ISTAT Jetrader - Spring 2021 - 2

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Remaining Positive

T

his is my last
message as
president of ISTAT.
I step down at the
next board meeting
when my longtime
friend, Dean Gerber,
takes over. I could not have wished for
someone more capable than Dean to
step in and continue the ISTAT mission
we started over 35 years ago.
Generally, this message is meant
to be one of reflection - what has
ISTAT accomplished with me at the
helm in the past two years? It usually
reminds us about great events, increased
membership and a look forward to the
next gathering. However, the world has
changed dramatically and tragically
over the past 12 months. The world of
aviation, which we love, has developed
a lot since Orville and Wilbur at Kitty
Hawk. Aviation brings the world closer
together and enables us to travel to
places that would even excite Jules
Verne. The COVID-19 pandemic has

ISTAT has a busy 2021 planned. It may be somewhat
skewed toward the latter half of the year, but that was to
give it the best chance of happening.
brought this nearly to a shuddering halt.
Unfortunately, our ability to travel is
just a minor setback when compared
to the tragic loss of life we are now
so accustomed to hearing on our local
news stations every night. As I touched
on in my previous message, in a world
that had been becoming progressively
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easier for us to see one another,
the pandemic has created distance,
isolation and loneliness.
While government intervention is
holding the global economy somewhat
together, there are significant economic
headwinds ahead of us.
The development of multiple
vaccines is truly one of the greatest
achievements in my lifetime. It
effectively brought forward 10-15
years of R&D and crammed it into an
abbreviated period to have a medicine
ready in 12 months. Unfortunately,
the euphoria in December is
somewhat muted, as the rollout has
not been as quick as we would have
hoped. But throughout this period
of breakthroughs and delays, our
front-line workers continue to fight
this pandemic, and I would be remiss
not to extend a big thank you to them.
While our lives may start returning to
some normality over the next year, we
should never forget their efforts.
The scale and size of the
vaccination efforts are enormous,
and they will take time to implement
globally. Strong vaccination programs
should allow domestic travel to come
off its knees in many countries as
the year progresses, but long-haul
international is likely to remain in the
doldrums through 2023, resulting
in continued economic pressures
on airlines, lessors, banks, MROS
and OEMs.
However, despite these
challenges, we need to remain
positive. From an economic
standpoint, aviation is integral to the
world revolving. As the world reopens,
aviation will be ready to meet its
travel needs as in the past.
ISTAT Jetrader - Spring 2021

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