Mon, Jul 11, 2011
Who Didn't Respond And Needs To?
By David Wyndham, VP, Conklin & de Decker
As summer made its way into the Northern Hemisphere, business
aviation once again found itself under an "eclipse" of darkness.
This time it was the Wall Street Journal and then the
President.
David Wyndham
First up was the Wall Street Journal with a front-page
article June 16th describing the personal (ab)use of business
aircraft with reports of frequent travels by some corporate jets to
resort destinations. While the accuracy of the report is not in
question (full disclosure, Conklin & de Decker supplied WSJ
with accurate hourly costs for the aircraft models), many felt that
the article was sensationalized. While the WSJ did state "Corporate
jets are vital business tools..." their analysis revealed something
else; flights supporting personal use of business aircraft are
underreported.
The WSJ followed that up with a second article on June 20th
about the former IBM chief, Louis Gerstner, and the number of trips
IBM aircraft currently make to destinations where Mr. Gerstner has
vacation homes.
Then on June 29th, the President was talking on the economy and
the deficit when he stated, "I think it's only fair to ask an oil
company or a corporate jet owner that has done so well to give up a
tax break that no other business enjoys."
Aviation groups like NBAA, NATA, AOPA and others were quick to
respond. Their responses tried to focus on the contributions that
business and general aviation make to the US economy and that most
"Fat Cats" are really medium- sized businesses flying in smaller
aircraft trying to do everything they can to survive in today's
markets. While some responses seemed a bit quick to take offense,
they did a good job of trying to show the value of business
aviation to the US economy.
What is mostly absent from the discussion is a coordinated
response. No, not from those of us whose livelihoods depend on
aviation, but from those who directly use and benefit from these
aircraft.
What I would like to see is business CEOs and owners get
together with an open letter sent to the major news outlets
describing the importance of aircraft in their ability to conduct
business. It should come from small to medium businesses that use
aircraft. Not the top mega-corporations, but those companies flying
aircraft representing the other 85% of business aviation. I'm
talking of companies with annual sales in the tens of millions or
hundreds of millions, not large, global firms with billions in
sales. I think a response from those companies would be far more
compelling. People might see them as more "regular folks" versus
the titans we regularly see in the business news headlines. Sorry,
Donald Trump, business aviation won't benefit from your
defense.
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