Citing the state of the economy, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) cancelled plans to hold an independent Light Business Airplane Conference in San Diego.
Instead, the association will incorporate elements of the conference into its regular annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, later this year, Oct. 20 to 22.
"NBAA is totally committed to serving those who rely on light business airplanes, as well as those who are considering how to fit these aircraft into their business models," said Ed Bolen, CEO and president, NBAA. "But in this economic climate, it is difficult to launch an event that our members and exhibitors expect. Any change in plans has consequences and we regret the inconvenience to all who finalized their itinerary for San Diego. Still, we believe the step we have taken is the right one for both attendees and exhibitors in this very challenging economy."
Founded in 1947 and based in Washington, D.C., the NBAA represents more than 8,000 business aviation member companies of all sizes and located across the country. The NBAA Annual Meeting & Convention is the world's largest civil aviation trade show.
One of the top priorities of Craig Fuller, new president of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is an outreach campaign to educate influencers about general aviation (GA).
“The broad issue is that I don’t believe that policy makers and opinion leaders fully understand the value of general aviation today. I say that as somebody who was in government and a private pilot and was always surprised that people in public office, many of whom use GA a lot, didn’t really see it as something that was occurring every day. Thousands and thousands of aircraft and pilots utilizing GA for business or pleasure or medical emergencies. So, I think because we’re not as well understood as we could be, we become more vulnerable to some of the issues like closing of airports and user fees to disproportionably impose a cost on general aviation for air traffic control services.”
The combined total of individuals represented by these constituent member groups of the International AOPA is more than 470,000 pilots, who fly general aviation aircraft for business and personal transportation.
Top image courtesy of Pilots N Paws, story preview.
