The refreshing part of reading the New Yorker is knowing that so many jet and fractional owners are reading it too.
Of that group, it is important to note that private aviation readers can be divided into two groups: Those that made their own money vs. those that were born into it or just had good timing off the bus from Amherst into Goldman Sachs.
The ones that built their own usually have one thing in common - they knew how to get something far below its actual value. This would be the opposite of buying a business jet - which, until now, has been an exercise in paying far more for something than its actual value.
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NO ONE LOVES UPDATING
Our lives have become filled with more usernames and passwords than we can track. It seems that every vendor, marketing venue or tool on the Internet requires us to participate in the confines of a username and password, the necessity to login and then take some of our time. » Continue Reading
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When you commute to work you think: Subway, maybe car, or bus.
Fortunately, some of us get to do it in a G-IV. The problem is that going to a loan application meeting in your G IV can cause the banker angst, especially when you didn’t bring your balance sheet with you. Then there is the uncomfortable question: How do you guys afford the G-IV?
That event marked the day the music died for many private aviation folk, no matter how much No Plane No Gain they had been exposed to.
But, there’s good news.
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The core of Taosim is about balance. I’m not certain of that, but it certainly sounds important and authoritative.
Richard Aboulafia is also important, and depending on the day of the week, he’s even an authority too. When he sent out his December 08 newsletter he touched on one of the most important Yin and Yang elements of aviation evolution and history.
The ROMANTICS vs. The ANALYSTS
While he castigated Vern for the Eclipse debacle and the herd of drunken followers, he was quick to point out how important this seemingly dysfunctional animal is. Were it not for the string of failures that romantics generate (for the occasional victory, like the Learjet, the 747, etc.) there would be little risk taking and innovation in aviation. In other words, the crushing blow to private aviation, air taxi, micro jets, etc. is all part of the larger evolutionary picture.
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As autumn fades and the first flurries have begun to descend on New England, I’ve taken time to reflect on the behavior of honey bees.
Since early spring they have been racing around my yard, buzzing from flower to flower in an orgiastic frenzy of pollination. In fact, they would regularly glut themselves to drunkenness. It was as if they had no idea that fall would come, flowers would shrivel and die, and that nothing would remain to sustain them through the coming winter.
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Whether you believe it or not, the price of your service or product is one of the last things a customer considers.
Any price is fair, so long as value is there.
When the guy jumps into the convertible for a test drive, at what point does he start to get hung up on price? (Usually after he’s decided he has to have it.) Or better yet, ever noticed someone in Home Depot refuse to touch the latest drill until he knows the exact price? Nope… never.
Price comes into the equation at the end of the process, after inspection and desire have played their part, when it comes time to fine tune and make an assessment on the value of the item versus its price tag. Everyone wants the best, it’s just a matter of justifying how valuable it is to them versus what they can actually afford.
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Long ago, in a lifetime far away, I was a chemist. Those who have read my postings in the past will recall that my father was an immigrant factory owner who eventually taught me the trade. Working in plastics, I apprenticed under my dad and by the time he sold the business and went into retirement I had become the laboratory manager and head chemist.
Enter the new guy: young salesman-turned-owner, enthusiastic but inexperienced. This was his first company and he had no industry background.
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The biggest farce floating around the industry, be it airline, air charter or air taxi, is the moaning and wailing regarding Jet-A. Yes, it is expensive. Yes, it has gone up…. ok, it has gone up A LOT.
I hate to say it, but the Jet-A price increase isn’t the reason people are going out of business, or a reason to lay people off. It is an opportunity for the truly transparent to shine.
Fuel (or any cost you have) is not a reason for customers who need you, value you, etc. to ditch you. If you opt for the car instead of the plane, guess what? You’ll still get clobbered on price. Fuel is a very integral part of our lives. It is even raising the cost of my beloved avocados. But I’ll still buy them and look to cut somewhere else, like the avocados draped across the sushi I spend money on like an idiot.
(Hard times tend to be harder on the idiots.)
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The funny thing about being a jet owner, is realizing, despite your best efforts, how little you actually know.
The NBAA recently offered a quick snippet of what winds may be blowing chez FAA. According to an NBAA spokesperson:
“The FAA can and may take enforcement action against an aircraft owner if a flight is conducted illegally,” the spokesman said, “and the FAA can and may take action against an aircraft management company that should be operating flights [even aircraft owner flights] under Part 135, but is not.”
What does this mean to the fractional owner? The jet owner? Historically you’d think “well… not much.” After all, you’ve never been ramp checked, and are not likely to cross paths with the POI your poor pilot calls as infrequently as possible.
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Press releases are probably just a new venue for spam. I hate to say it, but we had a big debate internally about whether to do our own press release on the release of the new site. We opted not to, since a press release is usually something you automatically delete, know is full of lies, and only shows how conventional you really are. Now, if you can get a real newspaper to do a real story on you.. that is a different matter.
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