“I think we’ve come a long way in the last year,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen yesterday during the opening session of the eighth annual JetNet iQ Summit. He described how the organization, with support from the other aviation alphabet groups, was able to fend off two attempts in the past year to give control of the nation’s air traffic control system to the airlines, as part of the FAA reauthorization bill.

“Of course we’re still not done with that bill yet,” he told the audience, adding that the Senate is expected to bring its bill to the floor next month. “I do think if we can get the legislative bills behind us and get some stability over the next four or five years that there are a lot of other great and important challenges for our industry to face,” among them attracting and retaining skilled talent, implementing NextGen, and reducing the industry's environmental footprint.

Pete Bunce, president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, warned against complacency, noting that the airlines are already strategizing for their next move on advancing ATC privatization. “This will never go away, but this is job security for us,” he quipped.