The document discusses the benefits of private aviation over commercial airlines for business travel. It outlines four key benefits of private aviation: safety, flexibility and convenience, privacy, and stability. Private aviation offers safer planes with newer technology and more experienced pilots. It allows for more direct flights between smaller airports near a traveler's home or business. This provides more flexibility and avoids long layovers or connection hassles. Private aviation also offers more privacy when traveling as travelers can land at smaller private airports and bypass commercial terminals. Finally, private aviation companies tend to be more financially stable than airlines. While initial costs are higher, companies can save money in the long run through greater efficiency of travel.

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No lines, direct flights… Fact or Fiction?
It’s four in the morning, you are rushing to get ready, and get the last few things
packed. You get in your car and travel about thirty to forty-five minutes to the airport.
You spend about ten minutes looking for a parking spot. Once you have found a parking
spot and gathered your luggage, you hope that there is a tram that can shuttle you to the
terminal. Once you get inside you wait in line to check in your luggage. If you are lucky
your luggage is small enough that it can be stowed away, but you still wait in line to get
though security.
On average, you will wait about forty-five minutes to an hour in the security line.
After the checkpoint line, you will probably wait about fifteen to twenty minutes before
you can board your flight. After you land at your first stop you will probably have about
a one hour layover until your next flight... and by the time you get to your final
destination you will have wasted all day traveling.
Well, what if I told you that you could be picked up at one of your nearby airports
close to you, and then fly to an airport that is much closer to where you need to be?
Sounds great, right? Especially when you think about all the time you will save traveling
this way.
In “Corporate America” time equals money. If a company can get their people to
meetings and back within one, maybe two days; the company will save money in the long
run. It might cost more money at the beginning, but there are benefits of using private
aviation rather than using the airlines. There are four factors that we can focus on; safety,
flexibility and convenience, privacy, and stability.
First, there is the issue of safety; private aviation is the safest form of air travel.
Most private aviation companies phase out their fleet after about ten years and buy brand
new aircraft - no used aircraft at all. So that means that all of their aircraft are up-to-date
with the newest technology, and are low-time, which means that they do not have a lot of
flight hours on them. Airlines, on the other hand generally have 20 and 30 year-old
aircraft. The older the aircraft, the more likely they will have problems. So if a company
can keep newer aircrafts in their fleet, they are likely to have fewer problems. The
crewmembers are trained better and go through recurrent training more often than most
airline crewmembers. Each pilot is type-rated for that particular aircraft and that aircraft
only. The pilots are only flying one type of aircraft to ensure that they know the “ins and
outs” of that aircraft as opposed to having to know about two or three different types of
aircraft. Also, the biggest safety factor is that the customers know who is on board the
aircraft. People tend to feel safer when they know people who are flying with them. It
gives them more of a sense of security.
Since, private aviation allows customers to fly in and out of locations that are
closer to where they live or work. There are more point-to-point flights as opposed to
dealing with connecting flights. Customers will not have to deal with long layovers, or
deal with the connection hassles. When flying with private aviation, customers get to
decide where and when they travel to and from. There are no scheduled flights; they pick
the time at which best suits their needs.
They are also able to choose who flies with them, and what they want to eat on
the way. They can either fly by themselves or they can travel with friends or co-workers.

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Customers can request the type of food that will be served on board the flight as
opposed to the pretzels and soda that you might get on the airlines. When traveling with
the airlines on the other hand, there is about a 20-25% chance that every commercial trip
will be delayed or even canceled.
Privacy is another issue that comes into consideration when deciding how people
want to travel. Customers can land at private fixed based operators (FBO’s) rather than
going to big terminals. Executives can take care of important businesses matters in order
to insure that there is no valuable time lost during travel. A vehicle will pick you up at
the foot of the plane, rather than standing in line waiting for a rental car. Also, when
traveling internationally, customs will usually come on board when you land and do the
paper work rather than making you stand in long lines at the terminal building. Comfort
is another factor when flying privately. Everything from driving up to the plane, to the
seats on the aircraft, to the car service when you land; private aviation makes your
stressful and busy life more comfortable so that you may concentrate on more important
matters.
Stability is the final issue that is of concern when deciding the best way to travel.
Most of the private companies are much more stable financially than the airlines. NetJets
International, for example is very financially stable. Berkshire Hathaway bought NetJets
as and investment. Along with the new owner and their reputation, NetJets has increased
its financial stability.
Private aviation incorporates all of the different factors that companies face when
trying to decide the best form of travel for their employees. Although the initial cost is
greater, the long-term benefits and savings will prevail.
When time equals money, can you really put a price on safety, convenience and
comfort?

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Works Cited
Telephone interview: JJ, Netjets representative. February 8, 2006 at 1400 EST.