efined as the use by corporations of company owned aircraft for the bulk of the organization's personnel air transportation requirements. Within the context of this definition, corporate aviation is, thus, contrasted with a reliance on commercial airlines for an organization's air transportation needs.
The technological factors holding the potential to most affect corporate aviation are general aviation aircraft design, and air transportation system control. Each of these factors is considered separately in the following discussions.
During the 1970s, the major direction of technological innovation in general aviation aircraft was toward the fixed wing jet propulsion aircraft. As economic considerations cause a shift by corporations away from the use of company owned air craft, development of fixed wing jet aircraft for general avia tion slowed significantly ("The Corporate . . . ," 1989). In the late 1980s, however, interest in the use of company owned aircraft began to increase, and, by 1989, significant improve ments began to appear in fixed wing aircraft developed for gen eral aviation use ("The Corporate . . . ," 1989).
During the 1990s, however, corporations will not find themselves restricted to fixed wing jet aircraft. Helicopters developed for military applications in the 1980s are now being adapted for general aviation use (Rohan, 1989). These 3
4helicopters, referred to as tilt rotor aircraft when used in general aviation, are much faster and much more quite that the earlier heilcopters, and they may be used as take off and land ing sites where fixed wing jet aircraft could not be used (Rohan, 1989).
The combination of improvements in both fixed wing jet aircraft for general aviation use and in tilt rotor aircraft provides a definite spur for corporate aviation growth in the 1990s. The increased flexibility created through the availa bility of alternative equipment for the general aviation user provi...