General aviation is a valuable part of the transportation infrastructure and economy, AOPA told a group of elected officials and transportation leaders at the Twelfth Annual Transportation and Infrastructure Summit Aug. 11 through 14 in Irving, Texas.
AOPA Vice President of Local Airport Advocacy Bill Dunn participated in a panel discussion about the role of reliever airports at the event, hosted by the Texas Transportation Institute. The panel, “Reliever Airports: Current Role and Future Applications,” dealt with the vital role reliever airports play in the aviation system.
“General aviation is much greater than just reliever airports,” Dunn said. “In fact, the small number of reliever airport could not accommodate all general aviation operations across the nation. AOPA takes the opportunity of events such as the Transportation and Infrastructure Summit to communicate to government officials the importance of general aviation airports—large and small—to America’s transportation network.”
Leaders met at the summit to discuss building and maintaining a multimodal transportation infrastructure network that is safe, efficient, well maintained, and expansive. Dunn emphasized that GA is a key component of that network, connecting communities and contributing $150 billion a year to the nation’s economy. He introduced the GA Serves America campaign and showed a video of Morgan Freeman supporting the campaign. Dunn also had the opportunity to discuss GA issues in Texas with a number of state officials and the FAA.