Sunday, February 15, 2009

This Senator Won't Be Ridiculing Corporate Aviation Departments Anytime Soon

The mother of Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, passed away recently. The senator, already deeply involved in activities in Congress, now had to plan a trip back to Ohio to memorialize his mother. But no convenient commercial flights were available, and he had to get back to the Senate to cast a crucial vote for the economic stimulus plan. So what is a government executive going to do? He turns to the largest corporate aviation department in the entire world: the U.S. government. He was able to attend his mother's wake and make it back to Washington in time to cast the winning vote.

Certainly our condolences are with Senator Brown. But let's put this in some context. Congresscritters have been piling on the drama on executives from corporate america over a perceived extravagance, without any thought given to the damage it has been doing to an industry in just as precarious waters as the financial and automotive industries. Every time we hear grandstanding for sound bites, jobs are being lost. By the thousands.

Corporations across the country have aviation departments to get business done in many more places and with much greater efficiencies than from what they can get through scheduled airlines. It's the secret the airlines don't want you to know. It's a part of a $50 billion a year industry employing hundreds of thousands of people across the country. To ridicule it now as mere extravagance comes at a steep price. I have an intelligent readership. Do your research, read beyond the headlines and write your lawmaker. Don't let puffery on the hill bring down an entire industry.

.:: Aero-News Network: The Aviation and Aerospace World's Daily/Real-Time News and Information Service ::.

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