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XO jet CEO on CNBC

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NETFLIER

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 18, 2005
Posts
101
quoted:

"In September it was like somebody flipping a switch to off and flying has been near zero."

He did say, and I am sure we agree, that CEO's of big corps flying on the Airlines is nuts and fractional or charter is the way they should go.
 
quoted:

"In September it was like somebody flipping a switch to off and flying has been near zero."

He did say, and I am sure we agree, that CEO's of big corps flying on the Airlines is nuts and fractional or charter is the way they should go.

Why is that nuts? Are they better then us? If they can't make a profit and are running the company into the ground why do they deserve the perk of a business jet?
 
Why is that nuts? Are they better then us? If they can't make a profit and are running the company into the ground why do they deserve the perk of a business jet?

Business jets are business tools. Why do they deserve using computers when a pen and paper will work just fine? Why use a robot to build a car when people did it for years? Why use cell phones when landlines took care of us for a long time? Why use cars when horses are cheaper?
 
What you're seeing as a "perk" is, in many cases, a valuable business tool, as others have said. It enables these CEOs to conduct business that is not possible on the airlines.

Hypothetically, let's say a company needs to send half a dozen executives from, say, Kalamazoo to an office southeast of PIT to make a presentation during business hours, and then get back to the office to finish the paperwork.

I put the city pair into Travelocity for tomorrow: the earliest they could get to PIT would be 1205pm, and would require them to depart at 6:10am, arriving at the airport around 5am. By the time they get into town (let's be very generous and say it takes 25 minutes from block-in), you're talking 12:30pm at the earliest. An hour for the presentation, another hour to check in at PIT, and they can't leave 'til at least 3:30pm.

Assume they get done early, and they can make the 305pm flight home, that means they land at 8:55pm back in Kalamazoo. The entire day is burned for the company's senior management, not even counting the time the day prior to prepare the presentation (because they had to leave so early), and the morning after to finish the paperwork, because the day is gone. 16 hours of productivity lost, simply to make a quick presentation in Pittsburgh.

Cost: $6431.34 round-trip for six coach tickets.
Time: 16 hours


Now let's look at the same trip, but using a corporate jet. Same 12:30pm presentation at the factory in West Mifflin -- that's only a few minutes away from Allegheny County airport, so that's where we land at 12:15. The group had two hours to work on their presentation in the office before leaving for the airport -- pulled up to their plane in AZO at 11AM, got on board immediately, and we launched a few minutes later. They were able to continue working during the flight, so it wasn't wasted time. They finished at 1:30, got on board, and were back in their office in Kalamazoo by 3pm.

Time: 4 hours

As for cost? To make the math simple, I'll use a Beechjet through NetJets and MarquisJet, which is actually our most expensive product. It's about 300NM each way, so we'll say a 2-hour round-trip. At $5316 an hour, that's $10,632.

The question a company has to ask itself is, is taking the entire senior management and sales staff from the company worth the $4200 savings? Is the 12 wasted hours of their time worth more than that? The answer obviously depends on the specific company, but I'd venture that for a large corporation, taking those key people out of the operation would be false economy.

And to do the same trip with two stops -- as I've seen many of our clients do -- would be impossible to do on the airlines, at any price.
 
Last edited:
Why is that nuts? Are they better then us? If they can't make a profit and are running the company into the ground why do they deserve the perk of a business jet?

Why, my trip yesterday. Leave my London hotel 0700 (0200 EST). Fog as usual

Version A - Corporate Aircraft
Arrive EGGW 0800, plane waiting. Maybe a slight slot delay due to fog. Depart 0845. Arrive Home airport in Florida 1400 EST.

Version B (my reality) - Arrive EGLL 0830. Flight late arriving and departing. Delta assures me they will book me on next flight if I miss connection. Depart EGLL 1300. Arrive ATL 1815 EST. Miss connection by 5 minutes. Plane still at gate, but I can't get on. Ooops forgot to rebook you on next flight, it's full now. Here's your itinerary for tomorrow. Arrive at home airport in Florida 1030 EST ...... the next day.

All government bailouts should require senior execs to fly corporate for business in the interest of the company surviving and taxpayers getting some of their money back.

MofY
 

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