An estimated 21,000 business aircraft flights between mainland USA and Hawaii over the next 10 years would be "eliminated" by the Federal Aviation Administration's proposal to impose new extended twin-engine operations (ETOPS) requirements on the FAR Part 135 industry, according to comments submitted by leading US charter and fractional ownership company NetJets.
The Columbus, Ohio-based operator has joined US business aviation trade bodies, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) in slamming the FAA for failing to consider "obvious" reasons why the rule, as currently proposed, cannot be met.
The industry is calling for a 90-day extension on the comment period on the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for which the official comment deadline has passed.
In its comment to the FAA, NetJets urges the agency "to consider removing the Part 135 requirements from this NPRM and reassign the tasking to the current Part 125/135 Aviation Rulemaking Committee. Expertise exists in that group to propose a solution to the perceived problem that was not available to the ETOPS Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee," it says.
NetJets, NBAA and NATA draw attention to the fact that that the manufacturers' specifications for most types used in Part 135 operations do not cover performance that would enable ETOPS route planning to be calculated or the operations assessed, and the requirement for specialist dispatchers would make it impossible to offer flights from the often remote originating airfields.
Source: Flight International
