Eric R. Byer
Vice President, Government and Industry Affairs
800-808-6282
ebyer@nata.aero
Strong Partnerships Are Key At NATA’s 2010 FBO Leadership Conference
Alexandria, VA, January 28, 2010 – The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) completed another successful FBO Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas, this week.
More than 100 FBO and general aviation airport owners and managers gathered for a two-day conference to discuss current industry issues such as the economy, health care and security as well as vital business topics including customer service and building community relations. A recurring theme through this year’s conference was “building strength through partnerships.”
The attendance doubled over last year’s conference registrations and is attributed to a bold decision by NATA and National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) leadership to form a partnership, locating NATA’s conference with NBAA’s Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference. “NATA members are thrilled with the collocation of the FBO Leadership Conference with NBAA’s S&D Conference,” said NATA President James K. Coyne. “Our members are at S&D because their customers are here – add the opportunity to network with colleagues on the most pressing industry issues, plus the ability to hear from leading business experts, and you get a winning formula.”
The first Monday session started with the same sentiment as the last session that day: Thank goodness 2009 is over. Keynote speaker Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis for the Teal Group, delivered the message that the worst is over. The market has stabilized, but there is a long way to go until growth will resume. Aboulafia gave a three-year time period for market growth. He said, “We are clawing our way out, but I am worried about the next 6-12 months.” Some of this worry is due to huge barriers to new entries, including the large inventory of used aircraft that also negatively affects new aircraft sales and deliverability. “The bottom half of the market (aircraft under $25 million) fell off a cliff due to factors such as greater sensitivity to economic cycles, more discretionary users, greater reliance on external finances and greater fractional exposure,” he said. Aboulafia predicted that the bottom half of the market will recover at a slightly faster pace, provided there is no major structural shift in the market.
Asa Hutchinson, senior partner of AH Law Group and former under secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, spoke on the future of general aviation security. Hutchinson said, “The proper strategy of Homeland Security will lead the TSA to the right conclusions about security.” He suggested that a balance is needed between the protection of U.S. borders and transportation that is consistent with the lawful flow of commerce. Also, a risk-based targeting system should be in place allowing for the timely sharing of information to be analyzed for risk and then the focus should be placed on those posing the risk. Hutchinson said, “There is a risk in general aviation being treated the same as airlines when it comes to security. Your voice is now more important than ever.” He added that two important steps to consider are appointing a security coordinator in each operation and performing a vulnerability assessment on a facility to gather the statistics needed to make a case about the level of risk posed by that operation.
Brian Grubb from the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center drove home the need for partnerships in business success. Grubb said that the Ritz-Carlton reviewed the source of their top market segments and discovered that some of their most valuable customers are, in fact, travel agents. Using this information, Ritz-Carlton formed a stronger partnership with the travel agents by asking what they could do to help them build their business. Another tactic used by the Ritz-Carlton in tough economic times is to take an aggressive stance by encouraging customers one tier beneath a typical Ritz-Carlton guest to buy discounted rooms in the shoulder season. The profit margin is minimal, but a new market segment has been exposed to the impeccable service of the Ritz-Carlton.
Tuesday’s program began with the Leadership Breakfast, featuring NATA’s James K. Coyne, NBAA’s Edward M. Bolen, GAMA’s Peter J. Bunce and AOPA’s Craig L. Fuller. All agreed that to help overcome the challenges facing our industries a grassroots effort to build strong relationships with state and local level politicians is necessary to help spread the word of the immense importance of general aviation and business aviation to the economy and stress the perils of taxes and a wide array of damaging policies to business. Coyne concluded, “We have to take this opportunity as a greater community to revitalize the political view of GA and business aviation to help the nation get out of the recession.”
Conference agenda items included an informative session by NBAA staff on the efficient and effective marketing techniques for S&D Conference participants.
NATA also kicked off its 70th Anniversary celebration with a birthday bash gathering members, staff and industry friends. Visit www.nata.aero for more information on upcoming 70th Anniversary events, and www.nata.aero/fbolc for information on NATA’s 2010 FBO Leadership Conference presentations.
Coyne wrapped up the conference with news on next year’s event. “I am extremely pleased to announce that NATA will hold its 2011 FBO Leadership Conference in Savannah on January 31 and February 1, leading up to NBAA’s Conference once again,” Coyne said. “A
valuable take away from this year’s conference is that success can be achieved through the sharing of information with strong strategic partners. We look forward to continuing our partnership with NBAA to bring the best return on our members’ educational and business investment.”
# # #
NATA, the voice of aviation business, is the public policy group representing the interests of aviation businesses before the Congress and federal agencies.