Aero-News Network’s Rex Alexander talked with Curt Castagna, President and CEO of the National Air Transportation Association at the 2025 EAA AirVenture fly-in and air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
NATA currently has about 3,700 member companies representing all segments of business aviation interests and beyond. Those include FBOs, Part 135 charter operators, flight schools, maintenance & repair shops/MROs, fuel suppliers, insurance companies, and numerous other aviation-related businesses.
The organization is very active in doing a lot of legislative and regulatory advocacy work in Washington D.C., and through its well-known Safety 1st platform on its website is their key program in advancing safety in the industry.
The group was very active in the Reauthorization Act of 2024, and working with Congressman Sam Graves and the other trade associations to secure a general aviation reauthorization and revitalization act as part of that. And along with the other organizations they are working to manage the staffing and other changes within the FAA.
NATA is very involved in the advancement of AAM or advanced air mobility, with a specific committee that is looking at infrastructure requirements at FBOs and airports, and how FBOs in the future might evolve beyond the airport boundaries.
NATA is still very active in sustainability programs, including SAF and the transition to an unleaded fuel. Castagna serves as a co-chair on the EAGLE initiative – Eliminate Aviation Gas Lead Emissions – working with colleagues from the other trade groups and the FAA to secure a safe transition to an unleaded fuel.
Castagna said NATA is really pleased with the announcement at AirVenture by Secretary of Transportation Duffy regarding MOSAIC, the twenty-year effort to gather the safety data that allowed the FAA to do a very thorough evaluation and to broaden and modernize the light sport aircraft category for both the aircraft and the light sport pilot.
NATA is happy with that because of how it will attract more people into the industry – more student pilots, more opportunities for those aircraft to be used in ways that they’ve been demonstrated to be safe. It will also present a good opportunity to broaden the workforce and expand the functionalities of the airplanes to serve general aviation communities.
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