From CEO
The very first commercial aerial refueling contract was awarded by the US Navy in 1999 to the company that was running at the time. I subcontracted that work to Omega. I have known them for nearly 20 years. Since 1999, there have been no further contracts anywhere in the world awarded to a commercial company for aerial refueling with the exception of the UK Royal Air Force. The original Navy contract in 1999 was for a 25 flight hour test program. The Navy now pays Omega for approximately 2,000 flight hours per year. However, Omega has limited capability and resources (i.e. properly configured aircraft) and the demand from the Navy and Marine Corps exceeds the ability of Omega to deliver. Our ability to return the ex RAF Tri Stars to service should, at a minimum, put us in a good competitive position to capture a share of the Navy market alongside Omega. We will have to see if the Navy likes our proposal when we submit it later in the fall. There is also a large demand within NATO which we will be marketing very heavily after the TriStar deal is completed.