Program To Help Aircraft Owners Finance NextGen Installations

The Aircraft Electronics Association on Thursday announced a partnership agreement with the NextGen GA Fund to accelerate the rollout of NextGen by providing access to quick, affordable financial incentives to aid aircraft owners.

The NextGen GA Fund will finance NextGen installations, using stipulated equipage families to include WAAS-capable GPS, ADS-B In, ADS-B Out, RNAV/RNP avionics, data communications, SWIM, flat-panel displays, antennas, electronic components, instrument panel modifications, and installation and certification costs.

The NextGen GA Fund is a public-private partnership formed between the U.S. Congress, the aerospace industry and the private-sector investment community. Congress approved of this program by granting federal loan guarantees found in Section 221 of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2012. The NextGen GA Fund will initially bring approximately $550 million as a capital base, eventually supporting some $1.3 billion in recurring financings to the general aviation sector during the next 10 years. The NextGen GA Fund will enable the retrofit of tens of thousands of general aviation aircraft.

Facilitated through the AEA and a special AEA web portal (available spring 2014), member repair stations will be able to quickly and seamlessly refer customers to the NextGen GA Fund as a financing alternative to help provide the necessary resources in accomplishing important upgrades for more than 157,000 general aviation aircraft.

"The NextGen GA Fund will help customers of AEA member repair shops move forward with the Jan. 1, 2020, ADS-B equipage mandate," said Paula Derks, AEA president. "It also will bring substantial private-sector capital to help pilots and aircraft owners overcome financial challenges to completing these safety-enhancing installations."

"Finding efficiencies and cost-effective ways to meet public needs has never been more important to Congress, taxpayers and aircraft owners," said Michael Dyment, general partner with the NEXA General Partnership, manager of the NextGen GA Fund. "This also protects the FAA's own $40 billion investment in NextGen infrastructure, for which aircraft equipage is essential. The debate is not about upgrading U.S. aircraft with NextGen; it's how to inexpensively finance it. The NextGen GA Fund is about doing just that. An alternative to commercial bank financing alternatives, the NextGen GA Fund offers owners of general aviation aircraft the advantage to equip for NextGen without a large cash outlay or having to mortgage the aircraft in return."

MFI: www.nexacapital.com