Written for Wings Magazine March/April edition 2011
Anything about aviation is a matter for media interest regardless if it is commercial, corporate, private or military. Airline pilots flying drunk was a good news catcher for a while. Then there were issues with the front end guys sleeping on the job. A couple of off-runway trips make it interesting too. That really gets the confidence of the travelling public going.
This of course follows on the basic fact that you cannot bring much on board, have to arrive hours before hand to go through the humiliation of pre-flight screening and then get treated with little customer service acumen – regardless if you are flight crew or passenger. From the passenger perspective - yup – I really want the folks intrusted with operation or the aircraft and my safety rattled and flustered before they get on board because of overt security hard heads and a single minded “everyone is a potential terrorist” approach to pre-flight bording. Brilliant thinking that!
Gone are the days where going on trip by air was a thrill and adventure for the family to enjoy. Gone too the times when a business trip between cities was just routine and the travel part of the process. The “Evil Doers” as old GW Bush called them have ruined all that. Commercial air travel today it is a task, a temper testing processes and series of humiliating, impersonal actions. Small wonder everyone looks angry in commercial airports today. Ricker Mercer and many other comedians have had a field day with this.
And every time the terrorists (or trouble makers/pranksters) come up with a new one – like printer cartridges that are really bombs – then we get everything ratcheted up another notch. TSA goes nuts and because we are such great neighbours, Transport Canada has little choice but to follow on.
The truly greatest step in enraging everyone has without question come along with the introduction of full body scanners and enhanced body search methods. Protests have got pretty significant on this one with dramatic acts ranging from stripping to threats of organized mass refusals. There are claims by some of over “familiarity” in the search methods. The flight crew unions have become enraged. Social Networking places like Face Book have groups devoted to it. Then there is the raging debate about what actually happens to the images that are generated by the scanners. Authorities swear they are destroyed. Others swear not.
One can only sum the whole situation up as a big mess for all concerned. And this is where the folks in business aviation actually should be saying thanks to the TSA, Transport Canada and the commercial airport security system. Why? Because frankly this is all helping bizav out to recover ground. It’s not a flood by any means but the overall story is that business travellers and corporations who were scared away from private aviation by media and in some cases government blackmail (as was the case largely in the US), have started coming back.
Every time a business person who is familiar with the benefits of corporate aircraft use is subjected to the rigors of commercial travel, gets messed around and frustrated while trying to travel, bizav gets a second chance. By the numbers and reports it would seem that the argument or logic for using a corporate aircraft is getting more airtime in the corporate world.
Overall corporate flight department hours were reported up in 2010 – according to some almost back to pre-recession numbers. By the end of the year, charter in Canada was very healthy again and some weeks getting an aircraft was even a challenge according to major Canadian aircraft management groups. The same holds true in the US it would seem. Case in point a recent report on the Boston Globe indicated that corporate jet activity was up by 7 percent through 2010 at a small GA airport close to the city called at Hanscom Field. Some “based” operators report their business doubled as compared to the year before while others at the site report more modest gains of 15 percent. Either way, in a conservative, politically driven community like Boston, increases are significant. The report goes on to say new pilots have been hired and the number of aircraft based at the field increased by a third in the last three years – enough that the operators of the aerodrome are talking expansion. Similar news is coming from all over the US and Canada.
As charter activity increases, there is a trickle-down effect. Notably those bizav users who were waiting for the right opportunity to move beyond charter and into some form of ownership are now turning to fractional or full aircraft acquisition. Speaking to sales brokers in Canada and the US the numbers show an increase in new or seriously “intentional” buyers. The order books too are starting to load up again on the OEM side and Bombardier for one have even indicated hiring staff for their corporate aircraft production division. Lastly, the crystal ball gazers predict recovery is on the way too – some saying it will be 2012 while at least two others in early January indicated that it was more likely to be a good 2011 for many. Either way, it is all good news.
So we really need to thank the TSA, Transport Canada by default and the airport screening folks. They have certainly had at least some impact in the recovery of the corporate aviation market domestically and around the globe. If they keep it up, we may see even more good news sooner than later.
RS
