Business aviation in a sound-byte world - Part 1

I recently appeared on Fox Business Channel with Ed Bolen of the National Business Aviation Association. We were interviewed by Jeff Flock. I thought Jeff was very good and very fair. He asked us about the viability of business jets, and I think we stated our cases well.

The whole anti-private-jet fervor that we have today is because of the sound-byte world we live in. As soon as an executive walked off a huge jet to ask Congress for money, the sound byte was: private jets are wasteful; they're merely a luxury item for rich executives.

As a business jet owner, I think it's appalling to be wasteful in any way - whether it be flying a huge jet alone or buying a $50,000 Rolex or being driven around in a limo instead of driving yourself to meetings, etc. Waste is waste. At my company, our owners and employees would simply not allow that kind of waste - after all, we have a business to run.

Good thing for Rolex that Congress didn't ask the Big Three execs about how much they paid for their watches when a $15 Timex would've gotten them there on time. Good thing for Armani that Congress didn't ask how much they paid for their suits when a decent JC Penney sportcoat would've kept them warm.


Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
http://www.labov.com/