Dubai, UAE-based Hadid International Services (Booth 1672) is out in force at this year’s NBAA show to connect with customers in person and show off its latest products and services. “I am looking forward to catching up with customers and exploring new technology, new aircraft, innovations, and perspectives," said Jacqueline Simmons, the company's business development manager for the U.S., and Latin America. "The show is also a good place to gauge the sentiment in the market and get a feel for where the industry is heading.”

Hadid is implementing a new client portal to streamline processes and give its customers more information. “As soon as our operations team gets the information, it’s automatically updated," Simmons said. "We are supporting clients worldwide, 24/7/365, and the technology will help us to maintain a high level of supervision with live communication between our operations teams, supplier network, and customers.

“It’s going to simplify our processes and make doing business with us a lot easier," she added. "They’re updating [the portal] constantly when it comes to airport information and restrictions at airports, hours, and things like that. It is just about complete.”

Simmons said the impact of the war in Ukraine has been minimal. “Only in how to operate around that area,” she said. “I usually get my international trip-planning folks involved with any of my customers or clients that are flying in that general area. I always ensure that they’re involved, just to make certain that we’re not crossing over any boundaries or getting anywhere where we don’t need to be.”

OEM supply-chain disruptions continue to pose problems in business aviation, though. “It’s the same in any industry, whether it’s aviation, cars, or transportation,” Simmons said. “It is the shortage of supplies or parts. It’s the transportation bottlenecks, it’s the labor shortage, and whether it’s retail, aviation, or aircraft, it’s across the board. I would imagine that that will take a toll on OEM aircraft output. It is a domino effect.”

While companies like Hadid were at the mercy of what was happening in the economy, corporations and governments were working to mitigate risks by prioritizing employee health and improving supply-chain efficiency through approaches like just-in-time and automation, and by increasing supply.

“If we can get the supply-chain issues and transportation resolved and manage labor shortages, then we can get more new jets," Simmons said. "I think that’s started resolving itself a little better. As the months go by, as long as we can keep the pandemic at bay, I think we’ll be OK. We’ll rebound pretty good.”

Simmons noted that recession worries are causing pessimism. “I don’t know if a recession is looming, but they’re certainly talking about it enough in the news to make people think that a recession is coming,” she said. “It’s concerning. You also have the workforce issue and the price of fuel. It’s just a little bit of everything, even the green energy. That’s a challenge as well for some of these organizations that need to start thinking about how they’re going to address everything that’s coming at them.”

The preowned versus new business aircraft conundrum also continues. “There are people that are still purchasing new, obviously,” she said. “It all depends on their business needs. I’m trying to facilitate anybody that needs any kind of help between when they purchase the aircraft and when they do their international flights.

"Many firms are adding to their fleets," Simmons said. "Some are new airplanes. I deal with many charter companies, and they’re simply expanding their fleets because they’re getting more fractional or other business. It is important to make sure that everybody is doing what they’re supposed to do when they travel internationally, safely.”