Hawker 4000
Posted on 02/16/2009 6:15:18 AM PST by Evil Slayer
Banks got lambasted for their corporate jets after receiving government money. Congress and the public scourged auto executives for flying their private planes to Washington to beg for cash.
Now, Wichita, Kan.-based planemakers Cessna Aircraft Co. and Hawker Beechcraft Corp. are launching marketing campaigns to convince executives not to let their wings be clipped.
"Timidity didn't get you this far," the Cessna ad reads, adding that "true visionaries will continue to fly."
Support needs to be given to businesses that have the "good judgment and courage" to use corporate planes not only to survive the recession but also to find ways to turn the economy around, Cessna Chief Executive Jack Pelton said.
"The reality of business aviation is a far cry from the misconception of CEOs flying in large, luxurious airplanes," Pelton said last week. "Most of these aircraft are fairly Spartan, designed for business, with a cabin about the size of a minivan or SUV interior."
Cessna, a unit of Providence, R.I.-based Textron Inc., has said it will lay off 4,600 workers by the end of March, about 30 percent of its global workforce of 15,000 people. The company also said this month that it would chop some production employees' workweeks to three or four days to cut costs.
It said the layoffs and other cost-cutting measures were needed because of the contracting economy, which is forcing customers to cancel or delay orders for new planes.
The ad campaign will address what Cessna calls "misinformation" about the business use of corporate aircraft. Most passengers are middle managers or technicians, it said, and 85 percent of corporate aircraft are used by small or medium-size businesses.
The campaign will publish ads in national business newspapers and magazines as well as aviation trade publications.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Hawker 4000
BUMP!
For a party so enamored of job creation. We have daily economic negativism designed not for job creation at all, but more like job cremation. Dumb and dumber doesn’t begin to describe the law of ignorance and unintended consequences.
When the Dumbocraps get done there won’t be any manufacturing jobs left in Amerika.
It said it all when the Congress had to go back on their promise of 48 hours to read the final stimulus bill out of conference and vote so Pelosi could jump on “HER” jet and fly to Europe.
Soon we will have to bail out the airports and the aerospace industry and the poor, poor private plane mechanics who capitalism has turned out on the street.
Americans have to be the stupidest people to ever walk the earth.
In today’s corporate world, pity the poor executive who blinks. The good news is, in trying times like these, fortune tends to favor those who make bold, decisive moves. It’s simply about adjusting, not retreating, starting with a good hard look at your flight department. Are you flying the right aircraft for your missions? Can you adjust capacity to meet demand? One thing is certain: true visionaries will continue to fly. Because, in tempestuous times, leaders recognize it’s not about ego. Or artifice. It’s simply about availing yourself of the full range of tools to do your job. RISE.
but Corporate execs can't fly around in their little planes.
Don’t forget THOUSANDS of jets winging in from Hollywood for the coronation.
Wow, that's a good one. I intend to use it frequently.
Huh, I know you know that generally were ever “this” goes, another just like it plus support aircraft also go.
Editor; (To the Burbank Leader)
Congressman Brad Sherman should study the proud aviation history of Burbank, California. Congressman Brad Sherman should also study the proud aviation history of the United States. Burbank would not be the great city it is today without aviation, and risk takers like Emelia Earheart, who lost her life promoting aviation. Burbank and the United States would not be what we are today without those who risked their lives, fortunes and reputations, building the aviation industry in this country.
Aviation has been a critical part of the Burbank economy, and the national economy, for decades. I write to you from Wichita Kansas. I write to beg the people of Burbank to please educate your misguided Congressman, Brad Sherman.
Corporate aviation is a critical part of the national economy. Corporate aircraft provide a very efficient means for executive travel. Corporate aircraft provide the ability for executives to meet and discuss sensitive policy matters, on the airplane, prior to government and corporate meetings.
More to the point: The corporate aviation industry employs millions of people, directly and indirectly. Beechcraft, Cessna and Learjet all have facilities, in Wichita Kansas. All of them are now announcing deep layoffs.
Yes, the general economy is responsible for many of those job losses. However, the poorly informed demagoguery of politicians like Congressman Brad Sherman, who has now publicly announced his hostility towards corporate aviation, IS most definitely responsible for many of these lost aviation jobs.
Aviation is NOT a “luxury” any more than computers and cell phones are a luxury. Travel, like communication, is a vital business function.
America is not a banana republic, at least not yet.
It is NOT the job of politicians like Congressman Sherman to dictate the means of corporate travel.
By the way, ALL of President Obama’s Air Force One trips are paid for by the taxpayers, and ALL of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s private jet expenses are paid by the taxpayers. If corporations are told that they are not allowed to own their own aircraft, how can politicians justify airplanes that are paid for, 100%, by the taxpaying public? I do not begrudge the need for government officials to use government aircraft, but my point is very simple: If private aircraft can be justified for government officials, on the taxpayers’ dime, it seems logical to assume that private aircraft can be justified for corporate use, as well!
One other point: If Congressman Sherman wants to deny jobs to all of the people who are now employed in the aviation industry, that will be a huge loss in tax revenue, to the Federal Government. That will be less money available to pay Congressman Sherman’s travel expenses! (I wonder, has Congressman Sherman ever traveled in Speaker Pelosi’s private jet?)
If Congress decides that corporations can not own airplanes, then those who build, fly and work on corporate aircraft will be unemployed. Also harmed will be those, like me, who work in aviation towns like Wichita, Kansas!
Thanks Congressman!
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