Company pilot Tony Wright and I just returned from the Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association’s (MLTA) conference hosted by the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.  All I can say is WOW!  We met some of the nicest people in the industry and everyone we met was truly interested in the industry and the State of Michigan.

Being born and raised in Michigan, I have a special love of the state and our resources.  That is one of the reasons I would love to do more scheduled charters “Up North” to places like Traverse City, Mackinac, Munising and Marquette.  I hope with everyone’s help — customers, Resorts and my partners, that we can put something together to get people spending money again in the state.  After traveling all over the country and the world, I find that Michigan has  a little bit of every thing you can see in the other states.  Along the Pictured Rocks I am reminded of the Pali coast in Kauai, In Copper Harbor I am reminded of the North East coast.  From the top of Mackinac Island, the multi-colored waters of the straits remind me of the Caribbean.

I also wanted to thank the MLTA for putting on such a great and informative conference and  opening it up to non-members.  I hope to join as a service member soon.  Every company that is in any way involved with the tourism industry should be a member,  without the MLTA funding the Pure Michigan campaign would have be cut to ineffective levels.

The first airplanes to land in Haiti where general aviation business aircraft.  Many corporations lent the company airplane to help out with supplies.  A Navajo Chieftain,  the same type ABA flies, was one of the first to bring water and blankets to citizens in Haiti.  Another larger jet, a Challenger, brought workers and supplies.  It took a few days for the military and airlines to ramp up and gain FAA approval to operate into Haiti, but business aircraft were flying into to Port A Pince from smaller airports in the US almost right away.

American Business Airways has a program to reduce your travel costs by pooling your flight with other customers wanting to travel to the same areas.   Assume you are considering a flight to Traverse City with your family of 3.  Although the round trip cost for this with an overnight stay would come to about $2500 with taxes and overnight fees, (about $833 per person) you would like to reduce this cost further.  Call us and we will gather names of other customers also wanting to fly to the same general area  (Northern Lower Michigan) and put together a shared flight.  With 3 more passengers, this can reduce the cost to $416 per person.

We are also planning on operating a scheduled charter to the Traverse City and Mackinac Island airports over the weekends.  This will only operate if we can get enough passengers to sign up.  This is a special and not a regular charter, and the prices will be $300 to Traverse City and $350 to Mackinac Island.  We will need a minimum of 4 passengers.  The flights will leave Friday afternoon and return Sunday afternoon. This then is a variation on the shared ride concept.

So if you are interested in sharing a ride anywhere or in our scheduled charter flights “up north”. call us and get on the list.

Also call us for specialized business charter flights.  Many times we can beat the airlines on total travel and employee costs.

Check our blog report on justifying air travel.

Posted March 30, 2009 by Michael J. Ryan
Let us help you put together a business case for business charter travel. We’ll start by finding out how much business travel you do as part of your job. We’ll break it down into how many business trips you take per week, per month, and this first quarter.

It’s important to count up the trips because if someone takes only two airline trips a year, they can’t help but ask, “What’s the big deal about standing in an airport security or check-in line?” Or, “So what if you have to kill 90 minutes each way changing planes?” They’ll think, “Would it really kill you to stay overnight this one time because your meeting ended too late for the last flight out?”

You’ve got to get everyone’s attention about the number of trips you take for the explanations about saving time to make any sense.

We can help you prepare some practical examples to illustrate a routine use of business aircraft versus the alternative of flying commercial. We would highlight three typical business jet trips flown last year that you reasonably expect to take again this year.

The analysis ought to show the number of stops, amount of work conducted at each location, explain work done aboard the plane, and add up the total productive hours for the trip. Then we’ll prepare an analysis of those same trips but using current commercial airline schedules.

Do the math. Show the actual productivity and time savings. And don’t forget to multiply the productivity impact on the company of anyone who travels with your client.

The key to this argument is found in overnight trips. Make the case that every overnight trip flying commercially, that could have been done same-day on charter, costs the company four wasted production hours per passenger.

Then, restate it in more colorful terms. Explain that every 10 airline overnight trips has the equivalent adverse impact on productivity of your top producer taking a week’s sick leave.

Our industry did too good a job over the years selling the luxury and perquisites of charter travel. Now our job is to focus on the hard-nosed business benefits. When we help you analyze and present the benefits, we supply you with the political cover you need to capitalize on the benefits and get back in our air.

(Ryan is President of AirPSG and can be reached at mike.ryan@airpsg.com or 800.769.6082.)

http://www.airpsg.com

Aircraft fuel, Gasoline and Jet fuel are low volume commodities and are manufactured in batches.  When the refineries produce aviation fuels, they actually stop producing auto fuels and make a 3 or 4 month supply at one time.  They then restart auto fuel production. In the case of Avgas (aviation Gasoline) which contains lead, they have to completly clean out the manufacturing and supply equipment before they can start auto production again.  Because of the lead times involved, aviation fuel does not see the rapid fluctuations in price that you see at your local gas station.  In fact, aviation fuel might totally miss a short term drop in auto gas prices.

This is one reason you will not see the price of airplane charters drop as fast, the other reason is that most operators have been holding the line on price increases to the public, they have taken lower profits in order to keep prices stable.  Many operators also charge a fuel surcharge, if you investigate you will probably see that these surcharges have indeed come down.

At many smaller airports and fixed base operators (aviation gas stations!) the volume of sales are low enough that it may take a month or more to use up their stock of fuel, they will not see a price decrease until the next shipment.  Of course you will also benefit from this same situation when fuel prices go up, most aviation fuel suppliers do not raise prices until they have to order a new shipment (unlike your local gas station!)

At American Business Airways, we do not currently add a fuel surcharge, part of our business plan is simpler pricing and we have indeed dropped our prices from 6 months ago.

Considering the volitility of fuel prices over the last few years, aircraft charter prices although raising modestly, have still not been as volitile as the fluctions in fuel prices.