WASHINGTON, DC, March 16, 2004 – Testifying today before the House Subcommittee on Aviation, Ed Bolen, President & CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), urged the federal government to promptly develop security procedures that will return general aviation operations to Washington’s Reagan National Airport (DCA).

According to Bolen, scheduled airlines were able to resume service to Reagan National Airport because the organizations in charge of our nation’s security were committed to finding solutions to the security challenges posed by such operations. That commitment, however, has not been extended to general aviation operations. “It is not that our nation’s security organizations have failed to find a workable solution for resuming general aviation operations at DCA,” said Bolen, “it’s that they have failed to try.”

Bolen outlined several reasons why it was important for general aviation to return to DCA including the tremendous economic impact of general aviation, the vital role it plays in our nation’s air transportation system, and the need to clear up the misconceptions that a ban on GA operations is creating.

GAMA also stressed its interest in procedures that would allow qualified general aviation operators the same level of access to airspace as the commercial airlines.