Beyond North America, the global business aviation community has continued to find itself in a state of unsettling flux in the six weeks since September 11’s terrorist attacks. On balance, though, corporate pilots and industry executives gave AIN the strong impression that they preferred their lot to that of their airline counterparts.
The single biggest obstacle to a return to normal operating conditions was the FAA’s continued ban on non-U.S. Part 91 operators flying their aircraft into U.S. airspace. Several UK corporate pilots said this had severely clipped their wings, since the U.S. remains the number-one business destination for their passengers.
By early last month many were resigning themselves to the ban and opting to fly their aircraft to Canada, from where passengers were continuing their journey on N-registered charter aircraft or via scheduled air service. Some operators even discussed the prospect of borrowing N-registered aircraft from aircraft manufacturers or even permanently re-registering their own aircraft in the U.S.
