The National Business Aviation Association took this year’s Thanksgiving season as an opportunity to remind Americans of the value of not only business aviation, but all of general aviation (GA). The bizav advocacy group also pointed out to frustrated airline passengers that attempts to blame “fat cat” private aviation for delays are misplaced.
NBAA wrote, “Particularly in towns with little or no airline service, business aviation provides a critical link for companies to reach clients and customers, mostly from community airports located away from large hub airports used by airlines and apart from the surge of airline passengers … In fact, business aviation comprises only about 1 percent of the traffic at the nation’s largest airports and has never been a cause of passenger delays.”
Again pushing back against the narrative that private aviation is dominated by corporate barons and elite celebrities hell-bent on spewing emissions to save a little time getting to their vacation spots, NBAA wrote, “Most companies using a business airplane employ fewer than 500 people [and] the passengers aboard business airplanes are typically technical specialists, managers and other company employees. And a significant portion of business aviation flights are for humanitarian missions.”
On the economic front, NBAA pointed out, “This all adds up to good news for citizens, companies and communities: The business aviation sector plays a critical economic role, helping support 1.2 million jobs and contributing $150 billion to the U.S. economy every year.”