Dear GMAA Friends, Fellow Aviation Colleagues and Members:

I would like to share with you a mid-year update on the State of the GMAA. The Board, guided by your feedback and requests, has accomplished a lot of value-adding results since it was installed in April. Simply said, your association and the scholarship fund are doing well and growing stronger every day! As the GMAA prepares to turn 80 next year, we have many reasons to be proud of our achievements, to look ahead with confidence and to prepare the playing field for our future leaders to take our businesses and the industry to unprecedented levels of success.

State of the GMAA

The Board is executing a solid 5-year Director’s Plan. By 2010, we anticipate that the GMAA will have a 600+ member base, a scholarship fund worth over $1,500,000 and synergistic relationships with other associations. By 2010, the GMAA will be one of the top Aviation and Aerospace Associations and Scholarships in the country. Our new enhanced website and brochure reflect this vision and the facts and numbers listed below speak for themselves:

1. Membership is up by more than 10% since May – consisting mostly of member referrals! Our 225-strong membership base is well on its way to reaching our target of 300 by year-end. Please keep referring your colleagues and friends to join us!
2. Member’s surveys are being completed and on target to achieve a 75% response rate by year-end.
3. Members and community leaders’ direct requests for support and assistance with business-relevant issues are coming to the Board on a regular basis. Remember, we are here to support and facilitate - and we need to know what your issues are!
4. Our finances are in order and we are on target to reach the end of the year with the cash surplus set by the Board. Based on you feedback, the Board has approved an increase in luncheon rates and membership fees effective September 1st. We will bring everyone’s dues current and generate renewal bills once a year on September.
5. Our attendance, venue, and speaker and sponsor quality are evident for those of you who have recently attended our luncheons. We are averaging 50 attendees per event and we are booked solid until the end of the year! In the near future, you will be able to go to our website and point and click on the luncheon you want to sponsor and name the speaker of your choice to host it.
6. Our website has been updated and we are on track to have a “Member’s Area” with functional business and job exchange sections.
7. The 79th Wright Brothers Awards Gala and Golf Tournament are well on track and we have hired a top notch cadre of professionals to make this event a success for the Scholarship fund. The Batchelor Foundation has granted a $100,000 matching donation and the Board is committed to raise most of the $100,000 at the GALA event and ideally before the end of 2006. Together, we will make it happen!

State of Miami, Florida and the Industry

The recent Farnborough Air Show’s record-breaking attendance and its announcements sent a clear message to the world: Aviation and Aerospace are thriving industries worldwide. China and India are leading the growth in sheer numbers and aircraft buying appetite. The United Arab Emirates of Dubai and Abu-Dhabi are a force to be reckoned with - investing over $15 Billion in an Aerospace cluster and promising to become a global industry player from aircraft manufacturing to aerospace university education. Singapore, Toulouse, Montreal, Seattle and Sao Jose dos Campos are becoming the predominant transport aircraft manufacturing players.

Amongst these titans, Florida, represented by multiple cities, captured the show’s and the world’s attention in areas ranging from General Aviation to Space Exploration. Here are some examples:

1. The Space Shuttle program and its successors are reinvigorated and deeply rooted in the Orlando-Cape Kennedy Space corridor.
2. Miami and Ft. Lauderdale make up the world’s third largest airline flight simulator cluster with all four major manufacturers being represented: Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and Bombardier.
3. Corporate and general aviation giant Embraer has reaffirmed its commitment to Ft. Lauderdale as its U.S. headquarters.
4. Day Jet, of Delray Beach, placed the largest single order for corporate aviation in history: 309 Eclipse 500 aircraft to be deployed as the first “on demand/per seat” real time charter service. Day Jet chose Florida to prove the concept and selected five city destinations for its launch….. the world is watching.
5. Governor Jeb Bush announced that the C-27 Air Force and Army Joint Cargo Aircraft contender aircraft will be manufactured and developed in Cecil Filed, Jacksonville by a group of U.S. and European suppliers.

My vision is very clear: Miami is a city perfectly equipped to lead in the future and is the logical “hub” and “center of gravity” of Florida’s Aerospace and Aviation industries pointing towards the Americas and the world. The GMAA Board will develop and manage relationships with other global associations such as ISTAT, ALA, NBAA, AOPA and local groups such as the Beacon Council, FATA and CASA to explore how to best “unite and strengthen” our member’s efforts to make their backyard an investment magnet, job generator and a household name in the global aerospace industry.

The GMAA is your association! Similarly, the primary focus of the GMAA Board is helping you to attain financial success and quality within your business. If we help you succeed and achieve tangible results, then we have added value and provided you with a solid return on your investment in the GMAA through your membership fees and donations. If you succeed, then you can further invest in the fund to assure continued industry success in the generations to follow. I would like to urge you to take a moment and reflect on how the GMAA has assisted you and your business in achieving tangible results and to let us know about it.

December’s luncheon event will be a “Year in Review” presentation and will provide you with an opportunity to share your successes as a barometer of the GMAA’s relevance and its value as an association.

I’ll see you at the coming luncheons and, especially, at the Gala and Golf Tournament on November 17th. Please save the date.

Once more, I am proud and honored to lead and serve on the GMAA Board and to be part of this remarkable group of aviation and aerospace professionals.

Sincerely,

Oscar S García, President
305-904-5183
oscargarcia@gmaa.aero