The coldest weather in South Florida in memory did not keep 1,500 attendees away from Jet Aviation’s 9th annual La Bella Macchina, held January 22 in conjunction with the Cavallino Classic. Collector Ferraris, business aircraft, and motorcraft were on display at the Jet Aviation Palm Beach facility. A silent auction raised $15,000 to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County. In addition, Able Flight, a non-profit organization that provides flight training scholarships for people with a variety of disabilities, displayed an Italian-designed aircraft specially equipped for disabled pilots -- the Sky Arrow 600 LSA.

Gary Dempsey, president, flight services for Jet Aviation The Americas and Maurizio Parlato, president, Ferrari North America, welcomed the guests. Among the evening’s highlights was the announcement of the Jet Aviation People’s Choice Cup award, won by Richard Martin for his 1951 Inter Touring Berlinetta.

Business jets from some of the major aircraft manufacturers were open for guests to explore, and included models from Cessna Citation, Hawker Beechcraft, Piaggio, Daher Socata, Dassault Falcon Jet, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation and CompAir. Additional sponsors included Bacardi U.S.A., Bang & Olufsen, Ferrari, Formula Boats, Ducati, CitationShares, HawkerBeechcraft and Zino Platinum.

“La Bella Macchina reminds us all that business aviation is a valuable tool that brings enormous returns to companies and their shareholders,” said Dempsey. “Thousands of companies of all sizes all across the U.S. look to business aviation as a time saving, cost effective transportation solution, especially in this challenging economy, to help them maintain their businesses and the jobs they create. We gratefully thank all of our sponsors for their support in hosting this event, and for helping us to reach our clients with the value message of business aviation.” Jet Aviation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), was founded in Switzerland in 1967 and is one of the leading business aviation services companies in the world. Close to 5,600 employees cater to client needs from over 25 airport facilities throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North and South America. The company provides maintenance, completions and refurbishment, engineering, fixed base operations, along with aircraft management, charter services, aircraft sales and personnel services. Jet Aviation's European and U.S. aircraft management and charter divisions jointly manage a fleet of more than 200 aircraft. For more information, please visit www.jetaviation.com.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 92,300 people worldwide. The company is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies. More information about General Dynamics is available online at www.generaldynamics.com.