Of private dollars, hope for bizav, and a man worth noting ...
In a time when government handouts appear to hold the hope for many, with fingers crossed behind their backs, comes a report via The Wall Street Journal from a group including Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and the Carlyle Group that says $180 billion of private capital is available for investment in highways, airports, and other transportation infrastructure.
Perhaps hope is not lost. That type of private/public partnership could result in jobs, economic growth, and significant transportation investment. The report also says that the private investment could free up government money for other uses.
Sounds like a formula that has economic viability. Good news in an emerging era that suggests that socialism and a return to 1970s economics is a good thing.
The WSJ article also points out that the city from which President Obama heralds, Chicago, is a leader in the privatization movement. Mayor Daley has contracted with private entities for the operation of Midway Airport, a toll road, parking garages, and parking meters. One would assume the new President is open to the idea of private/public partnerships.
The world is obviously changing, and one change in the U.S. may be the introduction of more direct private investment in the business of airports. We have a unique system of funding airport infrastructure in the U.S., one reliant on taxation and government redirection of funds, and bonds. While that is unlikely to change anytime soon, one only has to look at Vancouver or Calgary to see what private investment can do when unencumbered by a federal bureaucracy.
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NBAA hosted its 20th annual Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference in Long Beach in January. Few events serve as a barometer of what’s going on in the corporate and charter arenas as well as S&D. At the end of the day, attendance was almost at a par with the 2008 event — as was the enthusiasm, the prospects for tomorrow.
To be honest, this was a barometer event. With declining numbers with charter and business aviation, and with the negative press focused on the corporate use of aircraft, a reasonable expectation was that this S&D would be a disaster. It wasn’t. Turns out, the sky hasn’t totally fallen.
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Back in the day (1984), not long after being hired as communications manager for NATA, I attended an industry meeting at NBAA headquarters in ‘the District’. John Winant, by then the long-term president of NBAA, made a point of making the new kid on the association block feel welcomed.
One appreciates a moment like that, just as it was easy to appreciate the level of respect given Mr. Winant when he sat at the head of the table.
He died recently (story, page 5), and it’s worth noting that the NBAA we know today has John Winant’s stamp all over it. He laid the course.
Thanks for reading
