One of the bigger flubs during last week's US Presidential Debate was President Obama's derogatory comment about corporate jets - as if they are play things of the rich and the famous. Executive aircraft in the United States fill a necessary niche that is required by corporate decision-makers and technical personnel. They are not a luxury but a necessity. In many cases there is no substitute for them.
Since US airline deregulation in the late 1970's the government cut many subsidies for local service airlines. It is no longer possible to do a "round robin" journey in a day from Syracuse to Watertown to Albany and back as one could back in the day on Mohawk. Many small cities no longer have rail or train service. In many ways our national passenger transportation network is dysfunctional. Other's such as Charlotte, North Carolina are "fortress hubs" of monopolistic carriers at that location - in the case of Charlotte US Airways - that charge incredibly high fares of walk up business travellers. In many cases corporate or air taxi (FAA Part 135) aviation is the only reasonable and cost effective way to move teams and high-cost leaders and experts around this country. They enable business to keep multiple locations open, thus providing local jobs. Additionally, the General Aviation infrastructure - parts, maintenance, fuel, airports and so forth that support corporate aviationare additional job generators. And corporate aviation does not compete with Airlines for America (A4A) members - it complements their business.
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