PrimeFlight Aviation Services: 2021 Product Leader of the Year

The effects of the global pandemic, brought on by COVID-19, were felt widely across the aviation industry. PrimeFlight Aviation Services wasn’t spared from this impact, but the company was in a position to assist in its own recovery.

Having acquired ProFlo Industries in March 2020, the ground service provider had access to engineering and manufacturing capabilities. The ProFlo team put those capabilities to use and developed PrimeFlightUV – a disinfection system harnessing UV-C light.

“Our line of surface disinfection units was born from the pandemic and our desire to get our employees back to work,” says Terry Bosserman, president of ProFlo Industries, a PrimeFlight company.

“As a service company, our work and success are heavily tied to the health of the aviation industry,” he adds. “We understood that to get back to work, there was a need to make the public feel safe when traveling. Our solutions are aimed at disinfecting key touchpoints throughout commercial travel, making airports a safer place for travel.”

Responding to the downturn in airline traffic, the company designed and developed its disinfection solution and put the first PrimeFlightUV unit into service in September 2020.

Now, there are approximately two dozen surface disinfection units in use today, with PrimeFlight teams at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), San Francisco International Airport (SFO), William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport (BAQ) in Colombia actively using them with approximately 20 more units in production.

For these efforts, PrimeFlight Aviation Services has been named the Ground Support Worldwide 2021 Product Leader of the Year.

UV-C’s Place in Aviation

The first version of the PrimeFlightUV surface disinfection units launched was designed for wheelchair disinfection. However, PrimeFlight has several other units in various design phases.

“These additional units are aimed to disinfect security bins, luggage, galley carts, aircraft interiors and more,” Bosserman explains.

Earlier this year, the Transport Security Administration (TSA) began testing the company’s security bin/luggage disinfection system at DCA.

“We have additional designs in research and development,” Bosserman adds. “We are prepared to meet the unique needs of our industry and customers.”

The UV-C technology incorporated into PrimeFlightUV leverages ultraviolet light disinfection technology that has been used in medical facilities, water treatment facilities and the food and beverage industry for some time, according to Bosserman.

UV-C light destroys the outer protein coating of viruses, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus, effectively inactivating the virus.

“Because this proven technology is at the foundation of our designs, our mission was to ensure we were housing these bulbs in a way that targeted the items or areas to be disinfected and that we are controlling the output of the lamps while minimizing potential for UV-C leakage,” he says. “We conducted extensive testing to ensure our units were effective in disinfecting various test items, and we continue to make adjustments to our designs to get the most trusted result possible.”

Bosserman says to ensure the virus is properly inactivated, company engineers targeted UV-C light and adjusted the wattage and treatment time to ensure the units meet or exceed disinfection thresholds.

PrimeFlightUV units offer an enclosed design, complete with UV-C shielding, emergency stop features, deadman controls and secured power switches. Bosserman says these features are important to aviation customers.

“All of our designs feature UV shields to ensure that they are not only safe for operators, but also onlookers and passengers,” he points out. “This is a key safety feature with the need to have our PrimeFlightUV units placed in high traffic areas.”

The UV-C bulbs housed in the units are built to last for 10,000 hours and are easily replaced.

Bosserman says it is a point of pride for the company to have designed UV-C disinfection solutions specifically for the industry.

“Our designs are tailored to the aviation industry and are aimed at making the public feel safe while traveling,” Bosserman says. “Since PrimeFlight employees, in many cases, would be among those operating these products, we have a unique understanding of the limitations we need to work around, how treatment times can affect operations and more.”

Manufacturing Efforts

Both the PrimeFlight Aviation Services and ProFlo Industries teams have extensive experience in the industry, having been established for more than 40 and 20 years, respectively.

PrimeFlight’s acquisition of ProFlo in March of 2020 allowed the industry veterans to work together on a solution to the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This acquisition allowed PrimeFlight to not only support the rapid growth of its fueling operations, but added manufacturing capabilities for projects such as PrimeFlightUV,” Bosserman says.

In addition to acquiring US-based ProFlo Industries, PrimeFlight also has a majority stake in ProFlo LATAM, based in Colombia and within the South American Free Trade Zone. ProFlo LATAM started in 2016 as an expansion project of ProFlo Industries in Latin America, and they support manufacturing projects exported to Africa, Asia, East Europe and Latin America.

“Their team of 14 full-time engineers, including mechanical, electrical, electronic and 3D design, as well as their QC manager with more than 30 years of experience in automation and assembly line productions, paired with their 75 highly qualified technicians, including electricians, mechanics and certified welders, have been instrumental in the design and roll out of PrimeFlightUV,” says Bosserman. “With a nimble team and in-house production of these units, we are able to offer customizable designs to meet specific airport and aviation requirements.”

More units are in transit to the United States from the ProFlo LATAM facility.

Initial feedback has been positive, according to Bosserman. He says the company has worked with its operations team and several customers to continue to refine the original wheelchair disinfection unit, in particular.

“In the early design stages, we added several safety features, including a deadman control and reverse capability to ensure our designs meet the needs of our industry,” he says. “We have tested our wheelchair disinfection unit at several hub airports to ensure it can be seamlessly integrated into operations, and as we received positive feedback, we began to roll them out to additional airports.”

The company’s portable wheelchair disinfection unit is currently in use at several airports across the U.S., and the TSA is currently testing PrimeFlight’s security bin disinfection units at DCA.

Additional prototypes are in development for aircraft cabin, galley cart, baggage, cargo and equipment disinfection.

“We are proud to have put the first designs of their kind in use so quickly after the introduction of COVID-19,” Bosserman says. “As a service company, we are proud to be able to tailor UV-C disinfection solutions to our industry.”