In February 2025, Senator Edward Markey reintroduced his “Fat Cat” tax bill—officially known as the Fueling Alternative Transportation with a Carbon Aviation Tax (FATCAT) Act. The legislation proposes removing business aviation’s exemption from federal fuel excise taxes, citing luxury and inequality concerns. Once again, corporate jets have become a symbol of excess—an easy target for politicians and media critics.

But what’s missing from the conversation, as usual, is context. Business jets are not just tools for billionaires and celebrities—they’re lifelines for small businesses, mobile technicians, medical missions, remote communities and companies trying to compete globally from far-flung corners of America. The “fat cat” narrative not only misunderstands the purpose of business aviation—it actively harms it.

And worse yet, we in the industry have been complicit in this misrepresentation because we haven’t done enough to tell our own story.

Aviation was once the darling of the media in the days of Charles Lindbergh and Eddie Rickenbacker.  But that “Golden Age” gave way to cynicism.

In 2009, during the height of the financial crisis, the CEOs of the Big Three automakers were pilloried by a beleaguered Congress for flying private jets to Washington to request bailout money. The optics were terrible—and they ignited a firestorm.

The country needed a scapegoat, and they found one that gave nearly zero resistance.

That same year, Wired magazine declared, “General Aviation Sounds Mayday As Fat Cats Ditch Their Jets.” Across mainstream media, business jets became shorthand for greed, arrogance, and poor judgment. The Economist followed in 2011 with a blistering column mocking defenders of business aviation for “claiming it creates jobs”—a claim they deemed “dubious.”

That narrative has stuck, in part, because it’s simple.

Planes = rich people = unfairness.

But reality, as usual, is more complicated.

Business Aviation Is More Than C-Suite Luxury

Here’s what doesn’t make headlines: The NBAA reports that 85% of business aircraft are used by small to midsize enterprises, not massive corporations. Most passengers on these flights aren’t celebrities or hedge fund managers—they’re technicians, engineers, sales reps, and medical personnel.

These aircraft allow businesses based in small cities or rural communities—places not well-served by commercial airlines—to reach clients, inspect factories, attend meetings, and stay competitive. Without them, many companies would be forced to relocate or close.

Let’s be honest: the optics of business jets are terrible. But the economics are sound.

A 2018 study by NEXA Advisors found that companies using business aviation consistently outperformed their peers in revenue growth, profitability, and shareholder value. The jets aren’t perks—they’re performance tools.

When Privacy Becomes a Liability

Good News Gets Buried

There are hundreds of stories that could change public perception—if only they were told.

1. Business Aviation During COVID-19

During the height of the pandemic, business aircraft were used to deliver vaccines, PPE, and critical personnel. Companies like Wheels Up and Flexjet provided airlift capacity when commercial aviation ground to a halt.?

2. Remote Plant Support

Caterpillar Inc., the global heavy equipment manufacturer headquartered in Illinois, used its business aviation fleet to fly critical engineers and parts to a remote mining site in northern Canada experiencing a mechanical failure that threatened to halt operations. According to a case study presented by the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), the mine faced a multi-million dollar shutdown if production stopped for more than 48 hours. Despite severe weather, lack of commercial flight options, and the urgency of the repair, the company’s in-house aviation department dispatched a jet within hours. The team was able to diagnose and resolve the issue on-site, avoiding an estimated $3.5 million in production losses and preserving dozens of jobs linked to that operation.

This story echoes many others in industries like oil and gas, utilities, and manufacturing—sectors that rely on timely technical support to maintain remote, high-value infrastructure. Yet because these missions often go unreported, the public rarely hears how general aviation quietly keeps the gears of industry turning.

3. Medical Missions

Organizations like Angel Flight, Corporate Angel Network, and Paraflight fly patients to life-saving treatments or organs to patients who desperately need them and literally would find a delay to be a life-or-death situation. And these flights are usually offered to patients at no cost.

These aren’t luxuries. These are lifelines. But because many of these missions are quiet, confidential, or pro bono—they vanish from public view

The Fat Cat Bill: What’s Really at Stake

Time to Act Like a Fourth Estate

I studied journalism at the University of Utah in the ’90s. My heroes were Edward R. Murrow, and Woodward & Bernstein—champions of truth, transparency, and public accountability. Journalism, they taught us, was the “fourth estate,” vital to democracy.

But the landscape has changed. The economics of journalism are broken. The rise of social media, influencer culture, and clickbait headlines have upended traditional norms. Many bloggers, podcasters, and freelancers now fill the gap left by shrinking newsrooms.

And that’s not entirely a bad thing. Sunlight is still the best disinfectant. But it does mean we in aviation can’t afford to sit back and hope someone tells our story.

The great news is that every company has access to tools and channels that media moguls could only dream about 20 years ago.  ANY company can publish news directly to the masses, by means of ready-made channels, with tools we all have in our pockets.

Because of ubiquitous smartphones and media, we have far better tools and broadcasting power than any newsroom of past decades.

Why don’t we use these tools?

Because it’s not our job.  And because it’s safer to stay silent.

Because we’re afraid of what people will think

That’s precisely why WE need to take charge of the story.

We need to tell our great stories and detail the impact we have on the lives of our employees, our clients, and the local economies we serve.

We need to tell these stories – Loudly. Clearly. Repeatedly.

More Transparency, Fewer Targets

Every time business aviation chooses silence over storytelling, we become an easier target. Every time we fail to explain our value, someone else (with a different agenda and without any background education) defines it for us.

Yes, privacy matters. But perception matters more.

Great stories can and should be told by industry professionals who know what they’re talking about.

The business aviation community needs to embrace a new ethos—one of strategic transparency. Share your case studies, promote your employees, and highlight your missions. Don’t just let the press define you—start acting like the press.

Because if we don’t, we will keep paying for someone else’s perception of business aviation. That translates into being on defense, forever.

We can do better than that.