This year marks the 70th anniversary of the National Air Transportation Association (NATA).
When NATA began in 1940, some of the issues critical to aviation then are not so very unfamiliar to us now – private aviation businesses in America were under attack from all sides, the unemployment rate was over 14%, tax rates had climbed to record highs, and business investment and consumer purchasing power remained depressed, according to officials with the association, which was formed by a network of supporters across the country to protect the private aviation industry and help it prosper.
NATA’s history boasts many successes, including victory in the battle on fuel control in the late 1970s, an unprecedented campaign to confront the issue of airport access in the 1990s, a win in reopening Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to traffic other than scheduled airlines in 2005 and, most recently, continued success in abolishing user fees, according to association officials.
Other programs include NATA’s Safety 1st, which created the standard in line service supervisor training and training management with development of its PLST Online program. To date, more than 3,000 line service technicians have been trained through the program, according to NATA President James Coyne.
NATA recently launched a new series of free and low-cost webinars covering topics including minimum standards, ramp safety and security issues.
