On Giving Thanks and Thinking Turkeys ...

... amidst an aviation industry swelling at the seams. We live in an era when aviation is thriving, for which many, particularly the airlines, are thankful. Yet the turkey at the table is a system that has not kept pace. New York’s JFK has become the poster airport for delays. Ironically, it is a domestic carrier, JetBlue, that has had a dramatic impact on JFK, which is one of the nation’s key international gateways. The feds want to regulate use to reduce the delays; the airlines and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey are balking. The head of Delta squawks that at a time when the carrier is having particular success growing internationally, the feds want to restrict its ability to expand at JFK. At the same time, they are not asking international carriers to do the same. Another element of the system that has grown into a major turkey for which there is no thanks is the inability of U.S. Customs & Border Protection to process international arrivals and departures. For many airports, this is the turkey at the head of the table. It ties directly to the security regimen we have put in place in this country since 9/11, which many consider another turkey. The system is safer to be sure, but it remains questionable whether or not we had to create another instant bureaucracy to achieve the goal. That said, the biggest turkey at the security table remains the U.S. Congress, which in six years has failed to fund the initiatives it called for in legislation in November, 2001. Perhaps the aviation segment that has the most to be thankful for is business aviation, which remains robust. Despite a slowing economy, it has yet to experience even a hiccup. It is also a dramatically changing segment with the massive influx of offshore money into the business. Australian and British firms now own the largest chains of fixed base operations, and a Dubai enterprise has become a dominant player in the maintenance arena literally overnight. As one looks at the bizav table, it’s hard to see a turkey this Thanksgiving. But there’s a rumor that Mr. Recession has been invited to the dinner ... Thanks for reading. jfi