about FATA - President's Message

Robert Grant, General Manager of Signature Flight Support at West Palm Beach and newly elected President of the Florida Aviation Trades Association.

I am proud and somewhat humbled to step into the leadership role of an association that has had a long history of past Presidents that were respected aviation professionals who owned or represented well known and accomplished aviation businesses. I fully intend to further our associations mission to provide our membership with professional advice, support and representation to protect and advance Florida business aviation.

As President of the Florida Aviation Trades Association, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the FATA website. It is here you can keep up with Florida aviation news, legislative actions that affect aviation businesses and interests, links to many past and present articles, find and keep up with new and current members as well as upcoming industry events that you can support or even attend.

Despite the distractions of a struggling economy, FATA stayed focused and had several big accomplishments over the past year. The most significant representing Florida aircraft owners interests in Tallahassee on the use tax issue where new aircraft were targeted and penalized with a hefty tax if entering Florida anytime during the first six months of purchase. The FATA board of directors, Executive Director Paula Raeburn and Eric Prutsman, our lobbyist in Tallahassee, fought for several years to protect your interests and recently won the battle with passage of a bill that now allows Florida aircraft owners to bring their aircraft into the state during the first six months without fear of being unfairly taxed. Read more about the use tax bill. And I would like to point out, use of your FATAPAC (Political Action Committee) contributions was very beneficial in this win, as campaign contributions were directed specifically to those state representatives instrumental in passage of the bill.

The past year has been financially challenging for our membership and FATA. But despite the distractions many saw value in maintaining membership in FATA. In fact, in the last year, despite cutbacks in discretionary spending, we gained 17 new members. It is in these challenging times, often the best use of funds is to align yourself with an association that not only represents and protects your business interests but allows you to network and partner with fellow aviation businesses. Over the next year, two of our missions is to grow the membership and strengthen our alliance with other Florida and national aviation associations. You will be hearing about a new Advocacy Membership Program targeting non-aviation companies that have a business or personal interest in supporting our industry. We will also be working much closer with fellow aviation trade groups to share information, cross utilize strengths and partner to accomplish shared goals. 

I want to thank each of you for realizing the true value of joining or maintaining your membership. I assure you, your FATA board of directors, Paula Raeburn, Eric Prutsman and myself will make sure we are supporting, protecting and representing your aviation concerns and interests professionally and with passion. Please contact Paula Raeburn, any FATA board member or myself at any time if you have any questions or an issue you feel you need the associations help in researching or resolving. We are always here to serve you.