President Biden’s State of the Union speech last night drew fire from NBAA for targeting business jets as he described efforts to make “big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay their share.” 

Noting he signed a law for a corporate minimum tax, Biden added in his prepared speech: “I also want to end the tax breaks for Big Pharma, Big Oil, private jets, and massive executive pay! End it now!”

The speech followed a notice from the IRS last month that it was planning to launch at least “dozens” of audits on business aircraft use to ensure tax compliance in high-income categories.

In response to the State of the Union speech, NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen said, “Of course, every American business should pay the taxes they owe, but President Biden has unfairly chosen to target those who use business aviation, even though the vast majority of flights are taken by U.S. companies to help them compete effectively in a global marketplace.”

Bolen stressed that business aviation enables companies to be more efficient, productive, and flexible, as well as use remote locations. “That’s why the president’s own Cabinet members sometimes use business aircraft to do their jobs and visit with people in towns and cities across the nation,” he pointed out. “The IRS has not identified a compliance gap in business aviation.”

Since January 1, millions of small entities have been required to report sensitive personal information to the U.S. government like never before. These entities include limited liability companies (LLCs) and trusts that often hold title to aircraft for their sole, ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs).

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is the disclosure law, and the Department of the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is the chief enforcer. This law imposes potentially significant civil and criminal penalties for the failure or refusal to correctly and timely report all required information. Importantly, the CTA intersects with aviation regulations that may compound penalties.

The reporting obligation was clear until March 1, when an Alabama federal district court in the case of National Small Business United v. Yellen (National) decided that the CTA was unconstitutional. The court halted the Department of the Treasury and FinCEN from enforcing the CTA against the National plaintiffs. In a press release on March 4, FinCEN stated that “the government will not currently enforce the CTA against the plaintiffs.”

Because National seems to apply only to the plaintiffs, UBOs and covered entities may decide on a “better to be safe than sorry” approach. To make that decision and avoid violations of the law, it is critical to understand the technical CTA rules and how to comply with them.

U.S. Senate aviation subcommittee Chair Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) stressed the importance of stepping up funding to draw women into the workforce, saying efforts thus far haven’t been nearly enough.

Speaking Wednesday evening at an event sponsored by eVTOL air taxi developer Joby Aviation on Capitol Hill in honor of International Women in Aviation Week, Duckworth noted strong support for provisions that would increase and expand grants to foster the aviation workforce, particularly with women and other underrepresented groups, and create a women in aviation advisory committee within the Department of Transportation.

These measures were “very bipartisan,” she said. “We fought over a lot of other things—the 1,500-hour rule, we fought over the perimeter rule—this was not [something] that we had to fight over.”

Joby president of operations Bonny Simi kicked off the event that drew industry leaders, members of Congress, and government officials. Senate commerce committee chair Maria Cantwell also pointed to efforts to help drive down the costs of educating the next generation of aviation workforce and expressed appreciation for those measures in the FAA and other bills.

Aviation industry digital documentation firm Web Manuals has enhanced its partnership with Air Maetro through enhanced integration of the two companies' software.

Previously, customers of Air Maestro—a provider of web-based safety management systems, flight operations, and training solutions—needed to review regulatory documents in the Web Manuals platform, and those documents needed to be reuploaded and redistributed in Air Maestro’s system. Now users can review and download Web Manuals documents directly from the Air Maestro site, eliminating document duplication and enabling synchronized folders and alerts.

“Customers can now benefit from synchronization across both platforms,” stated Sofia Ekholm, Web Manuals’ customer experience manager. “The seamless integration of manual libraries will increase productivity, simplify decision making, and enable more efficient compliance management.”

The two companies have collaborated since 2021, and this latest integration represents the first in a series of connectors aimed at adding value to both new and existing customers.

“As we continue to welcome new aviation customers from across the Asia-Pacific region, advancing our product will be key to meeting their evolving requirements,” added Ekholm. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Air Maestro as we work to streamline safety and compliance throughout the aviation industry.”

Naples Jet Center has become an Embraer-authorized service center for the Legacy 450/500 and Praetor 500/600, the Southwest Florida-based FAA Part 145 repair station said. This designation builds on Naples Jet Center’s previous authorization for Embraer Phenom 100s and 300s.

The company expects the expanded authorization to facilitate access to genuine parts and offer aircraft owners and operators comprehensive support for their Embraer business jets.

"The expansion of our authorizations to include the Embraer Legacy and Praetor series represents a significant milestone for Naples Jet Center," said v-p and director of maintenance Dave Stetson. "It enables us to extend our services to a broader range of aircraft, affirming our commitment to excellence and to the evolving needs of our clientele."

With the Embraer partnership, Naples Jet Center has cemented its role as a service powerhouse through its many affiliations, including as Gogo Business Aviation and Garmin authorized dealers.