Addresses Aviation's Hot Topics At Conference

With the conference theme of Imagining Your Future, day two of the 2007 Women in Aviation, International conference featured three women -- including airline Captain Betty Uhrig, and former NASA astronaut and President and CEO of Seattle's Museum of Flight Bonnie Dunbar -- who each spoke about their personal quests of imagining their futures, and giving inspiration and encouragement to attendees.

However, it was the second speaker -- Lisa Piccione, who came in NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen's stead (he was called back to Capitol Hill) -- who also brought focus to current news about the FAA budget, user fees, and the future of aviation.

Piccione is NBAA's senior vice president, government affairs, and oversees the organization's legislative and political activities involving the Administration, Congress, state, local, and international government, and the aviation community to ensure the safety, efficiency and acceptance of business of aviation.

As Piccione observed, the country's demand for mobility continues to grow -- and the "system" must transform to meet the emerging needs.

"This is an exciting time to be part of the aviation industry," she told the mostly female audience. "Commercial airlines are projecting continued profits, while on the general aviation side, new technologies, like VLJs, are under development."

General aviation alone contributes more than $150 billion to the economy and employs more than 1.2 million people, said noted. "General aviation provides air transportation services at more than 5,000 public use airports; for many communities, general aviation is the only aviation option."

Aviation issues are "front and center" in Washington, she acknowledged, with the FAA submitting its reauthorization proposal to Capitol Hill just last week. 

"What that means," she said, "is that we have an opportunity today to begin a constructive dialogue about the future of our aviation system and focus on areas where there is broad agreement in the industry."

Those "areas of agreement" she said, include modernization and increasing government investment.

There is industry consensus that it must modernize, Piccione noted. "The debate should not be about winners or losers, but [about] building a system that can meet all future demand." She called it a "transformation over time" that has already begun, with new runways and a doubling in 2005 of enroute airspace with reduced vertical minimum separations.

How to proceed? "Government and industry must identify the technologies, timelines, and costs of the next phase of the transformation."

Piccione called upon WAI members to be critical leaders in efforts to increase the government's investment in aviation through a strong general fund contribution.

Pointing to the critical role that aviation plays in every community, including national defense, emergency response, medical emergencies, postal service, local and interstate commerce, she said "we all must work harder than ever" with elected officials to remind them of the national importance of a strong aviation system and request an increase in the federal government investment in aviation.

With aviation funding coming from two revenue sources, the airport and the airway trust fund, which is funded through aviation taxes, Piccione noted that over the next several months, the general aviation community will be talking about the importance of Congressional oversight.

"We believe that the US Congress is in the best position to balance the competing interests and ensure that we continue to have the best system in the world," she said. "And thanks to congressional support, FAA funding has increased despite the challenges faced by the industry and the economy."

If we are going to meet the challenges of the future, Piccione said, we should focus our collective energy on the things that bring us together.

"Aviation is a vital national asset, and each of you will be a key player in determining the future of our industry."

FMI: www.nbaa.org, www.wai.org