Regional Bizav Chiefs Prep for Leadership Roundtable

Regional business aviation leaders will convene July 14 in St. Louis for the Annual Regional Leadership Roundtable, hosted by the Greater St. Louis Business Aviation Association, marking a continuation of NBAA's efforts to knit together the patchwork of local and regional advocacy groups that operate across the country. The event will formally introduce Majo Perdomo Cuevas as the newly appointed Executive Secretary under the Local and Regional Groups Committee, led by Chair Ashley Charnley and Vice Chair Maddie DuBray. While the roundtable itself is a single-day educational gathering, its real significance lies in what it represents: a structured mechanism for dozens of regional business aviation associations—groups often run by volunteers with limited staff and budgets—to share tactics on advocacy, technology adoption, and leadership succession that can be applied at the state and local level where much of the industry's regulatory and tax exposure actually originates.

The article's two case studies illustrate why this peer-to-peer network matters in concrete terms. The Pacific Northwest Business Aviation Association's successful coalition effort to repeal a burdensome aircraft purchase tax in Washington state demonstrates how quickly state legislatures can introduce measures that materially affect operating costs and could push based aircraft, maintenance work, and charter activity to neighboring states. That the repeal happened before lasting damage occurred underscores the value of rapid-response advocacy infrastructure already in place, rather than efforts assembled reactively after a bill has advanced. Similarly, the Ohio Regional Business Aviation Association's work to preserve Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport reflects an increasingly common and existential threat facing general aviation: municipal or waterfront-adjacent airports being eyed for redevelopment or closure. NBAA Regional Director Brittany Davies' warning about a potential "domino effect for regional airports nationwide" is not hyperbole—airport closures elsewhere, from Santa Monica to smaller municipal fields, have followed similar patterns where local political pressure, land-value arguments, and noise complaints erode support for GA infrastructure over time.

For working pilots, flight departments, and charter/fractional operators, these local battles have direct operational consequences. Loss of airports like Burke Lakefront removes diversion options, maintenance bases, and FBO capacity in metro areas, while state-level tax measures like Washington's directly affect aircraft transaction costs, potentially influencing where owners choose to base aircraft or register purchases. Pilots and schedulers who rely on regional airport access for repositioning, crew basing, or customer proximity have a practical stake in whether these facilities remain viable. The CLIMBING. FAST. initiative referenced in the Ohio effort is part of NBAA's broader push to quantify business aviation's economic contribution—jobs, tax revenue, workforce pipelines—in terms that resonate with local policymakers who may not otherwise understand the industry's footprint.

More broadly, this roundtable reflects a maturing recognition within business aviation that national advocacy alone is insufficient; state capitals and city councils are where many of the industry's most consequential decisions on taxation, land use, and airport funding actually get made. As the industry faces continued pressure on multiple fronts—environmental scrutiny, urban land-use competition, and periodic tax proposals targeting "luxury" aircraft ownership—the strength of grassroots regional associations becomes a leading indicator of how well the industry can defend its infrastructure and cost base going forward. The emphasis on building relationships with policymakers "before challenges arise," as the article notes, signals a shift toward proactive, sustained engagement rather than crisis-driven lobbying, a model that other regions and operators would do well to study and replicate given the recurring nature of these threats.