Gallery: 68th Laureate Award Winners In Business Aviation

At a time of waning U.S. government support for sustainable fuel, Avfuel remains committed to aviation’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Serving fixed-base operators, airports, corporate flight departments and airlines, the fuel distributor has established eight sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply points in California, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey and Texas and can deliver SAF to most of the U.S.

Bunce led the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) for 20 years, strongly advocating for the industry and promoting safety innovations and economic growth. He championed the Small Plane Revitalization Act, opened a GAMA office in Brussels in 2009 to ensure general aviation’s long-term involvement in international aviation and expanded the association’s membership to include rotorcraft manufacturers and electric aviation pioneers.

The Corporate Angel Network, which works with U.S. private aircraft operators that donate empty seats to fly patients to treatment centers, transported its 70,000th cancer patient last July. Hanson Communications, a longstanding partner of the nonprofit organization, flew the patient from Minnesota to New York and back in its Learjet 40XR. Signature Aviation, Million Air and Drivania Chauffeurs also played a role in the mission.

Gogo has started shipping terminals for its new Galileo high-speed, inflight connectivity service, which uses Eutelsat’s OneWeb constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites. Following its acquisition of Satcom Direct in December 2024, Gogo says it is the only multiorbit, multiband global inflight connectivity provider serving the business aviation and military/government markets.

In April, Textron Aviation opened a $40 million Career and Learning Center dedicated to hiring, onboarding and training under one roof—an attempt to overcome industrywide skilled labor shortages. The center includes a simulated factory environment for training and offers paid apprenticeship, internship and veteran programs. It works with local technical schools on certification programs.