Plane Conversations

Way back on October 16, Allen Howell wondered if Social Media would replace or simply complement face-to-face meetings.  The topice has generated a tremendous response which continues even now, months later.  Here’s what you had to say:

Social Media as a Precursor to Face to Face

Chris Stompolos, Principal and Producer at Rolling Boulder Films, LLC

“Business will always, and still does come down to people knowing people, trusting people, collaborating with people. I think social networking platforms has made things considerably easier to break the ice, but when it comes to closing the deal, its always so much of a nicer way to do business sitting across from someone. Bottom line really: You want to do business with people you trust and like.”

Gary Copher, Regional Leader at Primerica Financial Services

“I may be able to start the relationship building process on a social media site, but rest assured, a client is not going to sign over their multi million dollar investment portfolio to me based on a few Facebook chats, no matter how much they like me. … I find social media to be a valuable tool in the networking process.”

Khoushik K, Business Development Executive at UnitForce Technologies

“Social or Professional networking sites help you to extend your reach & eliminates the geographical barriers. …it cannot replace the trust & comfort that is intrinsically built in case of a Face-to-Face meet because humans are tuned to trust / believe a person he/she has met in-person.”

Bright Ibeawuchi, Director at Business Aviation Network

“Social networks in their current state will not replace face to face communications. Not even the most sophisticated video conference system can match the tactical feel of a handshake and eye to eye contact.”

Nazmi Sankary, Regional Marketing Manager at Hadid International Services

“I believe that social media has affected our life patterns a lot but it can’t replace face to face contact at all specially for who prefers to read others by looking at thier eyes!”

Social Media as a Complement to Face to Face

Rusty Keighron, Insurance Practice Leader at Docstar

“FB also enhances FTF communication. Just returned from a trade show where there were folks I needed to see who are FB friends but weren’t in the exhibit hall. By sending them FB reminders that I was there, I was able to see them and make a FTF contact that would otherwise have been left to chance (or not have happened at all).”

Anthony Kirlew, Social Meadia Marketing Strategist, Author, Speaker

“The role of Social Media as a marketing tool is to increase the company’s outreach and brand awareness. It is a complement to an online marketing strategy, but its goal is to make a connection with the intention of moving to an offline engagement where business can be conducted.”

Pawel Rzeczkowski, Experienced Finance Professional

“Social networking will not replace the need for personal contact but it will augment it resulting in lower business travel frequency. Once the contact is established you will need less face to face contact to sustain the relationship. But at the same time you will be able to manage more contacts. Not sure if it will be net a gain or loss or wash on travel.”

Charlie Davenport, Senior Recruiter at Dampier Recruiting Associates

“Social media lets us know when the person landed, when they got off the plane, when they were approaching the baggage claim, when they left the rest room, when they first saw their bag, when they first realized it wasn’t their bag, when the got done lol’ing, and on and on.. but as noted in the article linked to this discussion, social media will never replace the face to face.”

Mercedes Soria, Development Channel Manager at Deloitte

“Completely agree, social media has replaced much face-to-face communication but it is not the end-all of face-to-face meetings. People are still people and 80% of communication is body language which gets lost in social media types of communication. … Social media has its place specially for brand awareness, marketing but it needs to be proceeded by well thought planning efforts. It is just one more tool out there for Marketing (yourself or your business) and it should be treated as such.”

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Delta Air Lines’ recent acquisition of North Carolina-based Segrave Aviation speaks volumes about the airline’s recognition that private aviation / business aviation is a viable part of the air transportation system in the United States.

At a time when major air carriers are reducing capacity, pulling out of small markets, and scrapping to make a profit (which for the most part has not happened in a long time), Delta is doubling the size of its corporate jet charter subsidiary Delta Air Elite.

These guys are on to something.

Maybe they see the real value of a system where General Aviation plays a role that compliments the Air Mass Transit System as opposed to viewing us as the enemy?  More and more, airlines seem to be consolidating into route structures that serve the high-density traffic lanes between major US cities on domestic routes and between major US cities and major centers of commerce worldwide on international routes.

Can General Aviation serve as a feeder to the airlines much like their subsidiary and code-sharing commuter airline partners have done over the past 20 years?

General Aviation has the flexibility to move with the markets of demand much easier than the airlines do. Flights can be added at the spur of the moment as demand changes with travel seasons, or even events such as conferences and conventions where thousands of people move to a city for a three day event.

And we all know, for sure, that General Aviation delivers a much more stress free and efficient travel experience than the airlines have delivered so far.  

So maybe the mantra should be if you can’t beat them out of business, buy them?

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If you have time to spare go by air!

A February 4 article by Scott McCartney in the Wall Street Journal discusses the airlines’ changes in their published schedule.  It seems that over the past years the jets have slowed down, or at least it looks that way if you are looking at scheduled departure and arrival times as published.

The title of his article is ‘Why a Six Hour Flight Now Takes Seven” and here are a few excerpts:

For some airlines, longer scheduled times for flights reflects the reality of inefficiency in the nation’s air travel system, which often can’t handle the volume of planes without delay, especially when bad weather hits. For others, lengthening scheduled arrival times boosts on-time rankings charted by the Department of Transportation: Those numbers can have a real effect on public perception. And in some cases, block times have grown simply because airlines have been making so many schedule changes as they have reduced capacity over the past two years. Flights that took off without a wait can now end up stuck waiting behind a line of jets because departure times have been changed.

Airlines say they have to build in delays so schedules reflect reality, especially at congested airports in the Northeast and at big, crowded hub airports. Actual flight performance has gotten more unpredictable because of problems in the air-traffic control system. In addition, planes are flying about 2% slower to save fuel costs, airlines say. Also, carriers have switched many flights to smaller regional jets, which don’t fly as fast as bigger planes and can also force planes behind them to slow down. Some airlines have bunched up schedules at big airports to increase connecting opportunities, adding to congestion at peak hours.

And block time is only the time that you are spending inside the aircraft, either sitting at the gate, sitting at the end of the runway in line for take-off, flying, holding for landing, and then sitting on the tarmac waiting for a gate to be open and, :.

What about the time driving to the airport, finding parking, taking the shuttle bus to the terminal, in the queue for checking bags and security screening, and then sitting in one of those really comfy rows of seating at the gate because you got there early enough to make sure the previous three steps in the process did not cause you to miss your flight?

All of this process of airline travel kills time. Is time savings not the reason we travel by air? Or is it the sheer pleasure of the experience?

It seems to me that everything the airlines are doing is counter to the purpose or intent of why people fly in the first place.

Have you ever calculated the real time you spend traveling on an airline to get somewhere?  What I mean by the real time is the time starting when you leave your house or office and ending when you arrive at your ultimate destination (not the airport unless that is where you are meeting).

On a 600 mile trip you might find you are not even averaging 100 miles per hour.

If you have a few minutes run the time and actual distance covered on a trip you have done.  I would be interested in knowing what you find out.

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Even before the deadly 7.0 earthquake, Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries, was filled with orphans; estimated at 380,000 children living in orphanages or group homes. Now, the number is so huge, officials for the United Nations Fund cannot even give an accurate number, only to say that tens of thousand more children have been left without any family at all.

I recently read a story where a child was outside playing soccer in Port-au-Prince when his home pancaked in the devastating earthquake and killed his parents and five sisters.  He now sleeps with thousands in a Port-au-Prince park and is forced to search for food in rubble, and find anything he may be able to sell so that he can survive. 

There is horrific story after story about these suffering children.  But I have also witnessed the outpouring of aid that people from all over the world have given to the people and country of Haiti.  It is no wonder my heart strings have been tugged at frequently since the disaster struck Haiti.

 I was recently sent a link to a story of a Nashville businessman and aviator (who also happens to be Corporate Flight Management’s Attorney, and friend), Philip North who, along with friend Don Bruce, flew to Haiti to pick up a group of Haitian orphans, to bring them back to their new home in America.  They have all been adopted by American families. 

It was a mission that was unexpected, as Philip and Don had partnered up with Agape Flight to fly doctors and supplies into Port-au-Prince.  But what they ended up doing was flying five unaccompanied, and scared children to south Florida. 

The below link is a video from Channel 5 news which tells the story of these generous aviators giving without asking anything in return.  Helping those in need, because they can.  Just try and not get goose bumps when you hear about Philip singing “Amazing Grace” to the five scared children in the back of that plane!

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/category.asp?C=125220&clipId=4494058&topVideoCatNo=85299&autoStart=true

Bravo to all of the amazing and giving people, working hard to bring relief to the devastation.  God knows these beautiful and helpless children need our help.

To donate to the children of Haiti, visit:  http://hopeforhaitischildren.org/

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I recently had the opportunity to be part of an interview with Fleet Aviation executives Doug Brennan (CEO) and Ellen Sluder (Director of Marketing) about how, in a murky aviation market, they are successfully growing their aircraft charter business.

The business model behind this White Plains, New York, based company is simply offering complete travel solutions to the customer that is price competitive, safe, comfortable, convenient and environmentally friendly.  It’s what all of the aviation industry wish to do.  These guys have a solid history of success since 2005 and are offering a better solution to the business traveler.

So who is Fleet Aviation?  And what is their secret?  Well, it’s not really a secret at all.  Fleet Aviation provides on-demand charter service in small aircraft anywhere within 500 miles of the Greater New York City and Boston areas.   At Plane Conversations, from time to time we like to compare the different experience of riding on a corporate or private jet, with the experience of travelling on the airlines.  It’s our business, and we love to share with the market what a wonderful experience flying private is.  Well, the small aircraft offers the same experience.  Being a student pilot and flying in a two-seat Cessna 152 with less than desirable elbow room, I can fully appreciate the comfort level of flying in a four or six seat aircraft; whether it has one engine or two.  And these aircraft are not only comfortable and modern, but they are also fun, safe, and can get into any of the 5000 small airports in the US.  Only 500 are available to the airlines.  So it’s easy to figure out the time and cost advantage of chartering a single-engine aircraft. 

But what is the experience like?  Ellen Sluder says, “The experience of flying Fleet starts well before you arrive at the airport for your trip. You can either reserve online or call our concierge service. Once you have confirmed, you get a personalized itinerary that includes the name and phone number of your pilot. Should there be any concerns or questions, you can always call us or the pilot directly.  When it is time for the trip, you can drive right out onto the tarmac and your car will be valet parked and washed for your return. You step out of your car, hand your pilot your bags, climb right into the plane and can be taxiing in 5 minutes. Skip the crowds, lines and connections associated with major airlines. And, because you are flying private, we are completely on your schedule – if you arrive a few minutes late, we simply wait for you.”

Fleet Aviation keeps a clear business focus on regional travelers and aiming to attract a new market -those who might not have ever thought about aircraft charter.

Face to face is important for Fleet Aviation, but the social media trend has clearly started to penetrate the aviation industry.  “I fully believe that Social Media should be about getting feedback and creating a discussion.  ”Engaging” in the truest sense of the word”,Ellen says. ”Ultimately, I’d love to get to the point where I’m generating hundreds of hits and interactions – driving people to our website and getting actionable feedback.  But for now, the focus is really twofold: to provide fodder for folks who are doing due-diligence on Fleet Aviation, and use it as a tool for education.  We want to challenge the conventional thinking on regional travel. I read upwards of 30 blogs a day, and sift through to find topics I think would resonate and be relevant to regional travelers and then put the private aviation spin on it. Sometimes it’s about highlighting destinations that are best reached through private flying, sometimes it’s commentary on the current system”. 

To visit the great folks at Fleet Aviation, go to:  www.flyfleet.com

“With Fleet, it’s smooth, simple and straightforward, from booking to landing.”

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(Author’s note: The following is meant to engage new ideas rather than promote any specific scheme or ideology)

Given the events of the last few months weeks, it’s time to for the aviation industry to get serious with Social Media. This article demonstrates how an alternate currency can be used to severely reduce or eliminate terrorist risk in commercial aviation. Think I’m kidding, read on.

Obviously an airline will not let you board an airplane if you don’t have the financial currency sufficient to buy ticket. Why should an airline let you board an airplane if you do not have social currency sufficient to fulfill your social obligations while in the air?

People with extreme social currency deficiencies are routinely stripped of their rights by a jury of peers and isolated from society for a period of time (where they would not board an airplane anyway). While there are many systems in place to manage the various degrees of social currency deficiency, none appear to be able to identify a terrorist without also violating the rights of non-terrorists.

Human Writes

However, many people are willing to share information about themselves to associates with whom an economic benefit is shared or exchanged. This happens a billion times per week on Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter – why not among fellow passengers? After all everyone is already connected by six degrees.

What would a terrorist’s Facebook profile say about them? Do they have a lot of referrals on Linkedin? Do they post great work on Flikr? Is their community orchestra featured on My Space? Are their posts popular on twitter?

Should a social currency credit score become imperative to social transactions as the financial credit score is for financial transactions?

Banks and Insurance companies already rely on a highly invasive “Credit Score” to establish financial risk profile as a means of protecting themselves and their other clients. Why wouldn’t an airline use a social credit score to establish a social risk profile as a means of protecting themselves and the lives of their other clients?

Ruse and lose

Sure, the bad guys can adapt to social media as they have adapted to all other measures. The problem is that the greater the size and scope of their social media ruse, the more difficult it is to maintain the ruse. A threshold score could be set to nearly eliminate this possibility. Those folks can then simply opt into the full body scan.

The Paradigm Shift

As the saying goes, the attacker needs to be successful only once, while the defender needs to be successful every time. The concept of a Social media credit score flips this paradigm on it’s head. The attacker’s social credit score needs to be successful every time. The defender needs to be successful only once.

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When it comes to air travel today, no one enjoys it.

Is There A Better Way?

Watch the video below and give this alternative some thought the next time you think about using a commercial airline. This alternative would have enabled me to go to New York City and back within the same day.  Total travel time would have been roughly five hours instead of 18.  And it would have cost me less!

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• The United States has the safest air transportation system in the world. Flying in aircraft, whether large airliners or small private propeller aircraft, gets safer each year. The overwhelming majority of us in this business work increase levels of safety every day not only becuase it’s good for business, but also because we genuinely care about safety
• Throughout the years of working with the FAA I have had the privilege of working with many dedicated and caring people who take their jobs seriously and want to make the industry safer.

Now that we have the positives out there let’s talk about the problems.

As in any federal government agency, there is a level of bureaucracy in the FAA that creates inefficiency. Inefficiency in an organization happens when people are put into positions of leadership for any reason other than their ability to effectively lead. In business, eventually the economic pressure of the market weeds out the inefficiency, one way or another. In government, the inefficiency is often rewarded and propagated. Now go to the top of the organization where the leader is appointed by the politician who knows nothing about the organization. And the politicians are criticizing the corporate board structure and its lack of oversight in business?  Mix it all up with a little congressional (politicized) oversight from more people who don’t really understand the issues and you get a dysfunctional organization.

In business, dysfunctional organizations fail, even when they have really good people trying hard to ensure success. They fail not because of the good, caring and competent people showing up every day working hard; they fail because of incompetent leadership.

On the other hand, dysfunctional government organizations don’t fail. They just keep going (and going and going). And maybe at some point the organization gets lucky and a leader is inserted who makes incremental change for the good of the organization.

Our beloved FAA is no different than any other federal regulatory agency. Many good people showing up every day trying to do the right things and a few bad people who don’t do the right things.

In spite of this dysfunctional regulatory system, our industry gets safer every year. Why? Because of those good people in the agency who do care,  and the aviation professionals on our side who really care about the lives of those who trust us and get in back of our airplanes every day.

There is no simple solution that will come out of a congressional hearing (i.e. political rhetoric) on this. The solution is in the constant and constructive conversations between the industry and those entrusted with oversight.

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Part 4 in a Series on Social Media and Business Aviation: Written In Collaboration with Jay Deragon

Over the past few weeks I have posted several articles on social media – the new method of communicating to the market. I am an admitted novice in the world of social media and technology, but my eyes are starting to open to the possibilities created when social technology and business aviation collide.

We have discussed the opportunity social media presents to fight the war the airlines have declared on general aviation by getting our message out in an unfiltered way.  We have also discussed social media as a means to increase our visibility to the market as well as to communicate with that market in order to innovate and better meet its needs on its own terms. All of these are game changing strategies.

So now I want to ask some what ifs!

What if there was a social grid or network built for the purpose of becoming the e-marketplace for private and business aviation travel solutions? What if this social network allowed, encouraged and facilitated the market to come together to aggregate a demand that is currently outside of the supply that  traditional channels of distribution make available to the market?

What if the market could then go to the suppliers of private aviation and request trips or routes of travel where individual travelers could buy seats, filling the aircraft, driving the price down?  Maybe the price would still not be as low as mass transit airline travel, but still would be much lower than today’s pricing of private aircraft flights.

What if travelers could input their travel profiles into the social grid in such a way as to speak to the entire market and to form affinities around common travel patterns? Would travelers be willing to share their travel  information with the market in a profile, sharing where they go, when and how often? Would travelers talk to each other about their travel needs if those conversations led to more new, innovative and efficient travel solutions than have ever existed before?

What if all air charter providers and small scheduled airlines (niche airlines) could input supply into the grid, including empty legs?  What if on-demand charters were quoted instantly so that the market had real time visibility to the solutions they need? What if all of these suppliers could participate on a level playing field and in a system that costs the users only when a transaction takes place?

What if the other parts of the business travel supply chain were able to participate as well? Would the hotels, resorts, rental car and limousine services have an interest in participating in the grid?

What if private aviation operators could collaborate to create a bigger market?  What if we woke up someday and realized that we’ve been monopolized by technology controlled by some organization that isn’t even in our business? What if we all created a new collective “social grid” in which the general market of travelers realized they could use our system rather than the old commercial system?

What if we could collectively reinvent ourselves as an industry with the aim of serving the larger market? What would be required? Who would agree to collaborate? Who would agree that if we don’t, someone else will?  And we’ll all lose when we should have been leading all along?

If we could simply start to build a dialog around all of these questions what could we do? Should we do it? If not, then let’s not even try to answer these questions.  Let’s keep doing what we’ve been doing. Einstein once said “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”  What happens if we all decide to be sane?

If you think we need to do something else then join me and invite others to join us in creating a new future where we can all win.

Who will jump into the dialog? Who will invite others to do so as well? Is there anyone out there?

Where are the answers to all of these “what ifs”? Could they be out there in the market of conversations that could create the new system that creates the answers?

The answers are out there in the minds of people wanting to create a new future. Are you one of them?

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In previous posts I have  discussed the safety aspects of selecting an aviation services company when you want to charter a private jet.  Once you have satisfied any questions regarding the safety practices of the operator(s) you might do business with, the next step is to look at the available aircraft they have to offer. If you have a lot of choices then you want to pick the aircraft that best fits the mission requirements for the trip you are planning. Operators can give you the capabilities of their aircraft including seating configuration, non-stop range, speed, cabin size and amenities on board. They will also readily give you prices on your trip in each aircraft with flight times so you can easily compare the different options. Good operators are glad to talk with you and provide information with no strings attached.

If price is a factor, then you want to choose the aircraft that can do the mission most economically. Are you willing to ride in a turbo-prop aircraft? We use the term “private jet” a lot but our industry also offers safe, reliable and comfortable service in aircraft powered by turbine engines with propellers. Turbo-prop aircraft burn less fuel than most of their jet counterparts and, in most cases, cost less to maintain. This translates to lower rates to you on many trips.  Propeller aircraft are slower than jet aircraft; so, the distance of your trip will determine which is most cost effective.  For instance, if you are travelling from Santa Barbara to San Diego with four passengers, a King Air will run that one hour trip for you in a both cost and time efficient manner.  However, if you want take those same four passengers from Santa Barbara to Tacoma, the King Air will take three hours 45 minutes; so, you  might want to look at a jet.  The difference in speed makes up for the difference in hourly rate; so, for operators who charge by the flight hour rather than by the mile (and most operators do), the jet is going to be the most cost effective aircraft for the trip.

If you can’t get used to the idea that you can ride on an aircraft with propellers then there are still many jet options that can get you there efficiently. We will talk more in the future about the differences between jet and turbo-prop aircraft.

Even between jet aircraft there are things to consider when choosing the right one for your trip.  What is the seating configuration?  Is the lavatory enclosed?  Is there enough baggage space?  If you wanted a light jet for an eight passenger trip from St. Louis to Tulsa, you could use a Lear 35.  The aircraft has four individual seats, a seat on the lavatory and a three-person divan, which is a little snug, but for a flight of just over an hour, it could be done.  The Citation V aircraft is a little slower than the Lear, but also a good light jet choice.  I would comfortably recommend either aircraft for that trip.  However, if you took those same eight passengers from St. Louis to Las Vegas, I would recommend the Citation over the Lear.  The Lear is faster, but the Citation has individual seats, making the three and a half hour flight more comfortable.  Your charter operator will be happy to give you the advantages and disadvantages of the aircraft they have available.

If you have the time, and have not already made a visit to the airport, go take a look at the aircraft you might be using. Your prospective operator will gladly show you their aircraft and give you the tour. I have yet to meet a prospective client who did not enjoy visiting us at the airport and looking at aircraft. Hop aboard and sit in the seat you will be riding in. Get a feel for what it would be like on a trip.

Armed with a price comparison of different aircraft on specific trips and a first-hand feel for what the aircraft looks and feels like in the cabin, you are ready to go flying.

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