more than just making widgets or billing hours. is a unique one.
You might expect a big company like Ford to have an airplane or two, and you’d be right. Henry Ford realized the value of business aviation back in the 20s when the company purchased its first airplane. Since then, Ford’s fleet has flown more than two million flight hours and 11 million passengers.
Today, Ford operates many air-craft for many missions. Among them, two Ford airliners fly shuttle service between company facilities throughout the Midwest. Still others carry com-pany management teams to meetings – a fairly typical use, but sometimes with a twist. Although four senior
Founded in 1981 by two cancer survivors who personally understood patient travel needs and saw opportunity in the empty seats on business aircraft flights, the Corporate Angel Network (known as “CAN”) has since flown more than 11,500 patient flights via more than 550 companies involved in the program.
The process works like this: Participating companies relay the itineraries of aircraft with available seats to CAN’s New York headquarters where – using proprietary software aptly named “Matchmaker” – schedules are compared against patient travel requests. All requests go directly to CAN, which handles all screening and logistics, largely eliminating workload for the participating company.
Once there’s a schedule match and arrangements are made, the patient simply shows up at the airport like any other passenger. CAN passengers, who cannot have any inflight medical needs, typically travel with a compan-ion. And apart from courteous hellos upon arrival and best wishes upon departure, patient interaction with the company’s “regular” passengers is minimal – both carry dissimilar preoccupations, which engender mutual respect.
So, what’s in it for Ford? In an ordinary business sense, perhaps very little. Surprisingly, most CAN partici-pants (Ford included) shun publicity for their efforts. But in a greater sense, Ford the company, and Ford the family, does a good deed of immense value for no other reason than it’s the right thing to do.
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