Aug. 22, 2019
When Mississippi CBS-TV affiliate WCBI ran a recent, one-sided story about a local utility company’s use of business aviation, NBAA was quick to respond. In a letter to the station’s news director, NBAA President and CEO stated: “America’s best companies – as well as universities, state and local governments, law-enforcement agencies, philanthropic organizations and, yes, utilities – have relied on the use of mostly small airplanes to meet their transportation needs. In Mississippi, this includes companies that my association proudly includes in its membership.”
Read Bolen’s full letter to WCBI.
Aug. 20, 2019
Robert Davidson
News Director
WCBI CBS Channel 27
201 5th St S
Columbus, MS 39701
Mr. Davidson,
Perhaps it was in the pursuit of sensationalism over substance that your recent segment about a local utility company’s use of business aviation (Utility Companies No Longer Allowed to Pass Corporate Jet Expenses On to Customers, 8/14) included not one word from a source who could speak to the benefits of business aircraft. Your viewers deserve better, and here’s what they should know.
For decades, America’s best companies – as well as universities, state and local governments, law-enforcement agencies, philanthropic organizations and, yes, utilities – have relied on the use of mostly small airplanes to meet their transportation needs. In Mississippi, this includes companies that are household names across the world, yet with headquarters based in your state, competing on a global stage, and supporting local jobs and economic growth in the process. These are companies that my association proudly includes in its membership.
Like companies everywhere, those in Mississippi want to turn travel time into work time. They want to be as efficient and productive as possible, in everything they do. Like laptops, cellphones, and other assets, business aviation makes all of this possible.
It’s not just unfortunate that your story painted with a negative brush a business asset, which has been shown by study after study to be critical to well-managed companies – the larger concern is that the facts about business aviation value were entirely omitted from your segment.
Sincerely,
Ed Bolen
President and CEO
National Business Aviation Association
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.