NBAA’09 opens with dose of reality, muted optimism
It would have been impossible to open the 62nd NBAA Convention without squaring off with the 500-pound economic gorilla in the room.
It would have been impossible to open the 62nd NBAA Convention without squaring off with the 500-pound economic gorilla in the room. NBAA president Ed Bolen didn’t mince words: “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s been quite a year.”
There was no place to go but up as Bolen introduced a series of guests, from FAA administrator Randy Babbitt, Forbes’ publisher Rich Karlgaard, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers president Tom Buffenbarger and Arnold Palmer, the legendary golfer and unabashed bizav proponent. Palmer had even premiered three new TV commercials produced to help counter some of the Air Transport Association’s efforts to reinterpret the truth about the business aviation industry.
