It was a simple idea based on a simple premise: jet engines do not give out emissions when they are switched off. So, why not use electrical power to move aircraft when they are on the ground?
It was an idea that led Isaiah Cox to found WheelTug, a company that fits electric motors into the front wheels of aircraft, enabling the plane to taxi from gate to runway without using the engines and, as such, without burning fuel and emitting carbon dioxide and other particulates.
“It replaces the front nose wheel,” Mr Cox, who is also Wheeltug's chief executive, told The National.
“It’s built into the aircraft and flies with the airplane, so everywhere you go, you have a WheelTug system and that allows the pilot to keep the engines off for longer.
“Land the plane and WheelTug will take you in [to the gate] and WheelTug will drive you out. It allows you to get all of that functionality wherever the airplane is.”
Fixing the 'Achilles heel'
Mr Cox sees ground operations as the “Achilles heel” of the aviation industry. At many of the world's airports, planes are now spending much more time on the ground than in years gone by as demand leads to more flights being offered, with corresponding air and ground traffic congestion.
At the moment, most aircraft are hooked up to a ground operations towing vehicle and moved to a point where the pilots take over and use the engines to taxi to the runway.
With WheelTug technology in the front wheel assembly, an aircraft can move, powered by electric motors connected to the plane's auxiliary power unit or APU (a small engine in the rear of the aircraft), from gate to runaway by itself. No need for a tow, no need to use the engines for propulsion beyond having to warm them up.
The technology can be retrofitted and WheelTug has 26 airlines, including flydubai, with 2,700 planes that are lined up to have the motors fitted to their front wheel assemblies.
At the moment, the company is busy acquiring certification for its technology and hopes it will be operational in the first commercial airliners by the beginning of 2026.
It is about two thirds of the way through a certification checklist with the Federal Aviation Administration in the US and, if all goes according to plan, the Spanish airline AlbaStar should be the first to operate with WheelTug tech.
“Once we enter service, expected in 2026, then we expect the rest of the airlines to essentially follow,” Mr Cox told The National. “In this industry, once an idea has been demonstrated and proven to work, everybody gets them.”
As such, if the global commercial aircraft fleet was to be completely retrofitted with WheelTug tech, Mr Cox believes that “would represent about one billion gallons of kerosene or SAF [sustainable aviation fuel] that is not burnt”.
Not burning fuel on the ground has advantages for airports, including reducing the general carbon footprint of aviation and lowering the levels of particulate matter emitted from jet engines that can be harmful the health of ground crews.
But it is also a question of time-saving. Because the WheelTug system is powered by the aircraft and used by the pilots, any delays that might have occurred due to problems with the arrival and hook-up of a ground vehicle tug are eliminated.
That time saved will allow for “more aircraft movements per gate per day”, according to Mr Cox, which can only mean more money for the airline.
The Rolls-Royce of finance plans
What may also attract more airlines to look at WheelTug's technology for their aircraft is the cost and financing.
WheelTug is using the power-by-the-hour payment system, an approach pioneered by the aero engine giant Rolls-Royce more than 50 years ago. Back then, because the upfront cost of jet engines was high, Rolls-Royce offered its clients a complete engine and accessory replacement service on a fixed-cost-per-flying-hour basis.
In WheelTug's case this means that airlines do not pay to have the motors fitted to their aircraft's wheels up front, but rather make payments from the savings they make on fuel consumption as a result.
Also, at months or a year at the outside, the break-even point for getting WheelTug technology fitted is relatively short when compared with that of a jet engine, which can take up to eight years to break even depending on its use.
WheelTug already has around 15 per cent of the world's narrow-bodied aircraft signed up for its technology and Mr Cox is expecting an avalanche of orders once certification is acquired and commercial operations begin.
But if and when this happens, the company faces becoming a takeover target or having the technology itself co-opted by the large aircraft manufacturers.
Sometimes this happens, but often the large manufacturers end up partnering with smaller suppliers.
A good example is winglets and sharklets, those upturned sections at the ends of aircraft wings designed to reduce drag. Aerospace manufacturer Aviation Partners makes winglets for Boeing and successfully sued Airbus more than a decade ago when it began making what it called sharklets. Aviation Partners claimed sharklets were essentially winglets under a different name and won an undisclosed sum.
Nonetheless, Mr Cox feels any talk of takeovers or partnerships will have to wait until WheelTug becomes commercial.
“We, as a company, are interested in airlines as our customers. We see the most opportunity for further development and for maximum leveraging working with airlines directly,” he told The National.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Manchester United v Club America
When: Thursday, 9pm Arizona time (Friday UAE, 8am)
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
The five pillars of Islam
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The biog
Name: Abeer Al Bah
Born: 1972
Husband: Emirati lawyer Salem Bin Sahoo, since 1992
Children: Soud, born 1993, lawyer; Obaid, born 1994, deceased; four other boys and one girl, three months old
Education: BA in Elementary Education, worked for five years in a Dubai school
Dubai Rugby Sevens, December 5 -7
World Sevens Series Pools
A – Fiji, France, Argentina, Japan
B – United States, Australia, Scotland, Ireland
C – New Zealand, Samoa, Canada, Wales
D – South Africa, England, Spain, Kenya
