...the airline companies and the business aircraft people are at loggerheads over who should pay for what.
The airlines contend that "private flying" is done by multi-millionaires in very expensive jets and that they don't pay their fair share for clogging up the ATC system with their various flying pleasure domes.
The business aviation people see their part of the aviation pie as more of a refuge for plebian working stiffs who just want to get away from the stress and toil of life by flying their Meridians and King Airs off for a little fly fishing in Aspen.
The real irony, of course, is that we are talking about the very same people here. Both groups are privileged and rich, suit-wearing, stock-option-holding graduates of various prestigious business schools. Like any high school debate team, their position on the issue depends on which side the teacher has assigned them.
While I am leaning more in support of Kermit and Gwenn's jobs, I still think that the airlines have a lot to learn from the NBAA. What if they had attractive girls serving coffee to their customers? What if they required their customers to dress up a little bit before coming to the airport?
What a world that would be! It would be the world of airline flying back in the 1970s and early 1980s, when people wore suits to fly on an airliner, a ticket price was sane enough to keep the airline in business and real coffee was served by real girls in real coffee cups.