All things considered, my impression from my three days at the National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA) Convention in Las Vegas is that things are going all right for business aviation. That’s not a ringing endorsement of the economic situation for this critical aviation sector, but things could and have been worse. So I like to be grateful for small glimmers of light.
We certainly are not anywhere near the prerecession halcyon days of corporate flight departments. But mainstream media reports of doom and gloom are misplaced. Sure there are a lot of unknowns, taxes and user fees on top of the usual concerns about fuel prices and other costs. But overall it seemed business aviation was weathering the storm. Some bumpy days still ahead, but overall not so bad.
Some manufacturers are doing better than others and some operators better than others. Overall, I got a sense that the economic situation was stable.
This is guardedly good news for FBOs and GSE providers. In the scheme of things, some stability for business aircraft operations can be counted as a positive.
