USA Today has a revealing little story about the inefficiencies experienced by presidential candidates having to travel on the commercial airlines to campaign events in often far-flung locations. They are feeling the pain of today’s airline passengers with delays and the general hassle that befalls travelers needing to get from Point A to Point B smoothly.

While travel in private aircraft is sometimes also delayed by severe weather, the journey is seldom outright canceled. The underlying issue of many airline delays -missed connections- usually requires alternate means of completing the journey later or just canceling, which in the case of a candidate leaves many supporters disappointed. The consistant ability to complete all jouneys is a prime reason why private travel flourishes.

Another key factor is that private aircraft can make far more non-stop or direct flights by utilizing second-tier airports that are much closer to the traveler’s ultimate destinations. This is something that the commercial airlines just can’t compete with, especially in the campaign target-rich rural areas like Iowa and New Hampshire. 

Here’s the article. Enjoy!

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-07-11-presidential-candidates-travel_N.htm

In the March/April 2007 issue of Dealmaker magazine, (registration required) reporter Robert Goyer puts forth a glowing review of the Boeing family of business jets. He also outlines some of the key reasons a big business jet can provide much more than just transport to their operators.
According to the piece, the BBJ provides “the sweet spot of being big enough to offer luxurious accommodations while still affording its passengers the kind of globetrotting power that only an ultra-long-range airplane can provide.”

The flexibility of the BBJ is a key advantage:

“Want to outfit your airborne abode with bedrooms, boardrooms, open seating areas, expansive galleys and multiple bathrooms with full showers? Of course you do. You’re a player, not an animal. Well, with the BBJ3, you can. Indeed, it offers the kind of flexibility that smaller, purpose-design private jets from Gulfstream, Dassault and Bombardier are simply unable to match…the interiors of these 737-based bizjets are so luxurious, you just might forget you’re flying — so a few extra minutes in the cabin might actually be a good thing.”

(BTW, we’d be remiss if we didn’t remind our readers that interior customization is the principal service our partner Greenpoint Technologies provides to BBJ buyers.)

Also the BBJ’s extended range is essential:

“Thanks to the incorporation of as many as eight auxiliary fuel tanks, the BBJ3 also has a maximum range (with eight passengers) of 5,475 nautical miles, meaning that when fully fueled, it can fly just about anywhere in the world with a single stop.”

One of the critical benefits we hear from Greenpoint clients regarding BBJ ownership is that the plane can serve as a flying boardroom – which serves them well for working/closing deals internationally. This is echoed in the article:

“Instead, they make the jet itself the destination, using its meeting rooms as an ultra-high-end roving office complete with high-speed Internet, networked cabin systems and fine dining right there on site. Thus, if flying to Milan just to close your deal on the tarmac before turning around and flying out sounds incredibly efficient, albeit culturally unfortunate, this is the plane for you.”

Interior space specs:
Original BBJ: 807 square feet.
BBJ2: 1,004 square feet.
BBJ3: 1,120 square feet.

Some intriguing market-related information is also included:

“There is, after all, a reason why private individuals — led by those in the financial community — constitute 43 percent of BBJ customers. (Heads of state make up around 35 percent of buyers, with the rest split between corporations and charters.)”

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?

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.