A glance outside the window at the Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot this week should be all you need to appreciate NBAA’s commitment to the light business aircraft (LBA) segment. It’s chock-a-block with the kinds of airplanes typically flown by their owners. Those aircraft operators who occupy the left seat, as well as sign most of the checks, are important to the association for a number of reasons. And NBAA would like to make the feeling mutual.
The result is a full slate of programs, seminars and work sessions here in Las Vegas devoted to owner-pilots in the LBA segment. “A lot of the advocacy work NBAA does has a direct benefit for LBA pilots as well as NBAA’s traditional professional crews and flight departments,” said Mike Nichols, v-p of operations, education and economics for the association. “But we don’t necessarily do a good job communicating to those pilots how much they mean to us.” NBAA would like to ramp up its effort to get those pilots into the fold. And for the association, the value is often felt when an influential LBA pilot is able to present the business aviation perspective to government officials–sometimes at surprisingly high levels.
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