Against the backdrop of a building economic crisis, a presidential race in which neither side seems particularly friendly toward business aviation and a vocal onslaught against “fat cat private jet polluters” from the airline and environmental lobbies, the NBAA Convention arrives in Orlando facing a range of difficult issues even as the industry’s overall health appears as strong as ever.
NBAA Convention News spoke with association president Ed Bolen about the upcoming election, the fight against user fees, aviation “green” initiatives and other issues of importance to NBAA members. Bolen also talked about a new event on the trade show calendar, the Light Business Airplane Exhibition planned for next March in San Diego. It is a show that NBAA hopes will follow in the mold of the successful European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE), an event that held its first small gathering in 2000 and has since grown into one of the year’s most important business aviation gatherings. Excerpts from our conversation are included here.
