The aviation maintenance industry faces a constant barrage of negative publicity that hinders its ability to grow and prosper.

To counter this attack, ARSA launched the Positive Publicity Campaign (PPC). The PPC is the Association’s member supported multi-year public relations initiative to improve the legal, regulatory, and business climate for contract aviation maintenance.

For more about the PPC and its efforts on behalf of repair stations, check out the links below and continue reading.

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Get Involved
Supporting the PPC is an easy way to defend the aviation maintenance industry.

Industry Economic Data
The PPC has generated substantial public opinion and economic research on the aviation maintenance industry. Find the summaries and full reports here.

Why You Should Support the PPC
The PPC is the contract aviation maintenance industry’s defense against hostile reporting that inhibits your repair station’s ability to freely conduct your business. Visit here for information on the history of the PPC and ARSA’s ongoing effort to set the record straight about our industry’s impeccable safety record.

ARSA’s Advocacy for Contract Maintenance
Information about ARSA’s advocacy for repair stations.

Enhancing ARSA’s PR Capabilities
ARSA’s plans for growing and improving the campaign.

PPC Contributors
List of companies who have contributed to the PPC.

The PPC

In an effort to enhance efficiencies and improve reliability airlines have increased their use of contract repair stations. The use of contract maintenance has coincided with the safest period in the history of U.S. civil aviation.

However, entities interested in self-preservation rather than economic prosperity, job creation, and aviation safety have mounted an aggressive campaign to paint contract maintenance as a threat to passengers, accusing regulators of being asleep at the switch. Tactics include aggressive media outreach, direct lobbying, political giving, Web sites, and industry conferences. While the claims are misleading, they are successful.

To counter these false arguments and to spread the positive news about contract aviation maintenance, ARSA launched the Positive Publicity Campaign in 2008. The PPC is a separate ARSA fund supported by leading aviation maintenance companies dedicated to improving the climate for repair stations by showing their value to key stakeholders.

Since ARSA launched the PPC, the Association has become the primary source of information about aviation maintenance. An ARSA public opinion study found that although key audiences (i.e., voters and “inside the Beltway” opinion leaders) do not hold strong opinions about our industry (favorable or unfavorable), the more they learn about contract maintenance, the more likely they were to oppose legislation or regulation hostile to repair stations.

Additionally, ARSA’s economic research has quantified the aviation maintenance industry’s economic impact, both domestically and internationally. The global maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) market exceeded $50 billion in 2008, with North America (the U.S. and Canada) accounting for $19.4 billion of the total. The industry employs at least 274,634 workers in the U.S., and when induced and related economic effects are considered, the impact on the U.S. economy is $39 billion per year. North America is a major net exporter of aviation maintenance services, enjoying a $2.4 billion positive balance of trade in this area. The campaign has also quantified the economic benefits repair stations enjoy from Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreements (BASAs), free trade agreements that promote international aviation by reducing regulatory barriers to market access. ARSA found that BASAs can yield repair stations significant savings in certification costs while making repair stations more profitable through savings on revenues generated by foreign certificates.

This research has helped ARSA counter attacks with facts. It has helped prevent harmful and shortsighted legislation and has convinced skeptical reporters about the benefits of contract maintenance for American workers.

After decades in the background, the aviation maintenance industry has been dragged into the spotlight by negative media coverage. It is time for the industry to step up and confront the challenge at hand. We can no longer allow our opponents to define us, we must define ourselves. The media is talking about repair stations so we need to tell our industry’s positive story: repair stations are making air travel safer, more reliable, and less expensive.

Going forward, ARSA will enhance its capabilities and advocacy for repair stations. The Association is continuing its fundraising and expansion of the PPC. To promote accountability, the PPC recently launched a PR committee composed of representatives from companies that have made substantial and sustained commitments to the PPC. The committee will guide the campaign’s activities and provide recommendations on its direction.

In the final analysis, a modest investment now will help save the industry from a dramatic escalation in costs and new restrictions on access to customers, while creating an improved regulatory, legal, and business climate that will pay additional long-term dividends for the entire aviation industry. Click here to learn how you can help support the PPC .

We look forward to working with our members to implement this program and achieve our collective goals. Should you have any questions about the campaign, please contact Josh Pudnos, ARSA’s communications manager.

Click here to download “PPC at a Glance” ARSA’s one pager about the campaign.

News & Media Center For the latest ARSA PPC news and more about what the Association is up to, visit our news and media page.

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