Plane Conversations

Social Flights is featuring this property sharing opportunity from AirBnB.com and it’s owner to present a unique way to visit the Olympic Peninsula and the Olympic National Park in the State of Washington. This is the first time we’ve done this because it is a great way to demonstrate the versatility of Private Social Travel.

Cinnamon Bear Cabin is walking distance to the (semi) private and uncrowded Lake Cushman Golf Course and within a few miles of three amazing bodies of water; Lake Cushman, Lake Kokanee, and the Hood Canal (actually a Fjord remnant of the ice ages).  Hood Canal is known for crystal clear saltwater scuba diving, crabbing, clam digging and seasonal salmon fishing.  Lake Cushman is a 4000 acre  glacier fed lake at the foot of 7000 ft mount Washington in the Olympic Range.  Lake Kokanee sits below the Lake Cushman dam and offers a serene  trout fishing experience through its meandering canyons.

The nearest commercial airport is 2 hours away, but Social Flights can bring you and your group directly into Sanderson Field in a private aircraft from anywhere in the US, less than 15 minutes from this very special location where you will pick up your car, keys, and license for fun and adventure.

Olympic National Park is comprised of nearly 1 million acres of the Olympic Mountain range. The Olympics literally halted the glaciers that carved the surrounding geography many thousands of years ago and are now home to unique species and wildlife ecosystems.  The ONP is one of the last remaining temperate rain forests in the World with ancient old growth featuring trees of astonishing size.  Yes we all know of the great sequoias of California, but Imagine cedars, douglas firs, sitka spruce, and hemlock trees 15 ft in diameter and up to 300 feet tall.

Indian heritage is alive and dominant in several areas offering cultural and recreational opportunities found nowhere else.  You can also visit Lake Quinault, The Western shores, and many hot spring locations all easily accessible from Cinnamon Bear Cabin.  In the Northern portion of ONP, you’ll find crystal clear Crescent Lake - a body of water so rare and so old that it’s the home of some species of fishes that exist nowhere else on Earth. Crescent Lake is called a “National Treasure” with 5 stars on TripAdvisor.com

Hiking, camping, Kayaking, festivals, casinos, local artisans, scuba diving, golfing, fishing, sky diving, are all abundant in the Olympic Peninsula.  What you will not find are crowds, tourist traps, tourist crime, pollution, blight, traffic, and harassment.  The Olympic Peninsula has one of the lowest population densities in the US. Local prices are local prices and not tourist prices.  Cinnamon Bear Cabin is perfect for people who want to experience the best of the Pacific Northwest without needing a vacation from their vacation afterwards.

The choice is yours, you can navigate the Gauntlet of the travel industry whose sole purpose is to drive revenue, add fees, sell advertising impressions, waste your time, and reach into your wallet at every fork and bend  on the roads most traveled. Or, you can go for a private experience with all the cherished memories that you expect for your time and money at a cost that is comparable to anything that the commercial travel “processing” industry has to offer. It’s about a colors of time for your money, not the colors of money for your time. You live once, make it count

National Public Radio recently aired 2 very interesting segments on the airline industry.  The first segment cited companies leaving small cities because of poor air transportation service. The second segment cited an interesting statistic; all of the airlines that existed before the deregulation act of 1978 have gone bankrupt.

But wait, wasn’t airline deregulation supposed to be good for the airlines?  Wasn’t it supposed to spawn innovation and drive economies of scale?  Wasn’t it supposed to increase choices for the airline passenger?

Well, at least one of these impacts is true; deregulation spawned innovation – although probably not the way it was predicted in 1978.  Today, new technologies are appearing everywhere from new forms of social organization to faster and smarter aircraft systems.   This article features a very interesting aircraft sector called the personal sport jet.  While I do not know enough about their actual business model, it would appear that they are aiming where the airlines and major manufacturers simply cannot reach.

With an operating cost of $400 per hour instead of $1200-$2000 per hour in this class, the excel sportjet can deliver a 2 hour jet flight performance in a “regionalization” market.  Social media trends show us that people are connected in shorter distances and far more diverse locations than the hub and spoke system can accomodate.

This aircraft is small, lightweight, and fast.  It uses a single jet engine and flies at a lower altitude reducing pressurization forces and associated cost. The Sport Jet II carries 4 people and employs extensive use of composites in addition to simplified pilot qualification requirements.

Clayton Christensen’s book “The Innovator’s Dilemma” cites numerous now classic examples of how industries are threatened by simple upstarts that deliver what the customer wants at a price they can afford without the complexity and “over-performance” burden that mainstream players evolve into.

While the aviation business is very complicated, it is truly a pleasure to witness new products and innovations that come to market under the radar of the big players.  We hope that they grow to have an impact on the industry.  After all, that is what Social Flights is all about.

Bravo Sport Jet II, Bravo. 

When a community comes together around a common cause, real change can happen. In the small town of Charleston, West Virginia , everyone came together to support their community airport and created a big change.

According to a recent article in The State Journal by Ann Ali (http://www.statejournal.com/story/16333075/partnerships-community-focus-keep-north-central-air-fares-low)

Fares at the North Central West Virginia Airport in Clarksburg went down this year, from $539.02 in 2010 to $505.11 in 2011. Its comparable airports raised their fares, along with every other airport in West Virginia. Average domestic air fares went up 8.5 percent nationwide from 2010 to 2011, according to numbers from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, going from $341 in the second quarter of 2010 to $370 in the second quarter of 2011.

“We want the public to see the good deals that are out there,” Rock said. “We’re trying to provide good service to our community and take ownership of our airport. The best way is to educate them about what we have, and by doing that, we’re able to get people through the doors.”

Rock said the public thought the local airport’s prices were high, but his staff members has gone to great measure this year to do their own research to point out deals.

“We want regional parity, and our partners at Pinnacle (Airlines), we push them on that,” Rock said. “And they agreed and worked with us on that.”

Rock said his goal is to get members of the community to look to North Central West Virginia Airport when planning trips, rather than automatically booking flights from Pittsburgh or other nearby larger airports.

“We want people to at least check us out and see if we fit their budgets and schedules,” Rock said. “And I think people have done that, and we’re very thankful.”

Rock said his industry has a lot of volatility, such as fuel prices, but air travel remains competitive.

“We ask everybody to support their local airports,” he said.

We want all of the local communities out there to look at the problems the current air system and start to think local. Just because the big carriers are pulling out of your area, forcing you to drive 2 hours to the nearest airport to find a viable option doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. Come together with those you live with and collectively make a better option for everyone.

With Social Flights Community Air Service Program, you will be able to create your own charter airline using the power of on-demand jets service and social media. The revolution starts with you.

An airplane moves people and connects them with other people and things.

The internet connects people and moves things.

Airplane operators know that using aircraft can be an expensive proposition. Use of the internet is free. If you combined something expensive with something free what happens?

Do Private Jet Operators Understand The Implications?

There has been a saying in the private jet business: If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it. People who use private jets generally haven’t hunted for the best prices because it’s a status thing. These two statements used to be foundational truths in the private aviation business. But things are changing.

There are a finite number of wealthy people and/or corporations who desire to own or use a private jet regardless of the cost. Most charter operators have chased all the wealthy people for a sale so operators end up chasing the same customer over and over. Even the wealthy are feeling the economic pitch and shareholders are questioning the cost of and need for private aircraft.  Now charter operators are being pressured to justify and lower their cost. Cost has become transparent thanks to the internet.  Yet most operators do not fully understand the implications of transparency and social technology on old business models and methods.

What Are The Implications?

Business travelers and affluent individuals are becoming disenchanted with commercial flights, crowded airports, flight delays, and inconvenient schedules. These travelers are looking for alternatives to save time and reduce the hassles of commercial air travel. So they go to the internet to examine private aviation alternatives. What do they find and see?  At most, Web.1.0!

When you do a search for “private jets” or “private aviation” what comes up on the first page are listings of jet brokers (those that don’t operate or own any jets). You also see lots of references to “cost per hour, fractional jets and a host of other terms that are foreign to buyers”.

So let’s say someone decides to click on any of the links. They end up on a static web page with pretty pictures of expensive jets and self- proclaimed accolades of how great this company is then an 800 number to call for a quote.

So if someone looking for an alternative to commercial air travel hasn’t already lost interest in their search then the next step is to actually make a call. Then someone answers the call and begins asking questions to the caller of which the caller has no idea what they are talking about. Not wanting to sound stupid the caller fakes their way through the dialog expecting to get a quote at the end of the call. Instead the broker/operator says “can I have your email or number so I can get back to you?”

If the buyer agrees it then takes the broker/operator at least half a dozen phone calls, faxes, or emails, before you can get a charter estimate which may or may not be correct. Then the operator/broker emails you the quote of which has so many disclaimers and its format doesn’t make any sense to the buyer. All this, and you have not boarded the plane yet.   Besides that all he buyer wanted to know is what is my seat cost and what I get for it.

By now operators are reading this saying “You don’t understand our business model, we don’t sell seats we sell jets”.  To which I would say “I know but every jet has a certain number of seats and the total cost is represented by a cost per seat, full or not.”

Broken Business Models

According to a Forrester’s recent report, there are about 53.8 Million socially engaged eBusiness travelers in the United States alone. A new market opportunity for private aviation. It’s all about the passenger – they have the money.

Certainly not all 53.8 million business travelers would consider private aviation as an alternative travel option. But let’s say 1% would which means 53,000 potentially new customers.

The private aviation industry couldn’t imagine having 53 thousand new customers because their mindsets are frozen in old business models and expensive archaic operating processes.  Today’s charter revenues barely cover the aircraft management and operational costs, and almost never reach levels necessary to cover an aircraft’s cost of ownership. At the same time in the charter world an aircraft flies empty 40% to 60% of the time.  What a waste!

It is time for a revolution in innovative private aviation business models if the industry wants to capture the significant growth opportunity fueled by demand from disgruntled business travelers looking for viable alternatives.

Old mindsets are saying “You don’t understand how we operate”. My response is “You don’t understand how to change the way you operate”.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson “Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you‘re saying.”

Stay tuned for “What Would Jet 3.0 Look Like?”

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Alfie Kohn, author of  No Contest:The Case Against Competition writes:

Noncooperative approaches . . . almost always involve duplication of effort, since someone working independently must spend time and skills on problems that already have been encountered and overcome by someone else.

Sound familiar?  Look around and in almost every industry you see competitors beating each other into the ground while reducing the end value to the customer and increasing cost.

Julie Browser, of IBM writes “The traditional concept of business as a “winner takes all” contest is giving way to a realization that in the networked economy, companies must both co-operate and compete. Termed “co-opetition,” this new perspective requires companies to create business strategies that capitalize on relationships in order to create maximum value in the marketplace.

“Co-opetition”– a model in which a network of stakeholders co-operate and compete to create maximum value — is one of the most important business perspectives of recent years. Internet and mobile technologies have made it even more necessary for companies to both co-operate and compete, by enabling relationships through information sharing as well as integrating and streamlining processes.

In today’s networked economy, co-opetition is a powerful means of identifying new market opportunities and developing business strategy.

Take the private aviation industry.  Everyday thousands of private jets fly empty. Those who charter jets pay the round trip cost of a jet whether they use it round trip or not.  The process creates what is known as “empty legs”. Empty legs are usually one way trips flying empty and yet already paid for by somebody.  Most Private operators try and sell the empty leg at full charter prices and thus few ever sell an empty leg.  Empty legs represent seats unused leaving revenue in the air.

What if these private jet operators shared all their empty legs with the public and sold seats on those legs?  By cooperating they would expand their markets, create value for consumers and generate more revenue.  But many won’t do that because they view themselves as competing with each other rather than cooperating.  In the meantime revenue is lost to the air. In this case they end up doing less alone rather than more together.

Business is both competition and co-operation

In the past, people saw business as a “winner takes all” or “zero-sum” game. The networked economy moves away from these purely competitive plays to recognize cooperative relationships that leverage value created by those in the network. Competition — the other aspect of co-opetition — occurs after businesses have created new value in the market and expand the value proposition through quality and creativity.

Social Flights business model is about creating cooperation with private jet operators with the aim of expanding the market and creating new value for all parties involved. For it to work the suppliers must cooperate in order to gain increased market share through new value offered to travelers who in turn create new revenue.

So, will you consider cooperating?

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There’s an old song from the World War II generation that says, “Wishing will make it so…”.  Buddy DeSylva’s lyrics speak of hope, optimism, and belief.  Yet wishing can’t give you more hours in a day, or more productivity while travelling, or access to places difficult to reach.

Flying can make it so.

That being said, we need to tell our stories, ways that aviation assists us daily in carrying on our various activities and work.  This is partially because we gain strength and synergy when we see that there are others much like us who know and understand the real benefit of flying.  This doesn’t have to be a $20million dollar corporate jet.  It can be as simple as a Diamond DA-40.  It’s the story of the DA-40 that I want to pass on to you today.

Last week our company’s CEO, VP of Sales, and I took a DA-40 to visit a customer in Jonesboro, AR.  We then had a pop-up visit with a lead in Little Rock, AR.  We then lunched in Tunica, MS on our way home (no gambling, just food) and returned home in time for a local Chamber event in our hangar.

The plane, by business aircraft  norms, was really modest.  In fact, a LearJet pilot teased me as I preflighted my plane parked next to his.  The only refreshments were in the small cooler I packed with green tea, water, and peanut butter crackers on my way to the airport that morning.   The only in-flight entertainment was an iPad.   And the air conditioning?  On this 97+ degree day, it was inoperative.  So we climbed until we felt comfortable at 60 or so degrees at 7,000 feet.

And yet, even in this basic small aircraft we were able to condense over 14 hours of drive time into 6.2 flight hours.  Had we driven we would have certainly been out overnight in order to drive and have time for our meetings.  And while it was a long day, it was an easy day.  So we made our rounds, saw our clients, and returned before dark.

Yes, aircraft are fun.  Some aircraft are luxurious.  Some aircraft are expensive and some are not.  But for the businesses that operate them, they are tools.  Their value in time savings and multiplied productivity is astonishing.

Flying can make it so.

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Ancient writers often referred to two types of time: kairos time and chronos time.  Chronos is linear time and measures things in a sequence.  First this, then that.  Kairos time can be loosely defined as the “right” time or the “opportune” time.  Think of it this way, if you stand over home plate and repeatedly swing a baseball bat in regular intervals, you are participating in a chronos event.  If, however, you wait and swing just as the baseball crosses the plate and make solid contact that sends the ball over the left field fence, you have just participated in a kairos moment.

In your business, which type of time do you prefer?

At Corporate Flight Management our motto is “Time Creates Opportunity”.  But it isn’t just any time.  It is kairos time that creates the opportunity.  Private corporate aviation can create this opportunity for you and your business.  It is about being in the right place at the right time, whether that is closing a critical deal or being home in time for that important family event.

If you’re trying to achieve this with the airlines, you’re stuck in their time –chronos time.  And you know that it is anything but opportune and eminently frustrating.  The good news is that there is an alternative to the norm of airline travel and it is far more available and affordable than you might imagine.

Corporate aviation can help you and your company manage the one resource you simply can’t create more of: time.   When you are able to manage your time and your company’s time more efficiently and cost-effectively, you generate many more kairos moments.

Don’t just swing and hope the bat connects.  Be in the right place, at the right time and swing for the fence.

After all, “Time Creates Opportunity.”

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Maybe this most recent economic crisis wasn’t Armageddon, but I think I saw a Guernsey or two fall somewhere over central Mississippi.

The technology and practices of our industrial world are changing at a mind-boggling pace.  Since we started blogging just over a year ago, the advancements have been staggering, allowing us to begin developing a “wouldn’t-it-be-cool-if” idea into a “isn’t-it-be-incredible-that” reality.  However, if we had kept believing that we already knew it all, we would still be sitting on the porch, whittling, rocking in our chairs and wishing for a brighter reality. 

This Big Idea is a gamble, to be sure; Big Ideas always are.  But, to take our industry into its next great phase, we must accept that, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” We must reject bad managerial habits that keep us trapped in a paradigm which ceased to be profitable years ago.  Aircraft operators are frustrated by rising fuel prices, rising training costs, rising salary and benefits costs.  Equipment is getting older.  Remaining competitive means newer equipment, higher standards and better practices.  Meanwhile, many charter brokers insist on lower pricing, sometimes to the point of incorrectly educating the end-user on the actual cost of operating aircraft to the highest standards.  Sadly, even some operators have been willing to operate below cost just to produce the cash flow.  Reputable operators know what it costs to run a quality operation.  Reputable brokers also know this and are willing to support the operators’ reasonable pricing structures to their own clients.  But I digress.  My point is this: charter operators are frustrated with rates which are not keeping pace with rising costs.  Even with this frustration, we hamstring ourselves by acting conservatively out of fear of making mistakes and by avoiding anything new until it’s better understood.  Neither habit is bad altogether, but the over-application of either of them can be deadly. 

As I discussed the Big Idea with a few operators this week, I was discouraged at the response of many of them.  If the Idea is flawed, I would expect rejection and would hope that someone would point out the fatal flaw; but, that’s not why it was rejected.  Their rejection of the Idea stemmed from “I’ve never thought of that” and “We’ve never done it that way before,” not from the Idea’s merits or demerits.  It’s one thing for an industry to suffer or fail due to catastrophic and unforeseen market changes, but that isn’t the case here.  The market has been changing for at least the last 10 years.  As operators and brokers began aggressively selling one-way trips, introducing our product to a wider audience, the market has been changing.  As the global economy was reeling, our market changed further with more aggressive pricing, air taxi services, and ride sharing.  I often here people lamenting the loss of the “good old days.”  Let’s face it: the good old days weren’t all that great either.  We still struggled.  We still worked on narrow margins.  I don’t think we worked any less hard, but maybe we worked a little less creatively.

While we’ve gotten more creative, it’s time for us to make a big creative leap now.  Sharing flights is a creative way to broaden our market.  Using social technology to share those flights is a creative way to work smarter.  It’s the next Big Idea.

So, yes, 150 years ago, everybody knew man couldn’t fly.  70 years ago, everybody knew that supersonic flight was deadly.  And 15 minutes ago, you knew that shared flights would never work.   Once we accept that we don’t know our market as well as we think we do, we allow ourselves to adapt our industry to the new marketplace.  When we use social innovations like Social Flights to tap into that new marketplace, we broaden our reach.

If we can learn all of that today, embrace the Big Idea of flying socially, imagine what we’ll know tomorrow.

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