When the leader of a partisan Washington group turned to a faulty report to resurface his long-standing criticism of business aviation, NBAA was quick to respond.
Specifically, NBAA is countering an opinion piece recently authored by Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) Director Chuck Collins, which denounces a wide-ranging Congressional bill, signed into law last month, on alleged income-inequality grounds.
To make his case, Collins singles out a familiar target – business aviation – reflecting a years-long bias that offers a caricature of the industry, which in reality benefits citizens, companies and communities across the U.S. The resulting narrative, often based on unfounded data from aligned interest groups, leaves readers without the facts about business aviation, an essential American industry.
Such is the formula Collins applies to his latest op-ed, which points to a flawed report about emissions from U.S. business aircraft flights. The document, issued last month, was produced by a self-described “mission-driven” non-profit founded in Italy.
NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen set the record straight with a letter sent to news organizations that are publishing Collins’s opinion piece. Bolen’s counterpoint letter, most recently published by a Florida news outlet, alerts readers to the many questionable claims made in the Collins op-ed, noting:
“The op-ed’s author relies on a report that calculated emissions from jets using a dubious extrapolation of flight-tracking data. The report acknowledges that about 12% of flights it examined had ‘incomplete departure or arrival information.’ This data shortcoming alone might be the study’s disqualifying flaw – after all, one likely wouldn’t make similarly definitive conclusions about emissions from other types of commutes without verifiable departure and arrival information.
“The opinion also omits other important facts,” the letter continues. “For example, business aviation has slashed emissions by 40% over the last four decades, largely through the development of increasingly fuel-efficient engines and lighter airframes, and that new aircraft models are up to 35% more efficient than their predecessors.”
Bolen’s letter concludes, “In offering a distorted picture of business aviation, the article misses the larger point about its value: business aircraft allow companies to optimize efficiency, productivity and flexibility in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.”
Read Bolen’s full letter to the editor.
The points made in Bolen’s letter are central tenants of CLIMBING. FAST., an industry advocacy program to educate policymakers and opinion leaders about business aviation’s many societal benefits, including a focus on sustainability through innovation to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The international campaign now includes 15 leading aviation organizations. Learn more about CLIMBING. FAST.
“NBAA and other CLIMBING. FAST. partners will continue to provide the facts about business aviation’s value in the U.S. and around the world,” Bolen said.
