Business Aviation Comes Together In Orlando, FL -- Part 3

With the end of the 2009 NBAA Convention, the BizAv community has had a chance to take stock of the year that has passed and evaluate their future prospects. While attendance and participation were obviously at lower levels than in year's past, the community showed that it is willing to do what it must to survive, and is seeking new opportunities and business venues as aggressive as the current economic climate allows.

This year's NBAA Opening Session featured four primary speakers... each with something to say that had an impact on the BizAv community. This year's roster included FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt; Forbes magazine publisher Rich Karlgaard; Tom Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; and Golfer and Business Aviation Advocate Arnold Palmer. 

One of the more intriguing selections for this year's speakers roster was Tom Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the union that represents business aviation manufacturing workers. Buffenbarger's union operates a Learjet 60 to be more efficient and productive. The aircraft has flown to every U.S. state, Canadian province and 25 countries. Buffenbarger says the airplane is needed because he is on the road 250 days a year, visiting five states on Labor Day alone, a trip he could not have made on the airlines.

Buffenbarger said that in normal times, labor and management are adversaries, "but these are not normal times. In this grave recession, survival is a stake," he declared, noting that 30,000 of his union's members are unemployed.

NBAA notes that TWICE in recent months, Buffenbarger has had an opportunity to ask President Obama directly about coming to Wichita, KS, a major source of business aviation manufacturing, to see the "man-made devastation" caused by the negative rhetoric regarding business aviation. "The President owes us a visit," declared Buffenbarger, who urged Convention Attendees to call the White House to express that sentiment.

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