Story ID: 
GAMA: ‘Debilitative’ Policies Cloud Thriving Industry
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: Taxes in Europe, tariffs, and regulation roadblocks threaten industry
Word Count: 900
General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) officials this week painted a bright future for the industry with billings topping $30 billion and an economic study showing it contributes more than $450 billion to U.S. and European economies combined. But several issues threaten to cloud that picture, including taxes, tariffs, and regulations, they told the audience at GAMA’s annual State of the Industry event on Wednesday.
“It was truly the year that we proved that general aviation is integral to society and just the welfare that we have around the planet,” said GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce, pointing to not only the economic impact studies released in the U.S. and Europe but also the humanitarian efforts that the industry engaged in after the hurricanes along the East Coast and the Los Angeles fires.
“As we look at both sides of the Atlantic, we need to talk and boast about the importance of our sector,” Bunce said, adding that the industry is seeing harmful policies that attack the industry. Perhaps one of the most urgent concerns, Bunce said, is taxes being imposed in European countries and France in particular.
“These taxes aren’t what we thought about three or four years ago that dealt just with sustainability,” he said. “These taxes are debilitative taxes that are simply going to the revenue for France or for other countries out there.”
As an example, he pointed to the recent law from the French government that potentially could result in charging up to €2,100 ($2,195) per flight. “Think about that,” he said. “If you have an economy in Europe that boasts that they are shifting from a strategy of the Green Deal to the green industrial deal and your major pillar in that strategy is competitiveness, you just shot yourself in the foot. We all know it’s business aviation that gives companies an advantage, whether you’re doing business in Europe or you’re doing it around the globe. You need business aviation, and we just are perplexed by this policy.”
He stressed that the industry needs to constantly explain why these policies hurt. “The proof is in our delivery numbers just on the manufacturing side…The proportion that we are delivering to Europe [is] decreas[ing] over time. This is a direct result of the anti-business aviation sentiment out there that’s almost always [supported] by ridiculous supposed facts that they pull out of the ether that have no scientific basis whatsoever and they can’t be justified.”
But it is incumbent upon the industry to dispel myths about business aviation all the time, he said.
In the U.S., manufacturers are bracing for even more supply-chain complications with proposed tariffs, he said.
“The challenges have been vast” for suppliers, Bunce said, and because of the nature of the industry, “It’s not easy to switch a supplier. When you go and switch a supplier, you’ve got to recertify that supplier.”
It’s costly for both the company and the regulator, he further noted. “If we add tariffs on top of that that debilitate the industry, that can have very severe unintended consequences, whether you’re talking about aluminum, whether you’re just talking about cross-border transactions. When we produce an engine, parts and pieces cross borders all the time. If you’re starting to add tariffs to each one of those transactions becomes significant.”
The association stressed the need to work with the administration on policies that will not debilitate the industry, he reiterated.
GAMA chairman Henry Brooks, who is president of power and controls at Collins Aerospace, noted that companies are moving commodities back and forth over borders multiple times during the manufacturing process. “And so one of the things that we haven’t figured out yet is frankly how the tariffs would work,” he said. “We have to really take some time to understand what’s going to be taxed and when will it be taxed.”
Another area of importance surrounds reforms that make the rulemaking process more efficient. Bunce praised the acting FAA Administrator, Chris Rocheleau, who formerly served as COO at NBAA. “Chris understands the importance of this, and I feel very confident that Chris is going to continue this momentum.”
But the Department of Transportation should also be urged to continue the momentum that had begun in the reform process. “We in aviation can't do anything without regulations, policy, and guidance, and a lot of those are enabling regulations.” He recalled that in the first Trump Administration, agencies were required to withdraw two rulemakings for every new one and said, “How we interpret this…now it’s 10 to one. How we are going to actualize that to keep the momentum going forward on policy and guidance?”
But as far as the effects of government layoffs, so far, Bunce said, there is relief that employees classified in safety-related positions are exempt. “We know that the morale within the FAA was boosted by the fact of the declaration late last week of those that have direct responsibility for safety—their jobs are safeguarded,” he said. But the agency is losing some support personnel, Bunce conceded, and said this may provide an opportunity for the agency to become more efficient.