Forbes Article Promoted 'A Caricature Of Business Aviation'

NBAA is mad... again.... and we're glad they are. A recent Forbes article chose an “outlier flight” to promote a caricature of business aviation, offering readers an uninformed view into an important industry that has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen recently wrote in a letter to the publication.

“As we slowly recover from this crisis, mobility will be essential to restoring our economy, and business aviation will play a vital role in helping the nation emerge from a moment unseen in recent history,” Bolen wrote. “Instead of presenting a rare, even peculiar airplane mission as some kind of norm, let’s focus on the centrality of business aviation to America’s economy and transportation system.”

The NBAA Letter told Forbes that, "Your recent story chose an outlier flight to promote a caricature of business aviation in this COVID-19 moment, offering readers only a limited, largely uninformed view into an important industry that has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To start with, your fact-starved account misstated what business aviation even is: the production and use of an airplane to meet transportation needs.

The manufacture and use of business airplanes supports more than a million jobs, and billions of dollars in economic activity – anything that debilitates this essential American industry has an immediate and real impact for workers, companies and communities everywhere."

The letter also addressed other shortcomings with the piece concerning COVID's effect on BizAv, and the immense value BizAv has brought to countless communities through humanitarian outreach and volunteerism.

FMI: www.nbaa.org