Hello, AVT 422:

The blog topic for this week (February 13) is:

Corporate Aviation: A Political Punching Bag

http://avt422winter2013.blogspot.com

On November 18, 2008, at the height of the financial crises, the CEOs of GM, Ford, and Chrysler few their corporation’s jets to Washington, D.C. to ask Congress for a $25 billion bailout to avoid bankruptcy of the auto industry.  The media and late-night talk show hosts exploited the transportation story, and suddenly, corporate aviation was national news.

More recently, President Obama has blasted corporate aviation on several occasions.  The President asserts that corporate aircraft owners, as a group, should be paying more taxes.  Currently, corporations purchasing large business equipment may take advantage of a provision of the economic stimulus package called “accelerated depreciation.”  The concept of accelerated depreciation is not new, it has been around in many guises for a long while.  Accelerated depreciation has been especially beneficial to aviation since the post-9/11, Economic Revitalization Act.

Your assignment this week will focus on the pros and cons of corporate aviation.  Address the following questions in your blog post.  Provide at least four references to support your discussion.

Is corporate aviation really necessary, or should corporate executives fly on the airlines?

Do you feel that corporate aviation is vitally important for our economy?

What are President Obama’s arguments regarding corporate aviation?

What are the arguments of the NBAA, GAMA , and other aviation advocates?

What is accelerated depreciation?

Why is accelerated depreciation part of the economic stimulus package.

Is the opulence of some business jets entirely justified?

Grading criteria for this blog post will be as follows:

Depth of discussion…………………………………....10 points

Appropriate references and citations………………….4 points

Grammar and Style……………………………………...5 points

Three significant comments on other blogs………......6 points

Total…………………………………………………..….25 points

Do not forget the following:

1.  Address each issue fully to receive full credit.

2.  Include references and links to support your topic. 

3.  Cite your sources, using APA formatting, at the bottom of your posting. 

4.  Please proofread your work.

5.  Upload your comments to the Dropbox.

Your post is due by 11:59 p.m. on Monday evening.

Comments are due by the start of class on February 13

Enjoy,

Dr. Tartalone