Alliance welcomes New President and CEO Tim Obitts at NATA and President and CEO James Viola at HAI

The Alliance for Aviation Across America has welcomed the recent announcements that Timothy R. Obitts will serve as the new president and CEO of the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), and James Viola will serve as Helicopter Association International (HAI) president and CEO.

“We welcome the recent announcements of Tim Obitts to the position of president and CEO at NATA, and Jim Viola as president and CEO of HAI. Both NATA and HAI are long-time members of the Alliance’s board of directors, and over the last decade we have been honoured to benefit from the breadth of experience of these two organisations.

“We look forward to working together to raise awareness about the importance of general aviation to communities around the nation, and other issues facing the industry.”

Timothy Obitts has been with NATA since 2014.  NATA represents nearly 2,300 aviation businesses.  He has served in many leadership positions within the organisation, and prior to that, worked as an attorney with Gammon & Grange, P.C.

Jim Viola previously served as director of General Aviation Safety Assurance for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). His aviation career began with the US Army and flight training at Fort Rucker in Alabama. Through his Army service, Jim flew with the 82nd Airborne Division, followed by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and was stationed in Korea for a year and a half. He retired as Division Chief of Army Aviation in the Pentagon with the rank of Colonel.

The Alliance for Aviation Across America is a non-profit, non-partisan coalition of over 6,300 individuals representing businesses, agricultural groups, FBO’s, small airports, elected officials, charitable organisations, and leading business and aviation groups that support the interest of the general aviation community across various public policy issues.