You may recall I have a small interest in a company called Borealis that owns most of a subsidiary called Chorus Motors that owns most of a subsidiary called WheelTug that hopes to be leasing systems that will allow airlines to drive their planes around the tarmac like golf carts, saving upwards of $700,000 a year per plane on fuel, engine wear, damage, and turn-around time . . . but that WheelTug has a competitor in Honeywell/Safran.
According to that little Wall Street Journal story from last Friday that I lined to Monday, “Over the weekend [which is to say last weekend], Honeywell and its partner are expected to announce some customers for their proposed technology, dubbed the ‘electric green taxiing’ system, according to people familiar with the matter.”
Not to make too much of this, but — as an indirect stakeholder in WheelTug, which has announced 11 airline customers so far — I note that last weekend came and went, as did Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with no Honeywell/Safran customers announced. For all I know, of course, by the time you read this they will have announced deals with everybody. But so far, they have exactly zero customers to our 11 . . . which, being a congenital optimist, I take as a good sign.
I would have written more today but got caught up in an episode of VEEP and it’s really hard to do anything after that but kick back and smile.
