Plane Conversations

Back in the railroad days, a platform referred to the surface upon which passengers stepped in order to enter or exit the train.

In 2012, the word “platform” often refers to one of the big four data stations on the Internet; Google, Amazon, Facebook, or Apple.  On the backend, those platforms sort products and people into similar categories.  On the front end, they deliver products to the consumer or the consumer to the product.  Everything is done electronically, in most cases, even the product is electronic.

Of Flesh and Mortar

In real life, the Commercial Aviation Hub and Spoke System is a platform too. People and airplanes are sorted into  categories, then they are matched to the size of the container. The difference is that very little is electronic – real living people and hundreds of thousands of pounds of aircraft still need to perform their little platform dance consuming vast infrastructure, ground space, time, and energy.

A Platform for Reality

Compared to the Big Four who collect data behind secure walls, analyze it with proprietary algorithms, then serve up the content that is most beneficial to the platform (not necessarily the user), Social Flights is revolutionary.

Social Flights collects four separate streams of data, converts the data to a single usable form, then shares the data back to the separate streams.  For example; an airplane operator submits data regarding the inventory of their aircraft.  The hospitality industry submits data relative to their inventory of support services,  Travelers submit data regarding their likely destinations, and event organizers submit data regarding their event.

Music is a mixture of rhythm, sound frequency, and timbre

Social Flights captures all of these streams, organizes the data and feeds it back to the market in a more usable form.  Aircraft operators know the optimum use of their aircraft resources.  Hospitality knows how to best allocate their inventory.  Event planners have greater exposure to their markets for attendees. Finally, Travelers know the exact door-to-door cost AND TIME to achieve their objectives.

Social Value is “manufactured” because it is in the best interest of each party that the other three are successful

Advertising extorts passion

Today, nearly all social organization is now funded – and influenced – by advertising.  Social priorities are driven by Wall Street priorities while advertising powerplays tout some products often at the expense of others that would create otherwise social cohesion.  People do not wake up in the morning aspiring to follow the Kardashians, they aspire to follow their friends and to pursue their natural interests, and talents.  Advertising is anti-social.

The Social Flights platform is revolutionary

Social Flights, while currently emerging as a simplified air transportation system, is a real and valid social value manufacturing engine. The same system can also be used for any shared experience; cars, planes, roads, infrastructure, corporations, education, and even government with the New Value data platform that we are developing.

The problem can never be the solution.

Today, we do not have a financial problem as much as we have a value problem.  The challenges that face the world today are far too great to be solved with an “Advertising” platform.  Whatever happens next, it must start with a platform for Reality.

Google Search for the term "Jet Charter"

Google Think Insights is an amazing resource for looking at who is searching on certain terms, and from where.  This post shows two search categories and related terms from which we can draw several general ideas about private air travel.  These data demonstrates that an increasing amount of people are searching on terms such as private jet, jet charter, VIP travel, etc.

Another curious trend is the term “Jet Charter Cost” is also increasing significantly as people seek to find the value threshold for private air travel vs commercial air travel.

Recession or transition?

These data all refer to a date range between the dates of january 2008 and December 2011 corresponding to the greatest economic downturn in the US since the Depression.  There are likely many forces acting on the market including the pullout of commercial aviation from minor market, few travel alternatives,  increased usage of internet search technology, increased business travel needs, and upper class growth rates.

The increase in terms related to cost may suggest that even the most wealthy are becoming cost conscious, more people want to fly private, more businesses need to fly private in order to access their market, and more VIP travel is required.

It is not surprising that the term “business aviation” has a similar location density to the term “Jet Charter”.  This reinforces the suggestion that corporations increasingly need to send their executives on travel outings.

Social Flights is in the business of social organization too:

It is likely that wherever executives go, so too will managers and lower level employees.  Social Flights has long suggested that there is an opportunity to increase private charter shuttle service between key locations.  Likewise, there are opportunities for companies to share private aircraft scheduled to fly between regions.

Next we looked at the term “VIP Travel” and identified the following locations where the terms were searched.  We found a similar increase in VIP Travel related terms as we did for terms related to jet charter costs, except related to supporting services such as reservation, booking, schedules, and services.

This suggests that the door-to-door experience is underserved and that an air transportation service that is able to connect the dots would hold a true value advantage over one that just drops the passenger off at a hub airport.

Search terms are important because they indicate the intentions of a market.

While little is ever conclusive, the rate at which something changes can say more than the thing being observed alone.  At Social Flights, the demands of a dynamic market are clear.

1. Companies must have business travel options.

2. A door-to-door value proposition is essential.

3. People are searching online more than ever

4. The commercial airline industry leaves a market underserved.

Economic recessions have been shown to be more about technological transition and adjustment rather than any single underlying factor.  We believe that this transition will be no different.

“Systems Thinking” is important in aviation.  No single event acts alone from complex air traffic control to complex mechanical aircraft and complex weather systems. Economics is a complex system and markets are complex systems, human behavior is displayed in complex social systems.  This is the way that Social Flights approaches business – we are a ride sharing “system” for private jets

It is not surprising then that Google identifies 5 stages of the consumer travel system.

The following is from Trent via Statistics and Research Studies for Travel, Tourism & Lodging:

More than 87% of travelers expect to take the same or more number of personal or business trips in 2011 versus years past. This outlook is positive, and with the rise of mobile, social and video behaviors, we are now seeing seeing travelers move through five key stages of travel. Here are some insights within each stage:

Dreaming: 68% of business travelers watch travel-related online videos. Among them, 68% are thinking about a trip.

Planning: The average traveler visits ~22 travel related sites during 9.5 research sessions prior to booking.  85% of leisure travelers consider the internet their main source of travel planning.

Booking: 37% of leisure travelers report that the internet prompted them to book, up from 28% two years ago.  53% of travelers plan to increase comparison shopping this year.

Experiencing: 70% of business travelers check into their flights/hotel with their mobile device. Almost 1 in 4 hotel queries come from a mobile phone.  Over 50% of travelers use mobile phone or device for travel-related information.

Sharing: About 1 in 3 business travelers have posted reviews online of places they’ve been.

At Social Flights we have argued that there is a great need for travel related information to be made available for private aircraft and charter jet inventory.  As such, we are developing tools such as our “Instant Quote” feature, and inventory listings to supplement travel information on line. Here’s why:

62% of personal travelers use search engines as the number one source for travel information. 

51% of business travelers use mobile devices to get travel information, more than double the rate of two years ago. 

46% of personal travelers are watching travel-related videos, versus 36% two years ago. 

The quantity and the quality of information that a travel company can provide is directly proportional to the relevance in the 5 stages of consumer travel activity.  The effort is paying off.

Social Flights will soon announce several deals with municipalities that are tired of being stranded by airlines

Social Flights will annouce a deal with a major vacation spot that is tired of getting gouged by brokers

Social Flights Instant Quote feature continues to disrupt the “secret handshake” of the charter jet industry

Social Flights will soon announce major deals at world class events where we shuttle people to the doorstep of the action

Social Flights is opening travel circles across the US for people to share their experiences and plan their adventures

At Social Flights, we are aviators, we are system thinkers, we are fully aware and intentional about the system that we are building.  We thank all those who are helping, from our pilots to our partners to our investors and to our followers.  Together we are developing a Social Flying System