BAUA is an association of internationally successful companies that operate their corporate aircraft globally - they are only one part of the phenomenal expansion of business aviation. There are also many other vital players - manufacturers, finance and leasing organisations, fractional ownership, charter operators - it is a thriving industry. But we all have a serious, recurring problem that swings like the sword of Damocles over the body of business aviation which, if not resolved, will leave us 'all dressed up with nowhere to go', with the huge investment in technology and innovation in jeopardy and a considerable loss of jobs both directly and indirectly.\rThe problem that threatens business aviation is the one of ACCESS - access to airports and to controlled airspace too. There is little point in investing in business aircraft if they are denied access to runways and little advantage to having access to runways if access to the airspace is not available.\rAirports with a capacity problem are now described as 'fully coordinated airports', and management of runway slots at those airports is entrusted to the coordinator whose powers supersede local authorities - the coordinator's powers being governed by EC Regulation 95/93. The part of this regulation that affects our sector of aviation requires the coordinator to endeavour to accom-modate slot requests for any type of aviation - including general aviation. This is much less hostile wording than that which we have argued successfully against in the past but there is a priority system of slot allocation and business aviation comes way down the list of priorities.\rAlso, very unjustly, business aviation has been denied 'grand-father rights'. We have no adequate legally sound right of access to co-ordinated airports enshrined in the very powerful document EC Regulation 95/93. For many years BAUA has argued with Secretaries of State and, through IBAC, to the ICAO General Assembly, that the solution to capacity problems lies not in restrictive legislation but in proper use of new technology and better management to increase capacity and we deserve our fair share of increased capacity.\rThe coordinator states that he will "do his best to accommodate all - within the EC Regulation by which he is governed" - the relative regulation has been redrafted. We have had our sight of this redrafted section that affects business aviation. It is a small step in the right direction but business aviation still does not have an adequate legal right of access. Many who will be seriously adversely affected, if this access problem is not satisfactorily resolved, belong to one or other of the associations - others may have their own direct access to authority. Some companies have dedicated directors with access to the Commissioners. \rManufacturers, operators and service providers too would all do well to put the access issue foremost on their agenda and quickly seek, through associations, or other means, to have EC 95/93 redrafted to properly recognise, enable and protect business aviation. If we do not, we could very well end up "all dressed up with nowhere to go".\rThe message is that we all need to work to ensure that the authorities - particularly the European Commission - are fully aware of the vital value of business aviation; that they take us out of that big miscellaneous pending tray that they label "general aviation" and ensure that we can operate without unnecessary inhibitions to the economic benefit of the whole community. It is their duty to facilitate our operations - we need to convince them of that fact.\r- Derek Leggett, BAUA.