Why go private in L.A.: the logic and sense behind business air travel.

In Los Angeles, business aircraft are utilized by all types of people and companies, from individuals who often fly rented, single-engine, piston-powered airplanes, to sales or management teams from the largest multinational corporations, many of which own fleets of multi-engine, turbine-powered aircraft and employ their own flightcrews, maintenance technicians and other aviation support personnel.

Many large companies use business aircraft to transport personnel and priority cargo to a variety of far-flung company or customer locations, including sites overseas. Often business aircraft are used to bring customers to company facilities for factory tours and product demonstrations. Companies and individuals, such as salespeople and doctors, use business aircraft to cover regional territories within several hundred miles of their home bases. While the overwhelming majority of business aircraft missions are conducted on demand, some companies have scheduled operations, known as corporate shuttles, which essentially are in-house airlines.

Most corporations that operate business aircraft use modern, multi-engine, turbine-powered jets, turboprops or turbine helicopters that are certified to the highest applicable transport-category standards. Aircraft built specifically for business use vary from four-seat, short-range, piston-powered airplanes to two- and three-engine corporate jets that can carry up to 19 passengers nearly 7,000 miles nonstop. Some companies even use airline-type jets. Helicopters also are often used for business transportation. During the next several years, a new class of aircraft, called very light jets (VLJ), is expected to enter service.

Business aircraft operated by companies usually are flown by two-person, professionally trained crews whose primary, if not exclusive, responsibility is to fly company aircraft. Some smaller operators of business aircraft, especially business people who pilot their own aircraft, typically use one pilot to fly piston-powered or single-engine turbine-powered machines.

Although the majority of business aircraft are owned by individuals or companies, businesses also utilize business aviation through arrangements such as chartering, leasing, fractional ownership, time-sharing agreements, interchange agreements, partnerships and aircraft management contracts.

Business aircraft generally are not flown for hire. Thus, the majority of U.S.-registered business aircraft are governed by Part 91 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs). Most U.S.-registered business aircraft that can be flown for compensation are regulated by FAR Part 135, which covers on-demand commercial operations. Regardless of how business aircraft are utilized, companies choose them because they provide safe, efficient, flexible and reliable transportation.

BUSINESS VS. CORPORATE AIRCRAFT

The terms "business aircraft" and "corporate aircraft" often are used interchangeably because they both refer to an aircraft used to support a business enterprise. The terms are generic and do not refer to specific NBAA Membership categories.

The FAA defines business transportation as "any use of an aircraft (not for compensation or hire) by an individual for transportation required by the business in which the individual is engaged." The FAA defines corporate/executive transportation as "any use of an aircraft by a corporation, company or other organization (not for compensation or hire) for the purposes of transporting its employees and/or property, and employing professional pilots for the operation of the aircraft."

WHY BUSINESS AIRCRAFT?

Of all the benefits of business aircraft, increased productivity of personnel is probably the most important. Companies that fly general aviation aircraft for business purposes can control virtually all aspects of their travel plans. Itineraries can be changed instantly, and business aircraft can be flown to thousands more destinations than are served by the scheduled airlines.

Business aircraft are engineered and built to the highest standards, and companies that maintain their own aircraft have complete control over the readiness of their fleets.

Business aircraft are productivity multipliers that allow passengers to conduct business enroute in complete privacy while reducing the stresses associated with travelling on commercial carriers. And in recent years, business aircraft have compiled an impressive safety record that is comparable to that of the major airlines. Benefits of business aircraft include:

Saving Employee Time. Efficient employee scheduling and employee time savings are key advantages of business aircraft use. Because business aircraft have the ability to fly nonstop between small close-in airports, highly efficient employee time management becomes a very real benefit.

Increasing Productivity Enroute. Employee productivity sustained enroute to a business destination--in a secure office environment, free from interruptions, distractions or eaves-dropping--can have substantial value to an employer, including strategizing before meetings and debriefing afterwards or meeting with customers enroute.

Minimizing Nonbusiness Hours Away from Home. "Family time" before and after traditional business hours is critical to most employees and can have an acute effect on employee morale and productivity. Business aircraft allow flexible scheduling and quick and easy access to meeting locations, thereby minimizing time away from home and office.

Ensuring Industrial Security. Avoiding eavesdropping, reducing travel visibility and eliminating unwanted and unnecessary conversations and interruptions, all support the use of business aircraft to safeguard company employees and the sensitive information they carry.

Maximizing Personal Safety and Peace of

Mind. Turbine-powered business aircraft flown by two-person professional crews have a safety record comparable to that of the largest scheduled airlines. The peace of mind that results from complete company control over the aircraft flown, passenger and baggage manifests, pilot quality and training, aircraft maintenance, and operational safety standards is substantial.

Exercising Management Control Over Efficient, Reliable Scheduling. The near-total scheduling flexibility inherent in business aircraft--even changing itineraries enroute--can be a powerful asset. As aircraft can arrive and depart on the passengers' schedule, typically waiting for them in the ordinary course of business, meetings can be moved up, back, or extended without penalty, risk or unnecessary scheduling pressures. Overnight trips often can be avoided.

Projecting a Positive Corporate Image. For customers particularly, and often for vendors, the arrival and departure of company employees via business aircraft is the sign of a well-run company, signaling the progressive nature of an organization with a keen interest in efficient time management and high levels of productivity. If used for charitable purposes, significant public-service contributions, as well as possible public relations benefits, also can be realized.

Charging the Entrepreneurial Spirit. By minimizing or eliminating many of the barriers to travel, business aircraft allow business opportunities to be more readily considered and acted upon.

Business cultures and their strategies change as markets, facilities and customers in other, often-rural areas of the country--once practically unreachable and thus unconsidered--are newly accessible.

SUPERIOR PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY

A 1997 survey of chief pilots and business aircraft passengers conducted by Louis Harris & Associates, Inc. showed that over 60 percent of those surveyed use business aircraft to support efficient schedules and more than 25 percent use them to reach remote locations not served by any scheduled airline.

In addition, of the company employees traveling on board business aircraft, only 14 percent were top management. Of the remaining 86 percent of passengers using business aircraft, 14 percent were senior managers, 49 percent were middle managers and 19 percent were professional staff.

As for productivity and efficiency, according to the survey, passengers felt they were significantly more productive aboard business aircraft than they would be even in their own offices.

Productive collaboration among company employees aboard business aircraft occurred nearly eight times as often as when those same employees were aboard commercial aircraft. Productive collaboration with customers occurred nearly seven times more often than on commercial aircraft. Furthermore, employees aboard commercial aircraft were nearly three times more likely to be resting or reading non-work-related materials.

Clearly, the environment aboard a business aircraft facilitates substantially higher productivity enroute for its passengers.

Information for this article was provided by the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). For more information, visit www.nbaa.org.