By Gates L. Scott

Many of our freedoms in the United States are taken for granted when it comes to getting in your airplane on the weekend and taking a sightseeing or training flight. Commercial aviation has grown quite rapidly across the globe for many years, however, can you imagine a governmental system that neither condones nor has the infrastructure to allow their citizens a chance to participate in civil aviation? As globalization and emerging markets become more and more attractive to OEMs and aviation businesses, there are a few stumbling blocks facing civil aviation in years to come. Even knowing that commercial aviation has been a force around the world, how are U.S. companies getting their feet wet?

Governed by the FAA, the United States’ aviation system has set the standard for regulation, safety, development and infrastructure across the world. However, bilateral agreements between the United States and foreign aviation agencies are in jeopardy of dissolution due to this same cooperative governance. With the changes in worldwide economic and political conditions, these cooperative efforts will impact the demand for American manufacturing, products, interest rates and foreign exchange rates around the globe. The interruption of production at manufacturers and their suppliers’ facilities, downturns in customer markets in which products are sold, and changes in national and international governmental policies on the export and import of aviation products are the defining factors that will affect the growth of our industry internationally.

Regulatory Complications

Through certification of aviation products, approval of organizations to provide aviation services and development and implementation of a standardized, regulatory framework, EASA—with some 400 employees—has developed a recent culture of safety through accident investigation and other safety analysis. In a few years, it will assume responsibility for all safety regulations pertaining to airports and air traffic management systems across Europe. With the union of more than 25 European countries and their commitment to aviation’s growth with new legislation, safety rules, conducting-type certification of aircraft and components, this system promotes the highest level of safety.

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