company seeks with owners.

Surge in demand in Texas

Most of Presidential Aviation’s aircraft are based at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, but others in Florida are at Boca Raton and Miami Opa-Locka. “There are also aircraft based in Philadelphia, Houston, Ohio, California, and North Carolina,” Echemendia stated.

In terms of charter flights, the company focuses on the East Coast of the US. Nevertheless, according to Echemendia, there has been a recent surge in demand from Houston-based energy companies for charter flights.

“We do see a lot of growth in the Texas area - Houston in particular where the energy companies are,” he noted.

The American Petroleum Institute, BP, Baker Hughes, CITGO Petroleum Corporation, ConocoPhillips, and Enbridge are among the energy companies with large offices in Houston, data from the Energy Corridor business district shows.

“There’s a shift, there are a lot of businesses going into Texas, moving from other states, due to the tax situation in Texas, which is pretty attractive,” the Presidential Aviation executive said. “And then, California is always a good market. We've always had a presence there.”