General Aviation is Committed to Safety, System Modernization, and Expanded Capacity

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General aviation includes a diverse mix of business aviation operations.

• Business aviation includes the use of any general aviation aircraft for business, and business aviation aircraft include pistons, turboprops, helicopters, and jets.
• Pistons and turboprops make up the largest segments of the business aviation fleet, followed by small turbojets.
• 85 percent of the business aviation community is made up of small and mid-sized businesses often located in rural areas and using only one airplane.
• Surveys show that 86 percent of business aviation passengers are technical and marketing staff, sales people, and other company representatives and customers, not senior executives.

GA is hurting in this economic downturn to a degree not seen in decades.

• Last year, the number of business aviation flights fell by 35 percent.
• The inventory of used airplanes has reached an all time high and prices for used airplanes have declined by 40 percent.
• Every manufacturer has been forced to lay off a significant portion of its workforce, in some cases up to 50 percent of its employees. So have FBOs, charter operators, and flight departments.

General Aviation Urges Congress to Complete FAA Reauthorization Bill

• NBAA supports transitioning to a future aviation system that is satellite-based, rather than today’s ground-based navigation system. Accelerating the transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System will advance important national objectives including further reducing the industry’s environmental footprint, reducing long-term costs at the FAA, enhancing safety, expanding system capacity and reducing congestion.
• The general aviation community has always financially contributed to the air transportation system through the payment of fuel taxes. These taxes are paid “at the pump,” so there are no administrative costs for compliance. Fuel taxes should remain the mechanism for general aviation to help fund the FAA and pay for system modernization.
• Business aviation, along with all of general aviation, remains committed to NextGen and supports proposals that reject user fees and instead adjust the general aviation jet fuel tax to help fund ATC system transformation. The legislation currently pending increases the GA jet fuel tax from 22 to 36 cents per-gallon instead of new and onerous user fees.
• NBAA will continue to partner with Congress to complete and FAA Reauthorization bill that achieves our shared goal of keeping the U.S. aviation system the safest, largest and most efficient in the world.