What is Business Aviation? General aviation
includes all aircraft not flown by the airlines or the military. Business
aviation, one of the most important segments of general aviation, consists
of companies and individuals using aircraft as tools in the conduct of their
business. 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 flight crews,
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. 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 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 (FAR's). 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.
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 over 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 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.
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...
productive aboard business aircraft than they would be even in their own
offices.