EUROCONTROL EBAA IAOPA Yearbook 2009: The Business of Flying(55)

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Yet, at the same time, the airline expe¬rience has not improved for the business traveller. Main airports are frequently crowded, security can be oppressive,
and at times unpleasant, hence more businessmen and women are looking to an alternative.
Brian Humphries, President of the Euro¬pean Business Aviation Association, says: "The driving factors in Business Aviation are time and money, but the aggravation of airline travel is certainly an additional factor. It is not pleasant to have to sur¬render your trouser belt and shuffle along a line in your socks. Every bad experience an executive has on an airline is a good advertisement for Business Aviation."
Many airlines rely on premium passen¬gers for most of their margins and are acutely aware of the effect of BA on their bottom lines. At the moment, first- and business-class travellers are deserting the airlines at a greater rate than economy passengers. British Airways is one of
a number of airlines that have been affected and has reported that while overall passenger numbers fell by 4.8 per
 

 
The future: creation of a single European sky>>
 
cent in September, premium passenger numbers fell by 8.6 per cent.
The contrast between main airports and BA hubs such as Farnborough, outside London, could not be starker. Farnborough, operated by TAG Aviation, is open and uncluttered, and formalities can be pre-arranged or completed in seconds. It is common for a chauffeur to telephone ahead as the car approaches the airport, in order that the pilots can have the aircraft ready by the time the passengers draw up alongside so that they can depart immediately. A group of executives can leave a London office and be in an office in Zurich a little over two hours later, having spent the entire time discussing business — something they would be reticent about doing on an airliner where they could be overheard.
The advent of cost-effective Very Light Jets (VLJs) opens up BA to ever more companies. Humphries points to low-cost jets like the Cessna Mustang and the Embraer Phenom, entry-level aircraft costing under $3 million, which are currently expanding the market. He has reservations, however, about several other VLJs that have come to market
or are in the production stages: "I do not foresee a future in which the sky is obscured by these aircraft, as some people seem to think. The established manufacturers will do well, but I don't expect a revolution. Landing, handling
and navigation charges in Europe reduce the cost-effectiveness of the VLJ."
Nor are business jets the only ben¬eficiaries of changing travel habits. The International Aircraft Owner and Pilot Association (IAOPA) reports that the greatest growth area in all of General Aviation (GA) is what it calls the "no mon¬key business" pilot-owner who has little interest in aviation per se but buys an air¬craft and learns to fl y it solely as a means of business transport. IA0PA's former president, Phil Boyer, says: "This man or woman is interested in the range, speed, comfort and equipment of the aircraft
— not in the thrill and the romance of flying." New aircraft designs, such as the Cirrus and the Diamond, appeal to this
 
group: fast and well-equipped, they can take off and land at more than 5,000 European airports, as opposed to the 500 served by airlines. Travelling privately often means going directly from where you are, to where you want to go.
IAOPA Europe's Senior Vice Presi¬dent, Martin Robinson, says: "Cessna's philosophy is that today's 172 pilot is tomorrow's Citation owner — the man who buys a light piston-single is the jet buyer of the future. So they introduce similar systems to both aircraft to make the transition easier. The 172 now comes with a glass cockpit and naviga¬tion systems similar to those of the jet.
 
Cirrus and Diamond are similar. The businessman-pilot has moved away from handling aircraft to managing systems, in the way the airline pilot did previously.
　
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