Private business aviation essential to recovery

Your recent story (Private jet usage soaring for Chicago charter companies amid pandemic) offered an incomplete account about COVID-19’s impact on business aviation, and the enduring lessons about its value, including in this crisis moment.

First, business aviation, which describes the manufacture and use of mostly small airplanes for business, has been hard-hit by pandemic. Consider flight activity at small airports that handle business aviation traffic; flights at a typical airport, such as New Jersey’s Teterboro, have plummeted a staggering 65% compared with this time last year. Deliveries of business aircraft are off by 21% over the same period, translating to thousands of unemployed manufacturing workers.

That said, the virus also has underscored the importance of this critical transportation link — a reality missed in the way your story describes what’s driving the business aviation demand that remains. For example, entrepreneurs and companies are looking to business aviation to reach markets with airline service reduced or eliminated by the COVID spread. Also overlooked are the role of these flights in supporting delivery of medical specialists, equipment and other supplies to the pandemic’s front lines.

There is much uncertainty with regard to this unprecedented situation, but one thing is clear: mobility and access will be vital to our economic recovery. Business aviation will be a critical component in that equation. Ed Bolen, president and CEO, National Business Aviation Association Send letters to letters@suntimes.com.