the least.
For the business aviation industry, the past year has been a trying one, to say
the least. Aircraft sales and usage declined steeply as the economic downturn tightened its grip, forcing operators to cope with the new financial realities, and in some cases with disparaging views of the industry.
While the business aircraft industry experienced a record-shattering year in 2008, with deliveries of 1,313 jets and 535 turboprops, the seeds were already planted for a steep decline. At an industry seminar in June this year, Dave Labrozzi, president of GE Commercial Finance’s corporate aircraft division, traced the roots of the current credit situation back to the sub-prime mortgage collapse that began in summer 2007. “The day the earth stood still was in October 2008 when [all the] money markets just froze,” said Labrozzi. “You could not buy or sell a one-month Libor note; you could not buy or sell a corporate trade.”
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