An article entitled “The Prying Game” recently appeared in Business Jet Traveler (print only). In it, journalist Mark Phelps made plain that corporate jets are a “lightening rod for critics of the state of corporate ethics.”

For example, a few years ago the Wall Street Journal published an article in which reporters matched up air traffic records with golf scores - both are available online - to “expose” the golf habits of a few very red-faced CEO’s.

If your company is public, it can sometimes be difficult to convince your shareholders of the benefit they realize from your use of the corporate jet for such outings. But in reality, what top executive hasn’t solidified a key business relationship on the back nine at least once or twice in her career? What’s more, the flexibility offered by a corporate jet means that fires can be put out more easily and deals made more readily. Most importantly - as Phelps points out - in the post 9/11 world, it’s becoming a matter of good corporate policy to ensure the personal safety of a company’s top executives. Sometimes, that means the use of a corporate jet over commercial air travel.

But Phelps recognizes that despite these compelling reasons, it may still be difficult to pacify those who would like to make an issue of your jet. He provides a few more handy tips that may do the trick:

• Block your tail. Whether it’s a reporter who wants to out you for taking a client golfing or a corporate rival trying to foil your plans for the coming year - there are people out there who can easily learn where you’re going and when, just by tracking your tail number. The National Business Aviation Association can block your tail number from commercially available flight-tracking programs.
• Be an angel. Join Corporate Angel Network, which pairs cancer patients in need of a lift with corporate jets traveling to their destination. The patients - some of whom have depleted immune systems from chemotherapy treatments - are spared the difficulty of dealing with the recycled air and cramped conditions that make it easier to get sick after flying commercially. The network does all the work, the patients get where they need to go, and your company reaps the public relations benefits. Everyone wins.
• I gotta crow. Peter Pan crowed about his ability to fly, why shouldn’t you? Consider being forthright with your shareholders (when the time is right, of course) about how your business jet was instrumental in the merger that just doubled the value of their shares, or the prevention of a catastrophe that could have cost the company millions. As blogging has taught us, people respond well to candor. They see it as a sign of trustworthiness, and the more your shareholders trust you, the better for your company.

So be proud of your corporate jet. Stand up for it. Shareholders, clients and cancer patients benefit from its use just as much as you do, if not more.

And as I say, nobody complains that the President of the United States has Airforce One to use at his convenience. Why should the head of a huge company who carries a great deal of responsibility be denied the same flexibility and autonomy?

Aviation International News Reporter Robert P. Mark interviewed several BBJ operators and pilots in 2004. The result is a lengthy piece profiling the BBJ and comparing it to the competition. Here are a few of the highlights.

Compared to a Bombardier Global Express:

Although the BBJ’s ramp footprint is not significantly larger than that of a Bombardier Global Express or the GV, the cabin is massive, topping out at 807 sq ft, with a ceiling more than seven feet high. Another, even larger version of the BBJ, called the BBJ2 and based on the 737-800 cabin, offers 1,000 sq ft of interior cabin area. Typical interiors include seating for 14 to 27 people, conference tables, additional conference rooms, sleeping quarters, bathrooms with showers and gourmet galleys.

Compared to a Challenger 601:

One BBJ operator, who wished to remain anonymous, compared regular trips to Europe from the West Coast in his company’s Challenger 601 with those in its new Boeing. ‘You buy the aircraft for the boss, not the pilot, but the long days were killing our crews. From Van Nuys for example, it was six hours to Gander, an hour on the ground to fuel and six and a half more to Paris. Add in the two-hour [before takeoff] show times and we were easily seeing 15-hour days going over and 17 coming back. Now that we go nonstop, we knock off four hours going over and six coming back. We looked at a Global Express and then did the analysis on a BBJ. I don’t think there is any comparison. The BBJ does the job hands down.

On Fuel Consumption:

Another Dallas-based operator said, ‘The aircraft burns 20 percent more fuel than some smaller jets, but I can save money by tankering fuel. On a trip from the West Coast to New York, I saved $7,600 because I didn’t buy any of the high-priced fuel in the Big Apple. Buying this airplane was the easiest decision I’ve ever made.

Reliability:

Kevin Russell, executive vice president of NetJets, said, ‘It is one of the most reliable aircraft ever built for corporate aviation. Most other aircraft require more maintenance. Our dispatch reliability is over 99 percent. It has been a wonderful aircraft that has exceeded our expectations.’

Tara Mandy reports for New York Magazine on how fractional jet ownership and charter deals work. Detailed overview of plans from NetJets, Blue Star Jets, Marquis Jet, Avion Private Jet Club, Sentient Jet, and Bombardier Flexjet. She outlines their business models, planes they have available, and what’s the least expensive way to get into their programs.

She specifically mentions that NetJets has a BBJ in their fleet.

Aviation Week & Space Technology reports that Virtual VFR is coming to business aircraft soon, and that Rockwell Collins will provide an enhanced vision system for the Boeing Business Jet.

Synthetic vision features computer generated 3d imagery depicting the scene ahead of the aircraft. It’s display data is based on a digital database of terrain and obstacles. When you combine that with enhanced vision (Flir) it gives pilots a virtual VFR view of the world outside, “even the dark of night and sometimes in low visibility.” Claims reporter David Hughes.

Hughes also says Boeing may develop a Flir of its own for use on the BBJ.

In the article The International Traveler: Price war in North Atlantic, Herald Tribune reporter Roger Collis describes the latest wave of Premium-class flights, and several feature service in Boeing Business Jets. Here are the specifics:

Flying between Amsterdam and Houston, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has a 44-seat Boeing Business Jet at normal business-class prices.
Fly between Zurich and Newark airport Swiss International Airlines on a 56-seat Boeing Business Jet with lie-flat sleeper seats for about the same as normal business-class fares.
Fly between Düsseldorf and Newark on Lufthansa’s 48-seat Boeing Business Jet leased from PrivatAir.

Saw this in the NYT this morning. It’s a fair assessment of the bizjet market. It leans towards the charter / fractional users, but makes the point that business jet travel is a productivity tool. It attempts to dispell the common assumption that it is solely an expression of personal wealth.

The article also points out that the “culture” in Europe has been a barrier to personal business jet ownership but it is changing. That is a true statement. Asia suffers from the same cultural aversion and is behind Europe in overcoming that stigma.

One of the fastest growing private jet charter companies, XOJet has announced the purchase of of 14 new Cessna Citation X’s to be delivered at the rate of about 1 per month over the course of 2007.

In order to accommodate the expansion, they are seeking $200m in additional venture capital.

XOJet counts British Prime Minister Tony Blair and movie stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie among its extensive, high profile client roster. Analysts predict that amid rising load factors and the growing general hassles associated with commercial business travel, charter and fractional ownership of private business jets has nowhere to go but up.

According to JobWerx.com the Citation CJ4 will seat 7-8 people and be certified for operations up to 45,000 feet.

The jet will be available for purchase in 2010.