Without question, private air travel has taken a public relations hit over the last year. Media reports of executives from the Big 3 automakers traveling to Washington via private jets to testify at congressional hearings angered the public and resulted in some corporations selling their jets altogether. Have some executives likely abused the privilege of flying on the company jet? Probably. Still, when it comes to business travel, the case for flying privately vs. commercial, is a strong one.
Properly employed, private air travel is a net plus for many companies. It saves time and increases the productivity of senior executives. Indeed, many business travelers will tell you that they’re more productive on the aircraft than they are in the office. In what is now an incredibly fast paced business world, the ability to react and move quickly is essential. Even the most novice traveler knows that flying on the commercial airlines is a nightmare. Do we really expect that we'll be better off forcing senior executives of troubled companies to spend ten hours flying commercially, sitting in airports waiting out long delays, missing connections, etc. to take a trip that can be accomplished in two hours flying privately?
Pressuring companies into divesting their aircraft at this time will only hurt them. The market for private aircraft, like other markets, is down. With many sellers and buyers waiting for prices to fall further, forced sales no doubt will mean substantial losses for these companies. From a market perspective, this is exactly the wrong time to force companies to sell their aircraft.
Understanding and appreciating that there is a lot of resentment and anger in the country, the private aviation industry must make the case on the merits that private aviation works to the benefit of these companies. The industry and these companies must demonstrate that these aircraft are not boondoggles for spoiled executives, but rather are justified because they add to the bottom line in clear and demonstrable ways. To do that, these companies must institute travel policies that limit use of private aircraft to official company business and be transparent in implementing these policies.
Sidenote: In a recent Daily Finance piece, contributer, Jonathan Berr, defends corporate use of private aviation, arguing that public anger over it "misplaced." (Click here to read Berr's piece in its entirety.)