Aerospace Industries Association

Aerospace Industries Association of America
Type	Non-Profit trade Association
Founded	1919
Headquarters	Arlington, VA, Virginia, United States
Area served	United States
Key people	Marion Blakey (President & CEO); Robert J. Stevens(Chairman),;
Industry	Aerospace; Defense
Employees	55 (2007)
Website	AIA-Aerospace.org

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For other uses, see AIA (disambiguation).

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First flight of the Wright Flyer I, December 17, 1903, Orville piloting, Wilbur running at wingtip. Photo by John T. Daniels of the Kill Devil Hills Life Saving Station, using Orville's tripod-mounted camera

The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), founded in 1919 only a few years after the birth of flight, is the premier trade association representing the nation's major aerospace and defense manufacturers.

Based in Arlington, VA, AIA is led by a Board of Governors that meets twice a year and consists of senior representatives (generally chief executive officers) of member companies, and an Executive Committee that meets more frequently. A hallmark of AIA is that it receives its policy guidance from the direct involvement of CEO-level officers of the country's major aerospace companies. The government frequently seeks advice from AIA on issues, and AIA provides a forum for government and industry representatives to exchange views and resolve problems on non-competitive matters related to the aerospace industry.

Today, more than 100 major aerospace and defense companies are members of the association, embodying every high-technology manufacturing segment of the U.S. aerospace and defense industry from commercial aviation and avionics, to manned and unmanned defense systems, to space technologies and satellite communications.

In addition, the association has more than 170 associate member companies, all of which are leading aerospace and defense suppliers.

Marion C. Blakey is the association's chief executive officer and president. AIA member company representatives sit on various councils and committees in these areas and, supported by AIA staff, formulate industry positions on specific issues for approval by the Executive Committee and the Board of Governors.

The association concentrates on issues covering civil aviation, space and national security. In addition the association has offices for Communications, Legislative Affairs, and Membership Services, the Supplier Management Council, the Team America Rocketry Challenge and the Aerospace Research Center.

[edit] AIA History

The Aerospace Industries Association represents the nation's leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, space systems, aircraft engines, missiles, material, and related components, equipment, services, and information technology.

The Association, originally known as the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce (ACCA) "to foster, advance, promulgate and promote: aeronautics, and "generally, to do every act and thing which may be necessary and proper for the advancement" of American aviation. Early members included such aviation pioneers as Orville Wright and Glen H. Curtiss, as well as representatives of major aircraft manufacturing units in the United States.

The ACCA's predecessor, the Aircraft Manufacturers' Association formed in 1917, was originally devoted to technical issues, public education, and business problems facing the industry. After entering World War I, the U.S. immediately realized the important role of aircraft in warfare. The Aircraft Manufacturers' Association was enlisted to address specific problems associated with war-time production. The association drew up a cross-licensing agreement to allow manufacturers to have unrestrained use of airplane patents in order to produce airplanes for the government's war effort. The organization, later named the Manufacturers' Aircraft Association (MAA), continued to unify the air industry and engage in public education endeavors. The MAA was later dissolved, and in 1919, the newly formed ACCA stepped in to promote civil aviation.

During World War II, the ACCA carried on limited functions for the industry while manufacturers focused on the war effort through East and West Coast Aircraft War Production Councils. These councils coordinated industry support with the War Planning Board and the military services. Following the war, ACCA was reorganized to concentrate on the industry's trade and commercial interests, and it became, for the first time, a trade association. Its name was appropriately changed to, "Aircraft Industries Association of America, Inc." (AIA).

In 1959, the Aircraft Industries Association officially changed its name to "Aerospace Industries Association, Inc." to recognize an evolving industry that was now embracing the new frontier of space.

In November 2007, Marion C. Blakey became the eighth full-time executive of AIA when she was named as President and Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Blakey succeeds John W. Douglass, who served the association from 1998-2007. Formerly the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Ms. Blakey represents the interests of AIA and its member companies through speaking engagements worldwide, congressional testimony and regular interface with the media.