The Scissortail Brief | March 23–29, 2026

The week of March 23 through March 29 brought a busy mix of scheduler and dispatcher news, FAA action on both airworthiness and navigation resilience, a major fleet milestone for NetJets and Bombardier, continued operator and MRO deal activity, and fuel prices that stayed high enough to keep showing up in trip planning and quoting. NBAA’s Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference in Cleveland was the center of gravity for the week, while the FAA’s Piaggio P.180 directive and updated GPS and GNSS interference guidance kept safety and operational discipline in focus.

Scissortail is tracking it all so you don’t have to.

NBAA SDC2026: Cleveland Was the Week’s Main Event

NBAA’s 2026 Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference ran March 24 through March 26 at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland. NBAA called it the industry’s premier event for business aviation scheduling and dispatching professionals, and by the close of the show it reported a record-setting 3,500 attendees and a sold-out exhibit floor.

The conference coverage gave a pretty clear picture of what operations teams are dealing with right now. NBAA highlighted sessions on customs coordination, emergency preparedness, scheduling and dispatch decision-making, strategic weather planning, mental wellness and fatigue, fuel-cost management, and technology topics including advanced air mobility, AI, and emerging tools. Those were not side topics. They were core parts of the program.

NBAA also leaned into workforce development throughout the week. Before and during the event, it spotlighted sessions on building the next generation of business aviation professionals, and it paired that with scholarship announcements that put real dollars behind training and career advancement. On March 24, NBAA said more than $40,000 in Schedulers & Dispatchers scholarship funds would be awarded. The named recipients were Yazmin Cruz, Jason Fink, Brittney Halpin, Noah Hauge, Leslie Jimenez, Nathanael Seawell, and Kayla Takemoto.

NBAA also announced the 2026 Schedulers & Dispatchers Training Scholarship recipients. The names published by NBAA were Jasiel Casillas Ramirez, Karla Cienfuegos Garcia, Brady Duros, Morghan Good, Dustin Hamon, Skyler Harris, Leah Lentz, Alexander Lozano, John Lyimo, Wendi Macon, Natasha Moleele, Jaeden Murray, Sophia Nall, Nathan Shelley, and Julio Trevino.

The conference also recognized one of the profession’s top leaders. NBAA announced on March 23 that Holly Whitaker, founder and president of Exclusive Air, would receive the Schedulers & Dispatchers Outstanding Achievement & Leadership Award at SDC2026. In its closing conference coverage, NBAA confirmed that award presentation as part of the event’s recognition of excellence.

The keynote also drew attention. NBAA reported that Kenn Ricci’s keynote was standing room only, and said the session centered on optimism, adaptation, and innovation. Ricci had been announced in advance by NBAA as the conference keynote speaker, so there was no ambiguity about the event’s headliner.

Taken together, Cleveland gave a pretty accurate snapshot of where flight operations stands right now. Schedulers and dispatchers are managing weather, customs, fatigue, emergency planning, tech integration, training, and fuel cost at the same time, and NBAA’s own coverage reflected that across the entire conference.

Bombardier Delivers the First Global 8000 to NetJets

One of the biggest aircraft stories of the week came on March 26, when Bombardier announced the first delivery of the Global 8000 to NetJets. Bombardier said NetJets is the fleet launch customer and that this first aircraft is the first of 24 Global 8000s NetJets intends to operate. Bombardier also said NetJets plans to work with it to upgrade its in-service Global 7500 fleet to Global 8000 jets.

Bombardier described the Global 8000 as having a top speed of Mach 0.95, a range of 8,000 nautical miles, and a cabin altitude of 2,691 feet. It also said the aircraft combines that range with takeoff and landing performance comparable to a light jet and access to up to 30% more airports than its closest rival. NetJets, for its part, said the aircraft fits its focus on safety, service, and access.

From a market standpoint, this was more than a delivery ceremony. It marked the first operational handoff of Bombardier’s new flagship to the biggest name in fractional aviation, and it added another clear sign that the upper end of the business aviation market is still investing in speed, range, and fleet renewal.

FAA Actions: Piaggio and GPS/GNSS Interference

The FAA published a final rule airworthiness directive on March 23 for certain Baykar Piaggio Aerospace P.180 airplanes. The directive was prompted by reported chafing in flap transmission shafts and requires inspections, measurements, and corrective action depending on what is found. The FAA describes airworthiness directives as legally enforceable regulations issued to correct an unsafe condition in a product.

That same day, NBAA flagged an updated FAA GPS and GNSS Interference Resource Guide, Version 1.1. NBAA said the guide addresses jamming and spoofing trends, aircraft system impacts, suggested pilot procedures, and training recommendations. The FAA’s guide is aimed at helping operators understand and respond to GNSS interference events, which have become a more visible operational issue.

Those two FAA-related items fit together pretty well as the week’s regulatory thread. One was about mandatory airworthiness compliance on a specific aircraft type. The other was about broader operational resilience in an environment where GPS and GNSS interference can no longer be treated as a rare edge case.

Business Moves: FlyEpic and FlyHouse

On the business-model side, FlyEpic launched a fractional ownership program built around the Epic E1000. Aviation Week reported the program uses the six-seat, single-engine turboprop, adding another option in the premium short- to medium-haul space outside the usual light-jet structure.

FlyHouse also stayed active through acquisitions. Aviation Week reported that its acquisition of JetsMRO included an FAA Part 145 repair station presence in Dallas and Miami, tying the move to the broader trend of operators buying into maintenance capability rather than relying only on outside support.

Jet-A Pricing: What Operators Saw This Week

Fuel stayed high enough this week that it remained a major operating variable.

AirNav’s fuel price report, prepared March 30 using data from 2,588 FBOs, showed a nationwide average Jet A price of $6.80 per gallon. Regionally, the Central region averaged $5.66, the Great Lakes averaged $6.28, the Eastern region averaged $7.48, and the Western-Pacific region averaged $7.58. Alaska posted the highest regional average in the report at $8.68 per gallon.

Airport-level pricing inside the week showed how much prices could swing even before you leave one state. Dallas Love Field showed Jet A at $8.58 per gallon with a March 24 update, while San Antonio International showed $10.75 per gallon with the same March 24 update. That is a useful reminder that national and regional averages do not replace airport- and FBO-level pricing checks.

Aviation Week also reported that the national average cost of Jet A in March 2026 was $6.86 per gallon, up 13 cents from February and 24 cents from a year earlier, based on an Aviation Research Group survey of U.S. FBOs. That lines up pretty closely with what the week’s airport examples were showing on the ground.

For Part 91 operators, this continues to show up in fuel-stop choices, contract fuel usage, and whether tankering makes sense. For Part 135 operators, it keeps showing up in quotes, rate adjustments, and trip-level fuel decisions, especially on longer missions and through higher-cost airports.

Looking Ahead

The themes from this week are likely to carry over right away. Operators with affected Piaggio aircraft will keep moving through the FAA directive requirements. More flight departments and crews will be reviewing the updated FAA GPS and GNSS interference guide. The Cleveland conference takeaways on customs, fatigue, emergency plans, fuel management, and scheduling discipline will start showing up in dispatch offices and flight departments immediately. And fuel will keep requiring airport-specific attention instead of broad assumptions.

That’s The Brief

The Week in One Sentence

The week of March 23 through March 29 brought a record-setting NBAA SDC in Cleveland, the first Global 8000 delivery to NetJets, new FAA attention on Piaggio airworthiness and GPS/GNSS interference, continued operator-and-MRO deal activity, and Jet A pricing that averaged $6.80 nationally but ran much higher at some individual airports.