Bolen to AP: Business Aviation is Essential to America

April 2, 2024

A recent Associated Press story about planned IRS audits for companies using business aviation devolved into mischaracterizations about the industry, prompting NBAA to respond quickly with the facts.

“Business aviation allows companies to reach customers in small cities and rural areas outside of those served by commercial airlines,” NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen wrote in a published letter to news editors. “Studies have shown that companies utilizing business aircraft consistently outperform comparable companies that don’t.”

Bolen added, “When you look past the mischaracterizations, the IRS’s plan is nothing more than an audit in search of a problem. Unfortunately, the agency is mischaracterizing business aviation — an industry that supports 1.2 million manufacturing jobs and contributes $250 billion to GDP.”

NBAA encourages its members and industry stakeholders to urge their congressional representatives to oppose anti-business aviation tax policies. View NBAA’s Call to action.

Read the full letter to the editor as it appeared in the April 1 edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review below.
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Your readers were unfortunately offered a caricature of those who use business aviation in a recent story (“IRS chief zeroes in on wealthy tax cheats in AP interview,” March 20, TribLive).

First, most companies using business aviation are small- or medium-sized businesses, and most passengers are midlevel employees. Business aviation allows these companies to reach customers in small cities and rural areas outside of those served by commercial airlines. Studies have shown that companies utilizing business aircraft consistently outperform comparable companies that don’t.

Second, business aviation flights are routinely conducted in full compliance with tax laws and applicable Securities and Exchange Commission rules. Simply put, when you look past the mischaracterizations, the IRS’s plan is nothing more than an audit in search of a problem. Unfortunately, the agency is mischaracterizing business aviation — an industry that supports 1.2 million manufacturing jobs and contributes $250 billion to GDP.

Ed Bolen, Washington, D.C.

The writer is president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association.