Profit From Control

December 2012

Category: Business Aviation and the Boardroom

Author: Jack Olcott

Profit from Control: Reasons for the Business Aviation user to stand tall.

Board Members may fear that Business Aviation will be disadvantaged during President Obama’s second term. Fear not, asserts Jack Olcott. The value of business aircraft was well documented in the campaign just concluded.

Business Aviation offers many advantages. For business leaders and entrepreneurs, one of the most useful is control over one’s travel schedule and use of time spent traveling. Surely both President Obama and challenger Governor Romney used business aircraft extensively to campaign from coast-to-coast and from north to south, often being in places during a single day that were separated by thousands of miles.

Both candidates required the mobility that only Business Aviation provides, and both profited from being able to control when and where they spoke to voters. Both candidates used their business aircraft in a manner identical to the way business men and women use a corporate or charter aircraft to reach customers and sell them on using the goods and services being offered. In the case of President Obama and Governor Romney, eligible voters were the customers, and the sales objective was winning their vote.

MANAGING TIME AND TALENT
The task of managing a presidential campaign is monumental. Without the ability to work with advisors and organizers while traveling nearly 24/7 to swing states, neither President Obama nor Governor Romney could have led their efforts to win voter support. Each candidate depended upon their ability to use travel time productively.

Politicians by nature are opportunistic while they are in campaign mode and appear hypocritical. Now that the voting is over and the Obama camp has been given the obligation to lead during the next four years, I predict that we will hear less about business jets being chariots of the idle rich, and frivolous symbols of the 0.1 percent.

President Obama could not have conducted his winning campaign without the use of the nation’s most visible business jet—Air Force One.

No leap of faith or right-wing bias is needed to recognize the significant role that mobility plays in accomplishing a successful campaign or a profitable business endeavor. Control over travel schedules and use of time while traveling are essential requirements for success, regardless of the goal being sought. Politicians and business personnel need the benefits of an office that moves—going where and when the demands of business dictate.

IT’S THE ECONOMY…
Furthermore, the public considers the economy to be the biggest challenge facing our country. While voters in the November 6th election were nearly equally divided in their support for the Democratic and Republican candidates, they told researchers conducting exit surveys that economic recovery and job creation are their top priorities. Business Aviation facilitates economic expansion and job creation. Board Members know how vital Business Aviation is to the successful conduct of the corporation’s activities, domestically as well as internationally. Politicians also know that transportation in all forms—Airlines and Business Aviation—is a necessity.

The Obama Administration recognizes that scheduled Airlines focus on about 35 hub cities throughout the USA. Servicing rural America is not an Airline priority. But opportunities for job growth exist in the hinterlands, and only Business Aviation is able to support the needs of industry to develop commerce and jobs in rural America. US industry requires access to places that the Airlines do not serve and do not want to serve, since their business model is aimed at capturing the high load factors that exist for travel between hub cities.

Once entrepreneurs and expanding companies establish new plants and markets in remote locations, scheduled Airline service is bound to follow. Thus Business Aviation eventually results in more public transportation. Until such development occurs, however, business men and women need the advantages that only business aircraft provide. They need to control their access to opportunity, regardless of where it can be developed. And they must be able to control how they use their time to be productive.

Business leaders have powerful ammunition with which to counter negative, populous business jet-bashing should the Obama administration elect to spend its precious political capital on such diversions. Clearly, our community will be heard and respected as programs such as the No Plane No Gain efforts of GAMA and NBAA continue to communicate the benefits of Business Aviation.

Transportation enables economic growth and improved quality of life—two outcomes that all the American public wants from the second term of President Obama’s administration. Clearly the Obama Administration also wants to facilitate economic expansion, encourage job growth and improve the living standard of all Americans. Business Aviation is an essential component of our nation’s transportation system that will help the re-elected administration achieve its goals. I expect our politicians to respect that fact.

Do you have any questions or opinions on the above topic? Get them answered/published in World Aircraft Sales Magazine. Email feedback to: Jack@avbuyer.com

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