“If the three Detroit CEOs had arrived in Washington in the Beechcraft King Air 350, they might have received a warmer reception from their legislative hosts,” says the headline of a new advertisement hoping to counter negative impressions of business aviation.
Cessna launched a counter-attack of its own on Feb. 11, with a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal. While Cessna is challenging company officers to show some courage in the face of congressional criticism, Hawker Beechcraft’s campaign addresses the political and media frenzy surrounding business aviation with “a sensible alternative that will win over even the staunchest critic – the King Air 350 – the world’s greenest and highly efficient aircraft,” the initial ad, appearing Feb. 12, says.
The aviation industry came under scrutiny when three automobile industry CEOs testified before Congress and the focus shifted to their use of large business jets to travel to Washington. In comparison to the Gulfstream one of the CEOs was spotted in, the King Air 350 would have reached Washington roughly 15 minutes later, Beechcraft states, while saving some “220 gallons of fuel and thousands of dollars in operating costs.”
“We are having a little fun with the Detroit CEOs in this advertisement,” said Charles Mayer, vice president of marketing. “More important, this is an opportunity to show a sensible way for this type of business travel and the value of the aircraft manufacturing industry. Our industry not only offers valuable business tools that dramatically increase efficiency, it also contributes $150 billion annually to the U.S. economy and employs more than one million Americans.”
For information: www.hawkerbeechcraft.com.
