T he business aviation industry is under siege as never before. Almost daily attacks come from environmentalists, jet shamers, social jus- tice activists, and hundreds of media outlets. High-profile critics now have business jets squarely in their crosshairs, bashing the aircraft as the most polluting way to travel and a profoundly unfair class privilege. Social media has been quick to repeat and reinforce the pummeling. In Europe, more than 100 activists invaded EBACE in May, gluing and chaining themselves to business jets parked at the static display. They plastered “tox- ic object” stickers onto aircraft and held up signs for their video squads proclaiming “private jets are burning our future.” A month later at Sylt, Germany, protesters cut the airport fence, painted an entire Cessna Citation CJ1+ with orange paint and videoed themselves un- furling banners that translate to “your luxury = our drought” and “your luxury = crop failures.” At Ibiza in July, Spain activist group Futuro Vegetal boast- ed about the damage it did to an Embraer Phen- om 300E, painting it black and yellow, then gluing themselves to the fuselage.
NBAA, in response, tightened security at this year’s Business Aircraft Convention and Exposition (BACE) in Las Vegas as never before, both at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the aircraft static dis- play at Henderson Executive Airport (KHND). The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, private security agency Titan and, reportedly, U.S. feder- al agents made detailed plans to prevent security breaches by eco-protesters and class-warfare activ- ists who might have mimicked Euro protesters. At- tendees were required to show government-issued photo IDs to verify badge authenticity for admis- sion. Bags were searched and entrants were screened through metal detectors. The only security systems missing were TSA-grade, virtual-strip-search body scanners. More than a few plainclothes security officers were spotted wearing audio earpieces behind their sunglasses while casually strolling around aircraft at Henderson. Quite clearly, NBAA was not about to succumb to the unprecedented and embarrassing invasion suffered by EBAA and NBAA in Geneva earlier this year.
Though heightened security measures were clearly in place, NBAA-BACE’s exhibit halls and static display were free from any indication of increased protest activity.
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