“What business aviation does is give managers additional flexibility in meeting the demands of their sched-ule. My schedule is our client’s and our project’s. I wish I were in a job where I planned where I wanted to go, when I wanted to do it. But that’s frankly not the case. My schedule is generally dictated by customers who I need to see, projects I need to visit, so I have to remain pretty flexible.
I use our aircraft, or the airlines, or our aircraft and the airlines. Whatever works.”
For Manning, the business aircraft versus airline decision is made based upon cost, the number of passengers involved, the urgency of the trip and the comparative time it’s going to take to get to the final destination. “It’s usually a quick decision, driven more by the location, schedule and the num-bers involved in the meeting rather than any complex cost analysis. It’s practicalities,” he says.
Which is why, sometimes, company aircraft become small spokes in a larger hub-and-spoke system.
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The use of business aircraft to augment airline travel is equally common at both ends of a trip, for employees and customers.
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Connections to international airline flights are particularly common, as are connecting to long airline flights from communities without any scheduled airline service.
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Business aircraft can facilitate hub flexibility – the ability to choose among several airline hubs to secure the most efficient schedule for the passengers.
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Airline flights that are cancelled, booked or otherwise unavailable can trigger the use of business aircraft to enable a connection.
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Business aircraft can rescue passengers who miss airline connections.
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Long layovers can trigger business aircraft use, as can a schedule emergency.
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Helicopters are frequent connection-makers, particularly in areas of high population density.
Management Teams
ABit of Sam’s Legacy
It’s just after dawn at the Rogers, Arkansas, airport. Inside, the passen-ger lounge (replete with cinder block walls, Sam’s Choice! soda machines and linoleum floors) is bustling with merchandising experts, buyers and financial analysts holding cups of coffee in one hand with overnight bags and sales reports in the other. All have red and white company ID cards hang-ing from their necks. And in case any-one forgets why they’re there at that hour, a plastic-numbered sign high on one wall reminds them of the previous day’s stock price.
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