Author Pat Lambrix

In the posts of the Business Aviation Network and beyond, it’s hard to argue with people like Kim Showalter, President of Showalter Flying Service in Orlando, Florida. “Business aviation has simply become a way of life for the successful, thriving businesses of today,” she told Betsy Donnelly recently. It’s fitting then, that aviation is a thriving industry in itself - and one worth preserving in states across the country. As the NBAA’s “No Plane, No Gain" program tagline says prominently, “Business aviation means: millions in manufacturing and service jobs.”

The “No Plane, No Gain" program is a partnership with the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. It is designed to “promote the many positive contributions that business aviation provides to citizens, companies and communities across the United States.” At the annual Florida Airports Conference last month, Lisa Piccione, NBAA’s senior vice president of government affairs, told attendees, "All aspects of the aviation community are represented in the state, including manufacturing and support."

But Florida isn’t alone in aviation jobs and business. In June, Aero News reported on the initiative by Alliance for Aviation Across America that 40 state governors signed proclamations “recognizing the value of aviation to the national and their local and state economies.”

In the state of Nevada for instance, “general aviation accounts for $150 billion in economic activity across the country each year, supporting 1.2 million jobs, including over $720 million in economic activity annually, ” wrote Nevada Airports Association president, Wendy Rudder in the Daily Sparks Tribune.

Rudder’s message also echoes Marion Blakey, president & chief executive officer of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), who spoke before an audience in Cleveland, Ohio earlier this month on her Second to None campaign to preserve the nation’s aviation industry. Northeastern Ohio is also home to many important parts of the aviation industry, including NASA’s Glenn Research Center.

Whether we’re planning to aircraft on Mars or in Mississippi, it’s important that our leaders continue to support employment for Americans and employers in one of our most successful industries.