...And Here, Darn it, Are The Heartbreakers

It is both the most "fun," and most difficult task, facing the ANN staff at the end of every year -- determining who, or what, did the most to promote the cause of aviation in the past 365 days... while also chastising those people or entities that did all they could to undermine the many successes the aerospace community has managed to accomplish.

Alas, 2007 saw more than its fair share of downers, aviation-wise. Sure, "stuff" happens... but a few folks, issues, or entities seemed to go out of their way to create problems for the world of aviation.

So... it is ANN's annual obligation to recognize a solid dozen of our Aero-Heartbreakers for 2007... in something of an informal order, starting from 12th to the 1st. Let us know what you think of our selections... whom YOU would have liked be included, or omitted, from such a list. In the meantime, we hope those who had something to do with this year's selections think a little more positively about the welfare of this industry, so that future lists become harder and harder to catalog. Be it ignorance, arrogance or just plain incompetence, these were the folks or topics that made our lot a whole lot more difficult and immeasurably injured the aviation world in the past year.

Shame on those issues, folks or topics that made our lot so much tougher in 2007...

From the Heartbreaker's List #5: ATA

Those who work in the higher echelons of the airline biz may look upon ATA and its President, James May, as one of their more vocal proponents... but the last year has proven that ATA was willing to go to great lengths and make great sacrifices in search of sympathy for its agenda -- and they didn't seem to care about how far they had to twist the facts to do so.

Those sacrifices included destroying the good will they may have had with the rest of the aviation business -- a business that they attacked in their greed to get what they wanted, as well as to try and shore up what little credibility the airline business had left... and we're not talking about a whole heck of a lot. Folks that could have been of great aid (i.e., the rest of aviation), and whom we might note are some of their best customers (seeing, as they do, that aviation is of vital importance to the nation as well as their own business interests), were painted as greedy victimizers and uncaring fat cats. We have a feeling that there will come a day when the airline world will sincerely regret the way that they alienated the rest of their brothers and sisters in the aviation world. 

While ATA President James May (right) may have done a masterful job of presenting the airline industry as a fairly unified force bent on exerting its will over all of the aviation world, and attempting to force the rest of us to shoulder the costs of services and facilities that were meant to support the airlines, are used only by the airlines, and (rightfully) should be paid for -- only -- by the airlines; this has to be one of the most short-sighted strategies in the history of our industry.

Thankfully, though, it sure appears to have failed.

ATA President James May and (unbelievably) FAA Administrator Marion Blakey double-teamed the aviation world into thinking the current funding mechanism was not only broken, but also not fair to the airline industry that has heretofore served as the backbone of our nation's air transportation system. What ATA was really doing, though, was to segregate the airline world from the rest of aviation -- and thus created divisions between it and the remaining sectors of the aviation and aerospace business. What little support the GA and BizAv world may have had for the airlines has eroded and all but disappeared.

So... after several years of airline industry doldrums, bankruptcies, horrific earning reports, even more horrific business practices, and the decimation of the employee base that has been the backbone of the airline world... it seems strange that anyone in the airline industry thinks they have the right to dictate how the rest of aviation should act or what they should pay for. It's even stranger that they thought that anyone would truly fall for it. Shame on them.

FMI: You Tell Us... Can We Trust The Airline Industry and ATA Anymore?