The Sensible Skies

“When you are on a commercial aircraft, you are in an environment that maybe isn’t secure, as far as who’s sitting next to you. But on your own aircraft, you can have a private business meeting like you would in your boardroom. You can work on your PowerPoint during the flight. You can invite your customer in and cater a nice meal. It’s basically a business office in the sky. It is another productivity tool.”

LaFontsee agrees, and adds that post-meeting debriefings can occur in-flight, while the memory of site visits and client meetings is still fresh in everyone’s mind.

Boyle says many boards and shareholders are still queasy about companies owning large fixed assets such as aircraft. In those cases, a jet service such as JetChoice may be more palatable. The firm takes care of all the details of managing the aircraft and vendor payments. The client company doesn’t have to own a thing, but it can still take advantage of the efficiency that a private airplane brings.

“Most corporations went through significant restructuring in the ’80s and ’90s,” Boyle says. “With lean management policies, you’ve got only a few key senior managers who have to be in disparate locations regularly. So the situation becomes, how many nights away from his or her family does a senior executive want to spend? How about being able to have two or three different meetings in different cities every day, as opposed to having one meeting, then going to Northwest Airlines and connecting, and then going to the next city? We’re able to give executives control of their schedules and, quite frankly, do more with limited resources.”

Myth: Perks for Executives

Boyle admits that there is a premium for flying on a private jet. Highly successful people are used to controlling every aspect of their businesses, he says, and they’re willing to pay to have that same level of control and participation in their travel plans.

But, anyone who’s paying attention is sure to notice that corporate planes are not just flying to business destinations; a great number of them converge upon the Masters Golf Tournament. So, are private planes really just a toy for privileged execs?

“I can tell you that fully 85 percent of our flights are purely business related,” Boyle says. “They are just simply getting key people to very important meetings. Only about 15 percent of our flights are for personal [reasons] or for wealthy individuals.”

But even the vacations—or the combined vacation and business trips—have their value to the company, Boyle adds. “Many of our clients say, ‘Our top employees are key to everything we do with our corporation, and we need to make sure that they are as productive and as happy in their job as possible,’” he says. “That’s another aspect to it.