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Passionate support for the private jet movement
By: Doug Gollan
One of the reasons I am so bullish on private jets, is I am so bearish on mainstream airlines in the USA. I see the domestic airlines in America finally (if they haven’t already) devolving into a flying Greyhound bus operation.
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Unbelievably, their marketing gurus must still believe they exist in the era of flying piano bars and carved chateaubriand at your seat - how else can you explain Delta Airlines’ February sponsorship of New York’s Fashion Week? Maybe the concept was that you have to be as thin as a model to fit in their seats (and the rare incidence of meals will keep you that way).
As much as US airline marketers may want to believe they produce caviar, it’s really pizza—and not very good pizza at that.
On a recent Continental Airlines flight from New York Newark to Geneva, during the entire nighttime 30-minute taxi/takeoff process I was told the reading lights wouldn’t work until the second engine was started. Well, we took off and the lights still weren’t working. It turned out, of course, that the flight attendant had just not switched the power back on after we had pulled away from the gate. And when I asked if I could have my dessert after my salad (skipping the main meal) because I wanted to go to sleep, the nice flight attendant said, “Everyone wants to go to sleep” and turned away.
This very morning I read that American Airlines will be taking out the galleys in Economy on their MD-80s so they can fit more seats in. American's tagline is “We know why you fly.” Eating is obviously not one of them, but good service really isn’t either. It is at best hit and miss. To me, it’s a bit like a car company saying “We know why you drive,” but forgetting to mention their cars don’t run properly.
As a top triple platinum level flyer on two domestic carriers, my advice to airline executives in the USA is simple. Ditch multi-million dollar ad campaigns and put the money into training and incentives to motivate your front-line employees. Passengers are already turning away from scheduled flights in droves. They refuse to pay good money merely to be insulted.
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And even more competition is just round the corner. It is good news for all - except those downtrodden legacy carriers - that affordable Very Light Jets will be delivered to “air-taxi” services and lower-cost fractional providers by the end of 2006. This means even more opportunities to fly privately and escape the air bus service. The window for domestic carriers to retain the last of their high-paying, full-fare passengers is closing quickly.
Executives of the domestic airlines need only to look at passenger counts for private jet companies – in the USA they have been increasing at approximately 30% per year since 2001. People are being flown where they want, when they want, by professional pilots and flight attendants, and they willingly pay anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 per hour to do so. Executives of those service-poor US carriers should take note before it is too late.
THE AUTHORDouglas J Gollan is president and editor-in-chief of Elite Traveler, the bi-monthly magazine for private jets, www.elite-traveler.com
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