Monday, April 6, 2009

Private Aviation as Economic Stimulator


If you’ve tuned into your local news broadcast, or read any article pertaining to the economic recession and financial bailout packages, you’ve more than likely heard some sort of criticism about executive private jet travel.

A simple search of the term “private jet” through yahoo news yields articles of shame for General Motors, JP Morgan Chase, Ford Motor Co, and hundreds of additional household corporate names; all for their use of private aircraft services. We’re all familiar with the scalding of the big three automakers by Congress for their use of private jets to visit Washington pleading for bailout money.

There are those who have mislead the public perception into thinking that private jet travel is nothing but an excessive waste of money with no benefit aside from exorbitant luxury. The fact of the matter is, none of those who scrutinize private air travel have taken but a single moment to understand its benefits. None of the critics have grasped the understanding of how the costs vested in private aviation are actually an investment in the American product, with a timelessly proven lofty ROI. 

Today I write to you as a private air professional who has personally seen the benefits of private aviation from the side of the corporate aviation business of over 1.2 million hard working Americans, the corporations that use private aviation, and the direct and indirect impact on the American economy. 

Private Aviation grants corporate leaders and employees the ability to conduct a business day in a way that without our industry would be absolutely infeasible. In one single day, multiple meetings can be held across the nation—discreetly, quickly, and efficiently. Many times, the hourly cost of the aircraft is less than the hourly cost of compensation to just one of the multiple travelers, thus saving corporate dollars. Further, the opportunity cost of those traveling privately is significantly reduced as a result of simply spending fewer hours on the road. Corporate leaders, whose every hour is shadowed by a high opportunity cost vastly exceeding their compensation, have more time to conduct work. Money, and lots of it, is saved by shareholders through the tool of business aviation. This is why so many public companies, whose legal and moral responsibility is to protect the shareholders, have vested interest in private aviation for decades.

I’ve personally stood present as corporate leaders acknowledged nine figure deals at the doors of our aircraft. These are deals that have huge impacts on the public good both financially and through the products rendered; this is American economic flow. I’ve seen those who are normally hounded by the media escape to work without any public hassle, saving hours in opportunity cost. 

Business Aviation directly contributes approximately $150 billion annually to the US Economic output and employees 1.2 million hardworking Americans. Of the 1.2 million employees are pilots, caterers, baggage loaders, mechanics, accountants, concierges, janitors, advertisers, fabric manufactures, drivers, salespeople, dispatchers, and so many more -- millions of hardworking middle-class Americans. The industry as a whole is predominantly local to the United States. Not only does the United States use more private aviation services than any other nation, but the majority of private jets and private jet components are manufactured right here in the USA. Half of these aircraft are sold abroad, bringing foreign revenues into the country. Even the handful of manufactures outside of the U.S. “complete” their aircraft here in America, adding avionics, engines, interiors, etc. which are all manufactured in the U.S, as explained by the NBAA’s (National Business Aviation Association) “No Plane No Gain” campaign. 

With all this in mind, I implore you to take a closer look into the facts of private aviation and how it is necessary for the prolonged growth of the American economic product. The private jet has not been coined the “business jet” arbitrarily. Private Aviation is an artery of large-scale world commerce; it must be supported for the benefit of all Americans.

Written By:

Alex M. Early
Founder & CEO
The Early Air Way, LLC
www.theEarlyAirWay.com
(800) 783-2970

2 comments:

subalin said...

Many aviation companies have started chartering the Private Jet, as many of the customers prefer to travel on their preferred time which private jet alone provides such facility. When booked for a group of members the private jet would be lesser in fare than the commercial flights.

Elise Lowerison said...

Your blog about private aviation benefits was of great interest to me. I found your comments about chartering flights to ease your travel plans particularly intriguing. I look forward to reading additional posts in the future. We’re in the luxury travel business as well and would like to invite you and your readers to checkout our innovative private jet service: http://www.flyspectrumair.com/. To cut to the chase, we are offer $3950 per-seat private jet flights between NYC and LA. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!