At the NBAA Maintenance Conference this week in Portland, Oregon, Christopher Broyhill, a business aviation compensation expert and founder of The AirComp Calculator, highlighted a key difference between pilot and aviation maintenance technician (AMT) pay rates. While business aviation pilot pay has climbed dramatically in the past decade, AMT rates have also grown but at a much lower pace.

“I can count on one hand” where AMTs are paid properly, said Broyhill, based on data from the more than 300 studies he has conducted. “By and large, they are being underpaid.”

However, the pay gap is an issue. “[AMTs] should be able to earn per hour what a Porsche mechanic makes. It’s not a good message if a Porsche mechanic is paid $125 an hour,” he said, compared to AMTs earning far less. “It should be the same. Maintenance people are no less vital [in business aviation].”

Broyhill pointed to AirComp data from 2015 through 2023 that shows director of maintenance salaries climbing by 37 percent but chief pilots rising by 53 percent. Captain pay has climbed 58 percent in that period compared to technical pay up only 23 percent. “[AMT] increases have been moderate,” he said. “We can afford this as an industry."

Technicians need to be more forthright about asking their companies for transparency about salary information, he advised.

Spring has sprung and summer is fast approaching in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s the season for air shows, major sporting events, packed European vacation resorts, and increasingly, climate change protests looking to disrupt their bête noire, private aviation.

The disruption and damage caused by protestors at the 2023 EBACE trade show in Geneva shocked some in the industry, but it has become all too commonplace, and especially against a backdrop of heightened political tensions. Organizers of the 2024 EBACE show are bracing for more turbulence when the industry reconvenes in the Swiss city’s Palexpo facility from May 28 to 30.

For security experts like Eric Schouten with Dyami Security Intelligence, the industry now has to operate with protests being almost as much of a given element as wars and the weather. In his view, rather than bemoaning the injustice of being targeted in this way, companies would do better to focus on the steps that can be taken to function safely and effectively in this environment.

Industry leaders laid out their road plan toward net zero by 2025 on Thursday before the Aero Club of Washington, outlining an effort to rapidly expand the use of sustainable aviation fuel and introduce all-electric and hybrid aircraft.

But to get there, these ambitions need community buy-in, partnerships, and government collaborations, said members of a panel moderated by NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen, and including Embraer Executive Jets president and CEO Michael Amalfitano, World Energy Supply Zero president Scott Lewis, and Billy Nolen, chief regulatory affairs officer at Archer and former acting FAA administrator.

“Business aviation is an incubator for game-changing technologies that point the way to a net-zero future,” Bolen said. “We didn’t just announce that we were going to be net zero by 2050—we’ve made huge investments, and we’re moving forward on multiple pathways.”

Amalfitano agreed. “We are a big part of the ecosystem, not only for today but for the future of air travel and air mobility,” he said, pointing to Embraer’s expansive sustainable plans.

Lewis discussed World Energy’s plans to get to a billion gallons of production by 2030. “These projects will require about $15 billion worth of investments. These are not small things, and it requires participation at all levels.”

Nolen further explained the quest to electric with Archer’s Midnight eVTOL. But to get to market, collaboration with global regulatory authorities and harmonization among them is necessary.

Hydrographics is a cost-effective and growing trend in both private and commercial aviation, allowing owners to reimagine their aircraft interiors in ways not previously available in wood veneer or paint.

Maven by Midfield, an FBO at Detroit-area Oakland County International Airport (KPTK), will open its newest hangar on May 17. The 28,500-sq-ft structure—with its 28-foot-high bottom rolling doors—is capable of sheltering the latest ultra-long-range business jets, and it also includes six offices totaling more than 1,200 sq ft of space for tenants.

It is situated on a 7.5-acre apron area with direct access to the airport’s customs ramp and ample room for aircraft maneuvering, parking, and loading. Equipped with a non-foam fire suppression system, it brings the facility up to more than 102,000 sq ft of hangar space.

“Being at one of the top airports in the United States with a large population of based aircraft, it's our honor to bring much-needed hangar space to this market,” company president Jason Zimmerman told AIN. “It further demonstrates Maven's commitment to the airport, the community, our industry, and our growing role as a leading FBO.”

A member of the World Fuel Services-sponsored Air Elite network of upscale FBOs, the company also recently completed a $400,000 renovation to its 26,500-sq-ft “Hangar 1,” which included an all-glass, hydraulically-operated door, new epoxy flooring, and updated heating.

Canada’s 10% luxury tax on certain aircraft remained unchanged in the federal budget released last month, despite a second recommendation from Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) that the country’s new budget proposal “exclude aircraft from the luxury items tax act and place a moratorium on the luxury tax on aircraft pending further industry consultation.”

Reaction by the Canadian Business Aviation Association was immediate and firm. “We remain committed to educating and advocating on behalf of our industry regarding the true cost of the luxury tax on aircraft,” CBAA president and CEO Anthony Norejko told AIN. “In the end, it hurts Canadian jobs and our economic productivity.”

After the tax took effect in September 2022, the government incorporated a concession to business aviation by adding the use of aircraft for business to the list of “qualifying flights” that are exempt from the tax. Specifically, an aircraft is qualified if it is conducted at least 90% of the time “in the course of a business of an owner or lessee with a reasonable expectation of profit.”

Bombardier v-p of government and industry affairs Pierre Pyun told attendees at a recent CBAA meeting that the luxury tax appears to have caused the loss of 3,800 Canadian jobs and $1.1 billion in revenues through March.

AOPA will tell a visual story of general aviation on May 11 with a unique flyover at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. To involve 15 various “chapters” of general aviation and 60 aircraft dating back to 1939 during the “Golden Age” of the industry, the flyover will kick off from Frederick Municipal Airport (KFDK), in Maryland, led by AOPA president Mark Baker in his Beechcraft Staggerwing 17.

“It’s going to be a special time for AOPA and for general aviation,” Baker said. “What a sight it will be to see the history of general aviation flying over the National Mall as GA has given this nation so much over the past many decades.”

Coinciding with AOPA’s celebration of its 85th anniversary, the event is meant as a nationwide visual experience that will be live-streamed. AOPA has encouraged members to have watch parties at FBOs across the country.

Since the path involves restricted airspace, the event will culminate more than two years of planning and coordination with 11 different government agencies, said Mike Ginter, AOPA v-p of airports and state advocacy. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is closing for an hour during the flyover and KFDK for two hours.

The takeoff sequence is to begin at 11:30 a.m. from KFDK with the D.C. flyover lasting from noon until 1 p.m. Should weather not cooperate, the event will roll over to May 12.