Category Archives: associations

Marion Blakey: Wichita should keep eye on changes in defense market

Oct. 13, 20093:46 p.m.

marionblakeyIn the future, Wichita planemakers may find more opportunities in the defense market as the U.S. fights counterinsurgency and terrorism, Aerospace Industries Association president and CEO Marion Blakey told members of the Wichita Aero Club today.

That will require lower cost “tried and true aircraft that are out there,” Blakey said.

“It’s much more close-in fighting,” she said.

The Administration has fundamentally shifted its focus to put emphasis to “being able to handle irregular warfare in a lot of different places and circumstances,” Blakey said.

The need for reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft is likely to grow, she said.

“It think it’s a space that Wichita may want to watch and watch carefully,” she said.

Other key issues facing the aviation industry are funding the Federal Aviation Administration, modernizing the air traffic control system and equipping aircraft to operate in the new system. Other issues are the standardization of a global approach to aviation and climate change and setting a common framework of business ethics for behavior in a global market, Blakey said.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under associations, aviation industry | Comments (0)

Elvis and Marion Blakey

Oct. 13, 20093:38 p.m.

Former FAA administrator Marion Blakey is president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association.  She flew to Wichita to speak at today’s Wichita Aero Club luncheon.

While Blakey’s list of accomplishments is impressive, one claim to fame is much less known. Blakey’s grandmother was Elvis Presley’s music teacher in  Tupelo, Miss., where Blakey spent some of her childhood.

“Elvis may have contributed to Marion’s interest in aviation, because she once had dinner on his private airplane,” Dave Franson, the head of the Aero Club said during her introduction. However “it wasn’t airborne, because it had been turned into a restaurant in Memphis.”

By Molly McMillin | Filed under associations | Comments (0)

Wichita Aero Club meets today

Oct. 13, 20099:54 a.m.

Aerospace Industries Association president Marion Blakey is the keynote speaker at today’s Wichita Aero Club meeting. Blakey is a former Federal Aviation Administration administrator.

The luncheon will be held at noon at the Wichita Airport Hilton hotel.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under associations | Comments (0)

Alliance for Aviation’s website features state-by-state general aviation economic impact data

Sept. 29, 200910:58 a.m.

Did you know that Kansas is home to 141 airports, 7,602 pilots and 6,500 aircraft? Or that the state’s aviation industry employs 32,000 and has a $7.1 billion economic impact?

That kind of information and more is available starting today on the Alliance for Aviation Across America’s Web site. The organization used a months-long survey of states to formulate the state-by-state database. Check it out here.

The project aims to educate the general public about the importance of general aviation, especially its importance to small towns and rural communities around the country, Selena Shilad, head of the Alliance, said in a conference call this morning.

On the call, Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer spoke about aviation’s importance to Wichita and the state and to scores of businesses who need it to do business.

“Transportation is part of doing business, no matter where you are in the world,” Brewer said. “In Business 101, they teach you that time is money.”

By Molly McMillin | Filed under associations, aviation industry, general aviation | Comments (0)

NBAA CEO: Negative image of business jets biggest concern

Sept. 23, 20093:42 p.m.

bolenWICHITA — Business aviation faces a host of challenges, but the one that worries Ed Bolen the most is the negative image surrounding business aviation, the National Business Aviation Association CEO said over coffee before speaking at today’s Wichita Aero Club luncheon.

“Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that business aviation has been under attack,” Bolen said at the luncheon.

The airlines want to shift funding of the nation’s airports and the air traffic control system from passenger taxes and fuel taxes to a system of user fees. The airlines portray the general aviation industry as frivolous, Bolen said.

When a misperception persists about the importance of business aviation, it’s difficult to successfully work on other issues the industry faces, Bolen said.

“We’ve got to make sure our lawmakers and policymakers think business aviation is essential,” he said. “We’ve got to get the image right in order to succeed in everything else.”

Other key issues facing business aviation are user fees, a large aircraft security program and environmental laws and regulations, he said.

Improving the public’s image is a focus of NBAA and other industry trade groups. Business aviation is vital to the nation’s economy and its transportation system and economy, he said.

Business aviation means jobs, serves small communities that have little or no commercial airline service, improves productivity for companies that use them and is important in humanitarian efforts, Bolen said.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Uncategorized, associations, aviation industry | Comments (0)

Wichita mayor joins USA Today article protest

Sept. 23, 20093:05 p.m.

WICHITA — Last week’s USA Today article, “Feds keep little-used airports in business,” continues to garner loud outcry. The latest to join the protest is Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer.

Brewer along with mayors in Arizona and Iowa sent a joint letter to the editor of USA Today calling the article one that “missed a multitude of facts – most of which contradict the author’s apparent predetermined thesis.”

The article says general aviation airports serve only private pilots.

“The truth is that the FAA has made it a national priority to maintain these airports,” the mayors’ letter said. They’re used by the National Guard, law enforcement, air ambulances, search and rescue operators, flight schools, small businesses, charitable organizations, farmers and ranchers and others. “These airports are a literal lifeline to gain access to resources, businesses and medical care.”

The article’s assessment that the funds are an “unfair subsidy” to small airports is a “downright insult to rural America,” it said.  Besides providing a lifeline to thousands of communities without commercial air service, general aviation generates 1.2 million jobs and $150 billion in economic impact to the U.S., the letter said.  In Kansas, it contributes $7.2 billion a year to the state economy and employ thousands of people.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under aircraft manufacturers, airports, associations, aviation industry | Comments (0)

Aviation trade groups blast USA Today article on small airports

Sept. 17, 20094:55 p.m.

Aviation trade groups have their ire up with a USA Today story entitled “Feds keep little-used airports in business” and a NBC “Today” show companion story that ran on MSNBC cable news.

The trade groups call the story “biased and distorted,” “devoid of journalistic balance” and one that took “a gratuitous and uninformed slap at general aviation.”

The story focuses on spending at general aviation airports, saying that airline ticket tax income fund airports around the country, some of which are little used. In an accounting, USA said it found that Congress has directed $15 billion over 28 years to general aviation airports, “which typically are tucked on country roads and industrial byways.”

What the story doesn’t point out, however, is that general aviation operators contribute to the same trust fund through fuel taxes or that the also fund also pays for the air traffic control system, a system that primarily benefits the airlines, said the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Community airports serve a vital role for towns with little or no airline service, said the National Business Aviation Association. They provide lifelines for small to midsize businesses, schools, universities and other organizations. They stimulate economic development and are essential for air transportation for the postal service, firefighting, disaster relief, medical evacuations, law enforcement, homeland security, patient and organ transports and other services.

“Congress has long recognized that the upkeep of a national system of airports is an established national priority,” NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen said in a letter to the editor of USA Today.

AOPA also says that :

In 2007, a fairly typical year for Airport Improvement Program funding:

* The FAA distributed $3.34 billion in funds to 2,610 airports.

* Of that, 341 primary airports — airports with more than 100,000 boardings each year — received $2.1 billion of the funds. That’s an average of $6.17 million per airport.

* Overall, the 389 airline airports shared $2.2 billion, averaging $5.5 million per airport. By comparison, 1,121 general aviation that year shared $832 million, averaging $742,000 each.

* Another $310 million was distributed through state block grant programs.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Uncategorized, airports, associations | Comments (4)

AirTran CEO Bob Fornaro to speak at Wichita Aero Club

June 15, 20092:50 p.m.

AirTran Airways CEO Bob Fornaro is the keynote speaker for the Wichita Aero Club’s monthly luncheon next week.

Fornaro joined AirTran in 1999. He’s held senior management positions at US Airways, Northwest Airlines and Trans World Airlines.

Fornaro will speak at the noon meeting on Tuesday, June 23 at the Wichita Airport Hilton. Tickets may be purchased online at www.wichitaaeroclub.org or by calling 641-5962.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under associations, aviation industry | Comments Off

Wichita Aero Club trophy unveiled

June 8, 200911:30 a.m.

aeroclub_trophy1WICHITA–The aviation industry has several coveted trophies, such as the Collier trophy and the Wright Brothers trophy.

Wichita now has its own.

Each year, the newly formed Wichita Aero Club will recognize a person who has made key contributions to the aviation industry over the previous year or over a lifetime.

This year, the trophy was unveiled at the group’s Black Tie dinner on Saturday.

Wichita artist Chris Brunner created the award, using steel to represent materials used in aircraft manufacturing and the ancient form of a pyramid to represent the heavens and sky. It also includes contrails and an airplane.

“It’s a beautiful representation of aviation,” said Wichita Aero Club executive director Dave Franson at the unveiling.

Its size may make it difficult to transport, however, Franson said.

“Wait until the winner has to take it home in his car,” he quipped.

He’s joking. Each winner will receive a desktop-size model.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under associations | Comments Off

Wichita Aero Club raises $31,800 for laid-off workers

June 8, 200911:13 a.m.

WICHITA–More than 200 people were in attendance at the inaugural Wichita Aero Club black tie dinner Saturday at the Hyatt Regency Wichita.

The evening featured a silent and a live auction to raise money for United Way’s Laid-Off Workers Fund.

There were lots of cool items in the auction.

The biggest money maker was for a flight with Cessna Aircraft chairman and CEO Jack Pelton in a Mustang to Independence for lunch and a tour of Cessna’s plant there. Tom Poberezny, head of the Experimental Aviation Association and the evening’s keynote speaker, was the winning bidder at $5,000. That will be a fun trip.

In all, Saturday’s event raised $31,800.

The money will be a big help. Pat Hanrahan, head of United Way, said that the agency’s One Stop Center had 502 appointments last week.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under associations, aviation industry | Comments (2)