Up Front: December 2011

On Fridays at my daughter's preschool, the children take a designated time out to reflect on the week: what they accomplished, what they're proud of, what they could do better and how they helped others. They set goals for the following week and then spend time discussing their families, their communities and how they can make the world a better place. Watching three-year-olds exhibit such purposeful clarity has been a humbling wakeup call for me, as sometimes I can barely make it through a few hours without sweating the small stuff.

But let's talk here about some big stuff–starting with the exciting year we've just experienced at BJT. We featured some extraordinary business jet travelers on our cover (Bobbi Brown, Donald Trump and David Neeleman, among others) and also delivered our fourth annual Buyers' Guide. Meanwhile, we earned recognition from both our peers and the industry with five major awards. Editor Jeff Burger received the National Business Aviation Association's Gold Wing Award for Reporting Excellence for our 2010 Bizav Advantage issue as well as the Aviation Journalism Award from the National Air Transportation Association and a Silver Folio Award for his article, "Is the Fractional Business Model Broken?" In addition, we won a National Silver Award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) for our 2010 Buyers' Guide (its fourth consecutive annual win); and ASBPE named us one of the 10 best business magazines in the U.S. As if all that weren't enough for one year, we also launched our Readers' Choice Survey, which drew responses from nearly a thousand of you and illustrated in detail why and how you fly privately.

For every completed survey, Business Jet Traveler made a donation to the Corporate Angel Network, which arranges free flights to treatment for cancer patients and their families using empty seats on corporate jets. This gives patients access to the best possible care for their specific type of cancer anywhere in the country. It improves their chances of survival while helping to relieve emotional stress, physical discomfort and financial burden. Corporate Angel Network embodies the best of the human spirit, and BJT is proud to support it.

We're also proud of the projects we have planned for 2012. In March, for example, we'll distribute a special Chinese-language edition of our annual Buyers' Guide at the ABACE convention in Shanghai. In addition, we have some fascinating interviews in the works, and a few innovations as well.

Many of you have already noticed one recent innovation: our beautifully redesigned website, www.BJTonline.com, which Mike Giaimo and Joe Darlington created. I trust you'll find the site easy to navigate and stocked with everything you need to know about business aviation.

Here's to a great 2012.