The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) took the opportunity presented by its 16th Annual Legislative Summit last week to urge Congress to pass a five-year Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill, among others.
They sought to highlight business travel’s role in the nation’s economy, with a roughly 3 percent contribution to the total U.S. gross domestic product. To that end, members hope to see Congress pass a long-term authorization for the FAA, rather than the short term extensions which have been the norm in recent years. At the same time, they desire no increases to passenger facility charges and ask that the entire 9-11 Aviation Security Fee is used for airport security and passenger facilitation — its actual purpose, but one which has been partly diverted to other ends in the last two federal budget deals.
“There is no question that business travel is critical to our economy – every 1 percent increase in business travel spending creates an additional 74,000 jobs, nearly $5.5 billion in GDP and $3.3 billion in wages,” Michael McCormick, GBTA executive director and COO, said. “We need lawmakers to adopt policies that support our business travelers and help our industry grow. I’m pleased to see so many members flying into D.C. to advocate for our industry and share their stories with their elected representatives.”
More than 130 GBTA members gathered at last week’s summit, with 23 states represented. While the main event was the call to Congressional action, they also took time to honor current lawmakers for their roles in strengthening the industry and held discussions led by current and former government officials to discuss everything from current priorities to the partisan political divide.