Your recent article “Luxury jets pamper pets with pilaf, room to roam” offered only a caricature to suggest who typically uses business aircraft and why they do so.
Let’s be clear: The vast majority of entrepreneurs and businesses using these aircraft are doing so to increase their efficiency and productivity, meet face-to-face with customers and clients, and reach far-off markets where opportunities can be found. The aircraft are typically used by small and mid-size companies, and the most common passengers are not CEOs but salespeople, middle-managers and technical specialists.
There’s a good reason why business aircraft are needed in today’s highly competitive, global environment: They are like offices in the sky, with cabins set up so employees can discuss projects, collaborate on presentations and stay connected through email, Web access or teleconferencing. The use of this competitive asset, in this manner, has proven benefits: Studies have repeatedly shown that companies using business aircraft outperform comparable companies that don’t use the aircraft.
It’s unfortunate that your look at business aviation overlooked the many good reasons companies of all sizes, all across the U.S., rely on business aviation — and missed the mark on the benefits these competitive assets provide.
— Ed Bolen, president and CEO, National Business Aviation Association, Washington