And the business people with the corporate jet won’t just arrive faster; they’ll also show up better prepared. After all, most companies send teams of people, and in their own airplane they’re free to discuss confidential information or polish up that PowerPoint presentation. What’s more, they can use the phones, their BlackBerrys and the Internet en route. In other words, these jets are offices that move.

Just look at Wal-Mart. That company’s success is due, in part, to its fleet of hard-working, bare-bones Learjets that shuttle managers, executives and sales staff from their headquarters in Arkansas to towns throughout the country. The reliance on business aircraft began with its founder, Sam Walton, flying a small single-engine plane (still the most common type of business aircraft) to scout out store locations.

Here’s another thing: The aircraft and their systems are, for the most part, made here in the United States, by union and non-union workers, in places like Indianapolis and Cincinnati; Wichita, Kan.; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

And with their impressive performance and construction, they’re prized throughout the world. In 2007, about half the business jets delivered by American manufacturers went to foreign buyers that paid more than $3 billion for them. Manufacturers elsewhere, including in Japan and Germany, once tried to compete, but they were so utterly trounced by American ingenuity and craftsmanship that they simply gave up.

There are foreign-made business aircraft, to be sure; for example, Citigroup had planned to buy a Falcon, made by the highly regarded French company Dassault. But even those are stuffed with American-made avionics, engines, subsystems and interiors. Indeed, Dassault’s largest plant is in Little Rock, Ark., where some 2,000 workers complete Falcon interiors and ready them for delivery.

Finally, the members of Congress who are so irate about Citigroup’s almost-purchase would do well to remember this: business jets are also widely employed by our government for search and rescue missions, surveillance, medical evacuations and crew training.

Of course, their value as speedy, secure executive transports is also much appreciated and used by high-ranking military and civilian officials, including, yes, many congressmen. A business jet has even served, when the president needs something less than a jumbo, as a diminutive Air Force One.

If you truly need to be there and there and there and back by seven, business aircraft may provide the only way. This is an industry that helps further the country’s commerce and interests  and it deserves a bright future, not a public drubbing.