First Steps of Aircraft Ownership Part 1
There is a general agreement that an airplane is a useful some say essential -- business tool. The vision of a companys key executives standing barefoot in a security checkpoint line is probably not inspiring to at least a few potential investors or stockholders. Fewer still would like the idea of their companys best sales team getting bumped from a commercial flight because of overbooking while traveling to a key presentation. Most dynamic companies realize that a corporate airplane is an essential business tool that gives them a competitive advantage. Corporate airplanes open markets the airlines dont serve and they get staff to important events reliably while extending the workday to include travel time. As someone once said, A corporate airplane lets us do three meetings in one day instead of one meeting in three days.
For companies whose growth has come to a point that adding a flight department merits consideration, there are many options and, of course, many questions.
A fledgling corporate flight operation should begin with the questions: How many people, traveling how far, how often? In other words, a prospective aircraft operator should clearly define its average mission before choosing between the initial options of chartering, fractional ownership or full ownership of a corporate airplane. Many aviation authorities agree that chartering is a logical and easy way to sample the benefits of corporate air travel prior to deciding on either partial or full ownership.
No aviation solution is perfect for the entire range of travel possibilities. Beyond the typical mission is the occasional trip that exceeds the capabilities of an airplane best suited for day-to-day operations. For instance, the company turboprop is not going to take the CEO and a key executive from Omaha to Paris for an important conference; neither is it going to take the entire twelve-person sales team to Las Vegas for a trade show. But, the same Omaha based turboprop is going to handle the almost daily staff trips to Denver, Kansas City or Minneapolis efficiently and reliably. Despite ownership of a corporate airplane, management should anticipate the occasional commercial or charter flight that is the exception to typical mission parameters. The key is choosing an airplane that will perform the workhorse missions reliably and economically while accepting the fact that it may not be the right choice for every trip.
Once the typical mission has been clearly defined, the leaders of the corporate teams and departments have been consulted, and the appropriate concept studies are completed; it is time to start assembling the team that will be tasked with identifying the best aircraft and then putting it into service. (... continued)