I had an opportunity to watch a You Tube video of President Ed Bolen’s discussion of the case for business aviation. This video was done last year on the Fox Business channel. Many corporations came under fire last year when government bailouts helped those companies continue to do business. The citizen auditors were out in full force calling for cutbacks and calling for “luxuries” such as corporate jets to be put aside and cut from the budgets of companies. As is always the case there is another side to the coin that many do not see and I think that this video gives us an idea of what that other side of the coin may look like.
I am going through a business jet report on the forecast of business jet sales and and state of the business put forth by the Teal Group and will be discussing some of the details of that report but this is perhaps a good place to start with reference to how the current state of business aviation has reached we hope the bottom. The No Plane No Gain program is a great source for business aviation industry information and is a good place to bookmark for those in the business of business aviation.
It seems today that every company is “going green” and many companies are entering in the world of cause marketing where they align themselves with nonprofit organizations to partner in raising money or helping with campaigns that provide the world with a place better tomorrow than it is today. I am always on the lookout for companies that provide information about what they are doing in the world of corporate responsibility. Bombardier is a company that I wanted to spotlight.
Bombardier is doing some great things in the area of corporate responsibility and their President and CEO Pierre Beaudoin has this to say about their achievements:
Our achievements include reducing our water consumption by 35%, energy consumption by 17% and greenhouse gas emissions by 10% between fiscal 2004 and 2009. In fiscal 2009, we also advanced pioneering products such as our ECO4 energy-saving rail technologies and our CSeries commercial aircraft.
We take pride in our listing, again, on two Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and, for the second time, on the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the world standard for carbon disclosure methodology and process. The CDP named Bombardier one of the 10 Canadian Climate Disclosure Leaders.
We continue to actively promote the UN Global Compact’s principles of social responsibility and we are in the process of embedding these principles in our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct.
One of the other campaigns I see that they were instrumental in taking part in was the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Winter Games. Aligning themselves with these types of campaigns will keep that company on track to be a leader in corporate responsibility initiatives. I will be looking to some of the other corporate jet companies to see how they stack up in their own corporate responsibility and how they are joining in the stand to help make this world a better place.
In choosing your corporate jet, it is imperative that you take a look at your wants and needs and the use of your aircraft and balance that with the characteristics that an aircraft has and provide a checklist of your requirements. There are characteristics of each aircraft that might be different than a competitors aircraft that might meet your needs better than any alternatives. A “travel needs” plan is an important factor in finding an aircraft for you or your company. What are the requirements to meet your travel needs? There are so many different choices, you should make sure that the aircraft you buy, is the best of what is available.
Your choices may have to do with the number of flights per year, the miles traveled, the maintenance requirements of that travel schedule and the crew needed. All of these things will help you locate the characteristics you need in making a decision on what aircraft might best fit into your budget, and make the best purchase decision for you. Do you know what your needs are or do you have a history of what your travel entails? This is a good place to start.
Making a list of all of the available aircraft and then making sure each aircraft has a list of pros and cons can make the decision easier when purchasing a corporate jet. If you have a professional that can assist you in finding what is available and then can sit down with you to list out all the characteristics of that aircraft you will come out feeling good about your purchase. This is an investment like any other and to find the proper aircraft for your investment is key. If you would like to find an aircraft that will suit your needs and one that fits into your budget, please contact us.
Best reason to own your very own plane?
You can take it- ANYWHERE!
If your company travels regularly- then leasing or buying a private jet can help you and your business to a great extent. Whether you are concerned about privacy, safety, flexibility or time, (I hear they say time is money…) then a private jet should be at the top of your shopping list.
So – now that you’ve gotten your private jet- what are you going to do?
YOU’RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!
Disney World in Orlando, Florida was originally built with its very own private airfield. Cleverly named “Disney Airfield,” it was the official airport of Walt Disney World, and Walt Disney himself! Though As of 2004, the Disney Airfield is no longer listed as an active airfield, it has been known that company executives also land there on occasion.
So you probably spent a pretty penny on that jet…
Well “Walt Disney World Insiders” (www.wdwinsiders.com) is here to help with 10 FREE things to do at Disney!
1. Visit Downtown Disney- It costs nothing to visit Downtown Disney, and there are lots of fun shops to stroll through and plenty of people watching opportunities.
2. Watch the Magic Kingdom Fireworks- From the beach of the Grand Floridian or Polynesian. You can park at the resorts for a short time for free. (Just tell the guard you are visiting the hotel coffee shop!)
3. Take a free tour of Wilderness Lodge – Check with guest services for times and details.
4. Watch the Electrical Water Pageant- It takes place each night on Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake – times vary.
5. Nature Trails at Fort Wilderness- There are many miles of trails at Fort Wilderness, through pine and cypress woods. You can rent bikes, but to walk, costs nothing.
6. Visit The Boardwalk- Best in the evening. Just stroll and take in the atmosphere. There’s usually lots of “street entertainment.”
7. Visit the The petting farm at Fort Wilderness- The petting farm is open 7 AM to dusk. There is free day parking at Ft. Wilderness.
8.Take the free garden tour at the Yacht & Beach Club Resort- Call guest services for times
9.Take the free lobby tour at Animal Kingdom Lodge
10. Take a boat ride- from Dixie Landings to Downtown Disney – it’s especially nice at night. Take a stroll round Downtown Disney and catch the boat back to your car at Dixie Landings.
So what are you waiting for?
Jump in that jet and get going already!
They say one of the first things one should ask themselves prior to buying their own corporate aircraft is probably one of the simplest questions of all.
You ready for it? How much time are you spending flying a year already?
Suggestions hold that if you’re going to do more than 350 – 400 hours of flying each year, then it’s pretty well justified as an expense. Few are going to take a plane up for an hour a day, but you can quickly get the idea. There’s a fair amount of flying in the future and we’ve already spelled out the benefits in time savings from having one’s own plane. If you’re not flying this much but still want the benefits of a private aircraft, there are an array of options out there, including partial ownership.
Just like in owning a car, there are up keep costs to owning one’s own aircraft. Insurance, pilots’ costs, fuel, etc. all add on to the cost of owning an aircraft. The costs depend on location and which company used to help manage this end of operations. While most who are actually in the market for owning an aircraft are less concerned as others might be about these additional costs, they are there and something to be aware of when it comes time to purchasing such an investment.
Like everything else, there is an array of options when it comes to purchasing a jet. Are most of your trips short domestic hops with a relatively short rage–say 2,000 miles and just as few as five or eight people, or are you planning on more passengers, say 12 or so, and the ability to fly as far as 4,000 miles? There are different planes and different levels in costs to keep in mind as well.
No matter what level one considers the options to owning ones own aircraft are many and over time quickly balance out the value of the investment.
