14 March 2014

CEO Update

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you are all well.  It has been great to have the chance to talk and meet with many of you over the last week.  Feel free to drop in or ring us anytime. 
 
Week 2, what have we been doing? 

Attending ACMLG, ACAG and the Joint CAA/CASA Medical Group.  Some new aviation acronyms - do you know what they mean?  More on this under CAA heading below.
 
One key priority is finalising arrangements for the Aviation Leadership Summit – see announcement on venue below!
 
Another key focus is reviewing our financial position, preparing for year end (31 March) and preparing our 2015 budget.  All very necessary.
 
In summary, everything is going very well – a few minor IT headaches. 
 
Wishing you all a great weekend. 
 

Aviation Leadership Summit 2014

We are delighted to announce that our first Aviation Leadership Summit will be held at Westpac Stadium in Wellington 20-22 July 2014. Westpac Stadium is New Zealand’s premier multipurpose stadium and has hosted many world sporting and entertainment events.
 

 

THE THEME: Celebrating 100 years of aviation – The Future. 
We will celebrate what aviation has achieved over the last 100 years and look forward to what the next century will bring, operationally, technologically, economically and politically.
 
Delegates:
The Welcome Reception for all delegates will begin around 5.30pm Sunday 20 July, with the main Summit taking place on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 July.  The draft Summit agenda will be released next week.
 
Exhibitors:
Westpac Stadium offers us an exceptional conference and exhibition venue.  Exhibitor Registration will open before the end of March – get in quick for the best sites. We are holding a number of reservations and will be in touch with those companies.
 
Sponsors:
Sponsorship packages will be available before the end of March.  We look forward to working with our sponsors on this unique aviation leadership event.  We have some sponsorship requests/requirements already and will contact those companies.

 

We Want to Hear from You!  

It is important for us to hear from you about how we are doing and to help shape what we do in future.  We have created an online survey for this purpose, which will be sent out next week.  This will only take 10 mins of your time, so please help us to help you. Complete the survey by 26 March 2014 and you will go into the draw to win FREE entry to the Aviation Leadership Summit in July! This is worth over $500.

CAA Update

ACMLG
The Aviation Community Medical Liaison Group is an industry forum convened by the CAA to allow industry to have input into the CAA’s aviation medical direction and activities.  The key topic at this week’s meeting  remains the new $313 medical charge.  Industry remains very focussed on opportunities to revisit this issue, despite the recent Regulation Review Committee decision in favour of CAA.
 
We are also keen to see progress on automation of the CAA medical licensing process to drive efficiencies and reduce costs.  Since April last year Minister Brownlee has assured us that automation was being implemented.  Now it appears that this issue is being wrapped into an CAA wide IT review project.  This will significantly delay medical licensing automation and we are encouraging CAA to implement a pragmatic interim  automation solution. There are a number of existing simple solutions which could be used.
 
ACAG
The Aviation Community Advisory Group also met this week. This is an industry forum convened by the CAA to provide advice to CAA and receive feedback on issues impacting the aviation operating environment.  Two key outcomes from Thursday’s meeting – both very positive.  The current 12-14 key issues have been agreed  and will now be prioritised.   All historical issues (some of which have been around for more than 9 years) have now been allocated to analysts for action.   Finally, we will now see definite progress on resolving these historical issues.  More detail will follow in due course.  
 

Flight simulator ready for take off

Congratulations to the Northland Emergency Services Trust.  Using good kiwi ingenuity, they’ve integrated 5 computers with the cockpit and fuselage of an old Sikorsky helicopter from Japan, and created a state of the art sim.   Pete Turnbull says this cost them about 15% of the usual flight training device ‘and in many respects it’s better than anything else around’.  It has also been certified by CAA. More: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/rescue-pilots-build-flight-simulator-video-5861222

We are now on Weibo! 

There is now an Aviation NZ page on the major Chinese social media site, Weibo.  This allows us to talk regularly to influencers and purchasers about the New Zealand aviation offer.  We can now include content from you, at an annual fee of $500 per company. Interested? Contact John Nicholson at john.nicholson@aviationnz.co.nz


 

Would you like to save 40% of your total energy cost?

Would you like a $5000 contribution to an energy audit?

We have negotiated with EECA (the Energy and Efficiency and Conservation Authority) to run an energy audit and conservation programme in the aviation industry. They will co-fund 50% of the costs companies incur in undertaking the audit and implementing a conservation programme, up to $5000 each. Companies typically save 10 to 15% of their total energy costs as a result of the programme – some have achieved 40%! We now want to involve you – volunteers please. More info here

Would you like to save $200,000 pa on external suppliers?

Membership of Aviation NZ entitles companies (and employees) to N3 Cards, which improves your buying power. Over 100 suppliers belong to N3 (formerly GSB). Even if you do business with one of those suppliers, you can retain your existing relationships and access any savings available through the buying power of N3. In aviation manufacturing, it is possible to save up to 52% off the list price from one N3 supplier. Several members spent over $1m through N3 last year and saved almost $200,000. Companies such as Noel Leeming belong and your staff can buy from them – a real value add that you as an employer can give your staff.