Plane Conversations

What about the need for private jet business travel?

An August 27 article by Travel Weekly states that “Business travel is a discretionary expense.”  The article quotes President Clinton’s speech to the National Business Travel Association, saying that “the government shouldn’t be bad-mouthing it,” he further comments, “Companies are not in the business of throwing their money away,” he said. “The government shouldn’t second-guess those decisions.”  A hearty Amen to that last statement!

A lot of politician and press rhetoric has been flying (figuratively) out there about the need to travel and especially the need to travel in private jet aircraft.  Some out there are looking at the few abuses of private jet travel by businesses and portraying the entire industry of private jet travel as something bad.  Let me be so bold as to say that those commenting against our industry of private jet travel are either ignorant of the benefits it provides or just plain jealous because they have not been offered the option to fly in private jets.  Most likely it is the second of the two reasons.  My guess is that the majority of the naysayers live in the big cities and have easy access to forms of mass transit (both ground and air).

Now where it gets really interesting is the comments made by political leaders who have access and frequently use the largest fleet of corporate jets in the world – those owned and operated by the US Government and paid for by the tax payers.  I don’t begrudge their use of these assets.  They are running the largest government in the world and deserve the same efficient ways of travel to save them time that the business people deserve.  As this debate hit a peak back in March one of the most articulate spokesmen for our industry, James Coyne – President of the National Air Transportation Association, wrote a letter to President Obama.  The link here gets you to that letter:

http://www.nata.aero/data/files/g%20&%20i%20affairs/dear_president_obama_fnl.pdf

It says it better than I can!

What I say is what President Clinton says.  Let business people figure this out.  Businesses are not going to throw away money on something that doesn’t bring a return.  The free market economy won’t reward inefficient behavior for long.  And why is it that more long term successful companies in the US use private jet travel as a part of their total travel options than not?  Could it be that it is not merely a luxury and that it makes good financial sense?

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