Last year at this time, I predicted that the worst was over for the world economy; and I said that 2015 would witness sustained growth in business aviation and the other aerospace markets we serve. As it turns out, I was overly optimistic. While the picture continues to improve, it remains unclear when a full recovery will occur.

To put it mildly, the global geopolitical scene is not full of good news. Once again, all other major markets are looking to the U.S. as the engine that will drive the train for a resumption of worldwide growth. So much for the “decoupling” theory.

But here in the U.S., signs increasingly suggest a return to growth at a reasonable pace—“reasonable” these days meaning more than 3 percent annually. Housing, auto sales, general retail sales and other key indicators are all moving in a positive direction.

Here’s my take. The Great Recession has presented seven years of challenges to those of us running businesses—whether large or small, privately held or publicly traded. But many of us have implemented changes that have allowed our companies to become more productive and efficient. Thus, even small increases in revenues flow more fully to the bottom line, letting us make the capital investments that will get us out of this economic mess. We are seeing this at AIN, and we are far from alone in experiencing this phenomenon.