The state of the aircraft service industry eight months after September 11 can best be described as guardedly optimistic. Thanks largely to the success and publicity of fractional programs, the public has never been more aware of the benefits of business and personal aviation. At the same time, airlines have proven themselves less and less capable of meeting the travel needs of top-level executives and so-called “high net worth” individuals. FBOs in some parts of the country are reporting record levels of general aviation traffic, but strategic pockets of restricted ramp- and airspace have paralyzed other airports and brought general aviation traffic to a standstill.
At the AS3 convention held in Indianapolis in late March, NATA president Jim Coyne expressed his prime areas of concern for the FBO industry in the coming months. These areas include, but are not limited to, the unknown effects of upcoming security regulations and the state of the overall economy. As he told AIN in a pre-convention interview, “Our industry has never faced as much change as it does right now.”
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