For more than two years, I have wanted to form an Editorial Advisory Board comprised of individuals representing various segments of the industry including suppliers, ground handlers, airlines, organizations, etc. who keep their pulse on the industry and can serve in an advisory position to Ground Support magazine regarding trends, new products, technologies, R&D, forecasts and the like. As you will see (below), the board has finally come to fruition and the board members are all highly knowledgeable professionals, each with 20-plus years of experience in aviation. This is a two-year position, meeting via teleconference three to four times a year. I would like to thank all of those who volunteered and please join me in welcoming the new GS Editorial Advisory Board. In our next issue, I will formally introduce our board members.
Last month, during my visit to Dallas for the June/July cover story, I had the opportunity to tour Unitron Inc., which specializes in the design and development of solid-state power conversion equipment. I met with Jennifer Kinser, marketing services manager, and Carroll Bogard, director of sales. In the past five years, Unitron has been putting more of an emphasis on its onboard equipment with research and design of a new, more high-tech generation of power conversion equipment. I asked both Carroll and Jennifer: What are your current concerns; what keeps you awake at night? Their response: “Fuel prices are a huge concern right now, how that’s going to affect interest rates. The situation in the Middle East is another big concern. And right now, with inflation still down, unemployment seems to be low, particularly in this area. There was a time you could go out on any given day and find five engineers. Now that’s not the case anymore. They are specialized people and hard to come by. Finally, prices in general seem to be going up a bit yet our business remains very competitive. Our selling prices aren’t going up. Everybody is trying to stay competitive. It’s like the airlines … we are not going anywhere … at least not yet.”
This month I will be visiting Fortbrand and Sage Parts in New York. I will keep you posted.
As always, thanks for reading!
Karen Reinhardt
P.S. I am reaching out to you, our readers, to submit ideas for topics of importance/interest for next year’s GS Sessions at Aviation Industry Expo. You are the pulse, and with your assistance I will keep that heart beating! Please e-mail me as soon as possible at [email protected].
