A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

NBAA’s annual Maintenance Conference opened this morning in Columbus, Ohio, with the theme “Built on History, Driven by Innovation.”&nbsp;In his opening comments, NBAA head Ed Bolen addressed the recent spate of aviation accidents across the entire industry and its impact on public perception.&nbsp;“They are asking me and everyone in aviation, ‘Is it safe to fly?’” he told the audience. “Now the empirical data suggests yes; the emotional data, maybe not as much.”
As a result, the entire aviation community, including the airlines and general aviation, has come together to back a proposed $15 billion allocation to the FAA to be put forward under budget reconciliation, to cover the hiring of more controllers and upgrade air traffic control facilities and equipment. “We’re no longer going to have people asking if it’s safe to fly because they will know we have enough well-trained people, using the best equipment and keeping the United States what it’s always been: the largest, safest, the most efficient, and the most diverse mix of aircraft anywhere in the world.”
The industry is also monitoring the current tariff situation. Since 1980, the international aviation community has worked under a trade agreement on civil aircraft, which largely makes aerospace parts and equipment duty-free. “Under that trade agreement, what we have seen is the U.S. is a dominant aerospace country,” explained Bolen. “We have a $120 billion trade surplus as a result of that. Every company in the world has people and planes, facilities and jobs in the United States. We are winning, so our hope is that maybe we continue to operate under that 1980 trade agreement, which has been such a force for U.S. jobs, innovation, and development.”
The conference at the Greater Columbus Convention Center runs through Thursday. It features an exhibit hall and more than 50 expert speakers in 28 education sessions.

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