Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber

Jet Support Services Inc. (JSSI, Booth C8934) has added four new advisory services, created an asset valuation tool and announced a new agreement to manage maintenance events with insurance underwriter Starr Aviation.

 


The maintenance event management service collaboration complements JSSI’s maintenance programs, which provide coverage for nearly all aircraft types and range from engine programs to JSSI’s tip-to-tail program for the entire aircraft. Under the new agreement, when a Starr Aviation customer has a maintenance-related insurance claim, primarily involving engines and APUs, JSSI will oversee the shop event and make sure the job is done correctly and efficiently.

 


The agreement covers incidents that typically result in an insurance claim, for example a birdstrike that requires an engine teardown. Under the way this is now handled, the customer arranges the repair and bills the insurance company. It has not always been certain that the customer has sought the most efficient repair, nor has it alway been clear how to share the cost between the insurer and customer.

 


JSSI customers insured by Starr Aviation can now take advantage of the event-management service to help keep costs down and get the work done more efficiently, thus reducing downtime, thanks to JSSI’s expertise with managing maintenance events.

 


“We saw this as a perfect opportunity to join together and give the client a uniform approach,” said Kyle Sparks, chief underwriting officer for Starr Companies. “There is one engine expert to manage that.” Before this agreement, Starr worked with its internal claims department and third-party independent adjustors who had engine experience. “Now we’re bringing the wealth and knowledge of JSSI to manage this process better,” he said. “This drives down cost, using JSSI expertise, and also gets our clients’ aircraft back in the air faster. If we’re able to manage maintenance costs on the repair side, we’re able to get and hold better rates for our clients.”

 


According to JSSI president and CEO Neil Book, 2,000 aircraft are on JSSI programs, and the company manages about 8,000 maintenance events every year. “That’s scheduled and unscheduled across virtually every made and model of business jet and turboprop. We’ve got teams of technical advisors and product line specialists around the world managing customer events. Starr Aviation is leveraging our skillset and maintenance shop relationships to deliver value [to its customers].” JSSI helps lower turntime for maintenance on behalf of Starr Aviation customers and also reduce the cost of those events because of JSSI’s pricing power and parts inventory, and also by making sure the work is billed for accurately.

 


If the Starr Aviation customer’s aircraft is already on a JSSI program, then there is no charge for maintenance event management. If not on a JSSI program, there is “a fee structure between JSSI and Starr,” according to Book, “for us to use our resources and team and expertise to manage it from start to finish.”

 


For Starr and JSSI customers, there is an added benefit, said Sparks. In this case, Starr will add a $50,000 betterment to the customer’s insurance policy. This means that if a part being replaced had, say, 50 percent of life remaining, Starr will pay for a replacement part that could have more life than 50 percent, for up to an additional cost of $50,000.

 


The four new advisory services added by JSSI include asset inspection, aircraft appraisal, maintenance cost planning and maintenance event management. JSSI also launched a new asset-valuation tool, to help provide aircraft value information to clients.

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