Embraer’s sustainability initiatives run throughout the enterprise, from reducing water usage to sourcing zero-emissions energy for its facilities.
expressed recently in a lengthy report published in May. The report’s goal is to stir up the ongoing public discourse of billionaire excesses and use that to push for lawmakers to disincentivize the use of private aircraft through the proposed taxes and laws. Moreover, the
report is anchored by a conveniently low-hanging tactic and narrative that takes highly visible, ultra-high net worth individuals like Elon Musk and other news- grabbing celebrities to paint with broad strokes, where more narrow and nuanced suggestions would suffice.
SPECIAL INTERESTS?
For instance, in the IPS report, the group lumps prominent aviation trade associations that have advocated for pilots, owners, operators, flight departments, manufacturers, and even small airports, all together as lobbyists that have spent “nearly $68 million combined on lobbying to protect their interests over the last 12 years.” Of course, it doesn’t tell the whole story, and industry insiders are already taking umbrage. Not long after the report, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), the leading trade organization for companies that rely on GA aircraft to help make their businesses more efficient, productive, and successful—and one of IPS’ “big three”—published a scathing rebuttal to the report. NBAA said the IPS report “puts forward a caricature about business aviation” and ignored “important facts about
an essential American industry.” For example, in the IPS report, the group said, “Thousands of municipal airports in the U.S. are funded by the public, but many primarily serve private and corporate jets.” Moreover, the report claims “these airports may not offer scheduled passenger service, but they still offer airport runways subsidized by taxes.” However, NBAA pushed back to say, “Eighty percent of business flights are to and from small towns and communities with little or no airline service,” and that contrary to the popular billionaire narrative, “85 percent of companies relying on an airplane to meet their transportation challenges are small and midsize enterprises” and that the passengers on board are more often mid-level managers rather than the C-suite.
40
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator