To business, philanthropic, and tennis superstars Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, business aviation is essential to all that they do. Kicking off NBAA-BACE 2023 on Tuesday morning, Graf—who has notched 22 Grand Slam singles titles and 107 titles overall—told the audience at the opening day keynote session, “Being in airplanes was something I’ve always loved. We’ve grown up in airplanes, and that’s how I kind of see it with our sport. We travel around the world.”
Joining Graf on stage, her husband Agassi added that business aviation provides more control over their time and said “controlling all the things you can…[is] a big part of us being the best of ourselves.”
Also appearing on the main stage during the opening session were FAA deputy administrator Kathryn Thomson and National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy, who discussed the importance of finding the right people and having the right data to pursue safety. Jared Isaacman was featured on the stage as well; he is known as the commander of Inspiration4, the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit, and he accepted NBAA’s Meritorious Service Award.
Agassi, who earned 60 men’s singles titles—including eight Grand Slam singles championships and an Olympic gold medal—shares Graf’s passion for flying. “I was always comfortable in the airplane,” he said. “It was the only place you could really shut down. We jumped from continent to continent, literally, sometimes from week to week.”
But while the intense competitions may be behind them, their multiple endeavors have kept them traveling, whether through fractional or jet cards. They even owned three aircraft over time, selling the last one during Covid. “The whole world shut down. There was nowhere to travel to,” he explained.
Agassi stressed that, for him, business aviation is “about efficiencies,” saying that the time savings have been key. “The idea of me being able to go do what I need to do and be back home for dinner to take the kids to school was such a huge importance and priority.”
Graf and Agassi also relayed how they were drawn into their philanthropic endeavors—Graf founded Children for Tomorrow in 1998 to provide psychological help for children and families who have suffered trauma from war, abuse, or loss of the family. Agassi launched the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education in 1994 to promote educational access and reform.
Graf founded her organization in conjunction with the Outpatient Clinic for Refugee Children and Their Families at the University Clinics of Hamburg-Eppendorf. “Back 27 to 28 years ago, very few people talked about the inner wounds, about what trauma really does and how to deal with it. Over the years, I got more and more involved in helping him raise funds.” This led to the development of the organization.
She noted that the need for the organization has only grown. “Unfortunately, there are over 100 million refugees,” Graf said. “When I started, there were 20 million.”
Agassi’s endeavors, meanwhile, similarly have been focused on children. He explained that, like the business aviation community’s focus on sustainability, so too are their works focused on providing a sustainable future for children.
Through creative fundraising, Agassi has helped open 130 schools to provide opportunities to children in underserved communities. “The idea is…really breaking the cycle and allowing that hope to exist so tomorrow can look better than yesterday and today.”
Graf and Agassi also shared about their business endeavors, including emphasizing that they invest in people rather than things. And while their focus is on their family, business, and philanthropy, the competitive side of the tennis champs still prevails.
They discussed an upcoming pickleball tournament that Graf and Agassi will play in February against tennis greats Maria Sharapova and John McEnroe. While stating that this is for fun, Agassi also joked that he “wanted to beat the shit out of McEnroe.”
Meanwhile, Thomson and Homendy touched upon some of the issues they’ve been focusing on in Washington. Homendy praised NBAA for opening the convention with a discussion on safety. “I think that is critical and really sends a great message.”
Thomson noted that the aviation industry had seen some “pretty serious close calls” earlier this year and while it hasn’t been an overall increase from last year, it “reminded us of how important the focus on safety is.”
This resulted in an all-hands-on-deck call to discuss a range of opportunities and challenges to bring greater awareness and leverage available resources to drive continuous improvement in safety.
This focus also led to the development of an expert review team with leaders in this area, such as former FAA administrator Michael Huerta and former NASA administrator Charlie Bolton, who have taken a deep dive into these issues. They have been regularly meeting and are anticipated to release a report with recommendations either this month or early next month.
This is one of numerous efforts the agency has taken, Thomson added, but said it has to be an effort that encompasses the entire aviation community.
Homendy noted that a 2017 roundtable that the NTSB hosted focused on runway incursions, but now “we have six active investigations on the runway on six runway incursions that occurred over the past year.” That forum honed in on the need to collect data, she said. “Data is very important, but we have to at some point get beyond the data and start making decisions and implementing some safety measures that can save lives.”
Thomson further praised the dedication of her colleagues at the FAA but conceded that they “are under stress in terms of staffing,” particularly with air traffic controllers. The agency has been ramping up controller hiring from 1,500 this year to 1,800 next year and 2,600 in the pipeline for the following year. “So that’s a good start.” But to do this, the agency needs a long-term authorization and appropriations from Congress with adequate, sustainable funding. “The reality is we can’t do it all without ongoing significant investment.”
The FAA has been working with the White House and OMB to explore options for longer-term, more viable funding, including possibilities of making some accounts mandatory rather than discretionary.
Homendy discussed changes in the hiring process that helped her agency fill the some 50 openings it had out of a staff of 435 people. The proportion of vacancies “was a big deal.” Efforts included a more direct hiring approach rather than the bureaucratic process that spanned months and led candidates to find other positions.
Thomson also discussed how the agency is forward-looking. “We’re very focused on the art of the possible. We want to find a way to get to yes, [but] we will not compromise safety.”
As for the future, Isaacman—founder and CEO of payments company Shift4—discussed his love of aviation that led him to co-found the Black Diamond Jet Team that participates in airshows. He also holds a round-the-world record in his Cessna Citation Mustang, which was a fundraising mission for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and has undertaken multiple space endeavors, including as commander of Inspiration4, which he used to help support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
He discussed the possibilities of the future and expanding horizons beyond earth but, importantly, providing hope for all.