At a JIG Council meeting in Rome on the 26th November, JIG approved the nomination of a new JIG Chairman, Michael Sargeant from Shell Aviation to take over from Andy Chubb of Air BP.
The JIG council recognized the great work that Andy has put in over the last 3 years of his chairmanship. In that time there has been great strides made in developing the JIG standards and reducing risks and increasing safety in the industry. Additionally there has been significant growth of the wider membership of JIG, which now represents directly, or through member operations, the refueling of 40% of the world’s Jet fuel- an amazing achievement!
There has been some important collaboration with the major industry organisations like IATA, IFPQ, ICAO, A4A and the Energy Institute resulting in a strong platform for future growth and focus on the issues that will strengthen global Jet fuel operations and quality. Andy is not leaving the council and will continue to be a great strength and source of expertise in the challenges to come.
Michael has been with Shell Aviation for 15 years and has served on the JIG council for 6 years. His current role is Global Operations Manager-Operations Excellence and he has worked globally with Shell for over 25 years in Operations, Technical and Commercial roles. Michael aims to build on the strengths of JIG but identifies some major challenges for JIG and the wider industry going forward. Recent events only highlight the need for continued focus on safety throughout the Aviation fuel supply chain and JIG’s vision is to use its considerable technical expertise, established structure and resources to play a major part in that growth. The recent publication of EI/JIG1530 that has been distributed to the industry for comment, focusing on pre airport fuel operations, develops a further contribution to ICAO 9977, and benefits from comprehensive contributions from many fuel suppliers and operators, with many Oil companies continuing to give time and resources free to enhance the levels of focus on this important area.
Michael is also keen to see the membership and influence of JIG continue to grow, and to represent all sectors of the industry in all areas of the world, and has asked that JIG devote more time and effort to engage all customers as well as the major fuel suppliers and operators in the growth locations of the world.
JIG is committed to ensuring that it remains pre eminent in its standards, guidelines and inspection programs and has exciting plans to develop the reach of its successful workshops and to extend the training programme. These will be opportunities to widen the debate within the JIG membership and extend learnings throughout the industry, with a view to having increasing airports operating successfully within an acceptable compliance framework.
As a final note JIG has elected to keep the JIG membership fees frozen for 2013 to encourage a growth in new members and to recognize the economic climate that the industry is facing. As always, JIG believes that it provides exceptional value, but this is, in part, to the many resources that are provided, without cost, by the Council and Committee members.
