GBTA Responds to Furloughs with Letter to FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta

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. April 23, 2013

April 23, 2013 - The Global Business Travel Association, the voice of the business travel industry, on Friday sent a letter to FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta in response to the recently announced furloughs. The full text of the letter follows:

Dear Administrator Huerta:

On behalf of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), I write to express significant concerns over the potential for delays to business travelers caused by the scheduled furloughs and request a meeting to discuss options to mitigate the impacts on the business travel industry. Our nation's economy and businesses will pay a very steep price that significantly outstrips savings produced by furloughs.

GBTA represents nearly 6,000 business travel buyers and sellers who spend $270 billion annually on air travel. Face-to-face meetings facilitated by a safe, efficient air transportation system mean U.S. businesses will remain top competitors in the global marketplace, growing the economy and creating jobs.

Every month these businesses send employees on forty million business trips within the U.S. and around the world, with most of these trips involving air travel. Likewise, businesses depend on their customers and partners from around world having access to and ease of travel within the United States.

GBTA and its members fully support your commitment to prioritize safety. Furthermore, GBTA clearly understands the requirements of sequestration. But we are very much alarmed by the list of airports and the expected delays. With Hartsfield-Jackson expected to see maximum delays of 210 minutes and Chicago O'Hare close behind, the impacted airports is a veritable hit list on the business travel industry. This policy will produce missed connections and widespread flight cancellations. If these disruptions unfold as predicted, business travelers will stay home, severely impacting not only the travel industry but the economy overall. It is just that simple.

On behalf of its members, GBTA requests an immediate briefing on the approach the FAA has adopted and the most heavily impacted airports and communities. In addition, we request a discussion on any and all options available to mitigate impacts and provide business travelers with real-time information about likely travel disruptions.

Thank you for your immediate consideration of the concerns of the business travel community. I look forward to hearing from you on this important matter.

Sincerely,
Michael W. McCormick
Executive Director and COO, GBTA

About the Global Business Travel Association
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world's premier business travel and meetings organization. Collectively, GBTA's 5,700-plus members manage over $340 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA provides its network of 21,000 business and government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service providers, with networking events, news, education & professional development.