The Sensible Skies

You can choose any level of involvement, depending on your comfort level, says Toby Batchelder, technical sales manager at Elliott Aviation in Eden Prairie. His company consults with clients to decide whether chartering, fractional ownership, or full ownership of a plane is the best course of action. Elliott offers a program called Aircraft Management that acts as a substitute for a client’s in-house flight department, managing flight crews, maintenance, insurance, equipment, deicing, and the like. One phone call and the plane is ready to go.

Even if you decide to go it alone, aviation-service companies can help lighten the load. John LaFontsee, president of Regent Aviation, an FBO at the downtown St. Paul airport, says companies like his offer varying levels of service.

“Some FBOs focus on aircraft charter and aircraft sales and have a little bit of fuel and maintenance,” he says. “Others have lots of maintenance and lots of fuel and real estate. We’re primarily a real estate developer on the airport. We build aircraft storage hangars and office space for aviation flight departments. We [also] do a great deal of maintenance and aircraft fueling, and we provide an extensive amount of concierge services to companies coming from other states or countries to do business. I like to say that we   are the ambassador to the Twin Cities, because if someone is coming from New York to do a big deal here, we are going to be the first impression they have of Minnesota.”

Myth: Environmentally Irresponsible

There’s no doubt that it takes more fuel per person to transport one person in a corporate jet than it does to ferry a 747 full of passengers. But you may not realize that small, direct flights are more efficient in other ways.

First of all, Batchelder says, it’s very rare for private aircraft to take off with just a pilot and one passenger aboard. The average passenger load is between three and four. Also, the planes tend to be newer and far more efficient than their hulking, decades-old brethren at the commercial airlines.

“One of the big misconceptions is that corporate jets are loud, and they burn up a lot of fuel, and the fact of the matter is just the opposite,” Batchelder says. “They are becoming more fuel efficient. Also, the plane doesn’t sit there running and burning fuel while passengers board. They pull up, they start the airplane, and they get up in the air."

The same is true at landing time, he explains. There’s no endless looping around in holding patterns when you fly a private plane into a small airport. You decelerate quickly, land, and step out.

Obviously, you never have to make a connection through an out-of-the-way airport if you’re in a corporate plane. And best of all, you have access to about 10 times as many airports. That generally means a lot less driving once you arrive. “If I’m flying into Chicago, rather than landing in O’Hare, [I’ll be] sitting in the car for the next hour and a half. [With a private plane], I can fly to a smaller reliever airport just south of Chicago and be 10 minutes away from my meeting,” Batchelder says. “So often, with the airlines, it takes [you] longer to drive to the airport than it does to actually take the flight to the destination.”