Yesterday, I attended a meeting of PIA’s Industry Advisory Committee for our aviation maintenance program in Youngstown.  There were varied opinions from the committee members on whether the aviation industry has begun its recovery from the economic downturn.  General aviation representatives report that business continues to be slow, but airline representatives indicate that the decrease in business travel has largely been offset by increases in luxury and vacation travelers.  The “luxury” travelers are largely from corporations using first-class commercial flights in place of corporate jets .  This may or may not be a cost savings for the company (depending on the number of travelers and their rates of pay), but averts the potential PR problems associated with private company jets (like those which plagued the “big three” auto makers when they traveled to DC to ask for government bailouts).  The representatives at PIA’s meeting from the aircraft manufacturing sector report a slowdown in demand for business jets, but an increase in demand for turboprop models.  All representatives agreed, however, that the industry would likely continue to need entry level technicians, citing early indicators of economic recovery coupled with the retirement of a large fraction of the aviation maintenance workforce.  The last three graduating classes of the Youngstown campus have a placement rate of 100%.