Kathryn B. Creedy. Business aviation needs to capture, share big data.

But one organization - PrivateFly - is pioneering the aggregation of customer-oriented data and adding it to the limited information the industry provides on aircraft movements and aircraft, all in an effort to lift the veil on an industry that is, rightly or wrongly, seen as Big Boys Toys.

“We always had the data,” explained PrivateFly CEO Adam Twidell. “We thought we knew our customers but collecting and analyzing the data gave us an insight we didn’t have. Our PrivateFly Private Jet Charter Trends Report uses data from thousands of searches and booked flights to show us what is happening. Sometimes what we think we know, prevents us from seeing the big picture and realizing what is actually happening.

"Until you start measuring you can be influenced by a feeling. That’s like flying in the middle of cloud. We are taught to ignore our gut feelings and to trust the instruments. Looking at data is like looking at your instruments where hard facts are presented to you.” Given the issues facing the private aviation industry - under attack on both sides of the Atlantic - gathering and disseminating intelligence is in the industry’s best interest. “It is absolutely time for the industry to gather data,” said Twidell. “PrivateFly are often the lone data source when we are representing industry to gain more access to airports. We use the data when we talk to airports and to governments about the economic contributions and benefits of corporate travellers. When governments start really understanding these statistics they will be able to make decisions. You can’t just give people small case studies or feelings. You have to have hard data about what our industry contributes.”

PrivateFly CEO, Adam Twidell

Twidell illustrated the importance of his data by what he told assembled airports and tourism officials at Caribavia last year.

The power of big data for business aviation and destinations

“Our data show high-net-worth individuals return again and again to the same destination,” he said. “We’ve also found that they are strong advocates and actually attract other private jet users to that destination because they like to go where there are other private jet users. So, not only are you attracting high-net-worth individuals but they, in turn, attract other high-net-worth individuals.”

Twidell explained destinations make a mistake in treating all traffic. Instead of counting passengers and hotel nights, they should be looking at passenger spend which will give them the information they need to determine where investment dollars should be spent. He argues the economic contribution of private aviation exceeds that of the commercial jet traffic pointing to Ibiza. After a decade of investment designed to attract private aviation, including superior FBO facilities, Ibiza has moved into the top 25 destinations in Europe with enough business to occupy three FBOs.

“Ibiza’s investment attracted higher-spending travellers who built large villas and started high-end businesses,” he said of the return on investment realized by the Spanish destination. “So, it is not enough to have a runways. You need to invest in fixed base operations with 24/7 service and customs and immigration.”

Customers want the information

I view the release of PrivateFly’s data with great relief. In covering the industry, I have often been frustrated in my data quests because, the industry, in its questionable wisdom, doesn’t even collect it. To me the number of passengers served is a basic metric and it does not exist in private aviation which collects nothing but aircraft sales and flight hour activity.

No, the number of business/private passengers will never equal that of airlines but, as Twidell suggests with his Ibiza example, data could illustrate the economic value, how business aviation use is increasing as well as why.

It is not just a matter of curiosity, either.

“Our customers are fascinated by what other high-net-worth individuals, or people they aspire to be, are doing,” he said. “We share the data in the spirit of openness and it is part of what makes us different. When we started, our clear objective was to simplify the private jet experience. We wanted to tell customers how really easy it is to book a private jet. The data was part of educating the customer and letting people know what was happening. Of course we had to be careful to de-identify to ensure customer privacy but it showed the type of aircraft they were using, how many were flying and the price. That opens them up to considering a private jet. They might think: we have six people going, the cost divided by six makes it affordable.”

The industry has long used that argument but somehow backing it up with who is doing what with aircraft and how much it costs for a given flight, makes it more accessible, the whole idea behind PrivateFly.

Twidell admires others such as JetSmarter and Surf Air who are bringing private aviation to everyone. “They’ve allowed people to sample flying a private jet albeit in a shared cabin and we should all welcome that,” he said. “But there are going to be occasions when a shuttle service or shared experience doesn’t fit the bill. They are already open to flying private so they look at charter services.”

Not just about the number of flights

It is not as if the industry doesn’t have the data to convince the CFO to consider business aviation. The problem is few actually use it to boost business. Numerous studies illustrate the return on investment in productivity, rising profits and quality of life. In fact, what attracted me to Twidell’s message is the fact that he is the only business aviation company, to my knowledge, that actually uses these studies.

PrivateFly’s data confirms much in these studies about the average number of passengers per flight and the aircraft used which dispel the Fat Cat image of intercontinental flight. Its data also confirms why they are flying private, making it come alive with more information such as where and when they are flying and the fact the average age of passengers is declining. That tallies with the move toward younger fliers prioritizing on quality of life private flying affords.

Heretofore, industry associations have taken the lead but the message has been limited to a receptive industry press. Its messages were not broadly covered by a sceptical general assignment media that does not understand private aviation. The media does not understand that private aviation is the nexus between Wall Street and Main Street because most aircraft are built in small cities like Wichita, KS, Greensboro, NC, Savannah, GA or Melbourne, FL, where high-value manufacturing jobs are critically important.

What these studies do not show, however, is the value to a local community and it is here that business aviation organizations have missed the boat.

At a recent National Business Aviation Association meeting, the halls were festooned with the usual banners with Arnold Palmer and other happy bizav users. One, however, stood apart, proclaiming, without business aviation, the CEO could not retain his business in an out-of-the- way town in New Mexico.

That is a message that should be exploited beyond the business in question and the airport. They need to get off the airport and take that argument downtown using PrivateFly’s data to humanize the industry and deliver the message it is about keeping jobs in town.

Using data to forestall the threats to the industry

Right now, the US industry is in a pitched battle about paying what the airline industry calls “its fair share” for the air traffic control system. The argument, for me, is moot because the system is run for maximum throughput meaning it is designed for airlines and anything else is an afterthought. Until private aviation is more than mere afterthought, it should not pay more than it already does in aviation fuel taxes.

In the US, many small airports relying solely on private aviation - aviation enthusiasts and business aviation users alike - extol the virtues of their airport by focusing on what it does for the community economically. But do these airport managers go downtown to speak to local service organizations such as Rotary International, VFWs, chambers of commerce, town halls, community events, editorial boards?

In the UK, general aviation is currently in a life-and-death struggle to fight proposals to close general aviation fields in favour of housing developments. GA advocates are taking heed of all the US airport impact reports covering their economic value and their importance in emergency preparedness. No such data exists for UK’s GA airports but shouldn’t that be known before airports are closed?

There is one final argument for following in PrivateFly’s footstep - raising visibility. There is no question PrivateFly’s visibility is very high. It’s the only game in town when it comes to solid stats and Twidell is a real statistics-thumping evangelist when it comes to improving the acceptance of the industry. All that has given him a lot of ink and established him as an industry thought leader, two of the very strategies every business aviation company should adopt.

Download the Private Jet Charter Trends Report 2017: European Edition | US Edition

www.privatefly.com

About the Author

Kathryn B. Creedy is a veteran aviation journalist and author who has covered almost every facet of commercial and business aviation.

She began her aviation work focusing on regional airlines in the immediate post-deregulation period. She founded Commuter/Regional Airline News in 1982 building it to become the bible of the industry. Kathryn has written for Forbes Online and is the author of Time Flies - The History of SkyWest Airlines in which she chronicled the post-deregulation history of the US regional airline industry.

Kathryn’s byline has been seen in all of the top aviation publications. Her talents migrated to the web, when she returned to the editorship of C/R News - then called Regional Aviation News - in 2005 and took over editorial management of AviationToday.com. In addition, she founded the VLJ Report, covering the emerging very light jets in the business aviation market.

Kathryn’s work has covered the abandonment of over 400 communities driven by changes in the US airline industry and she sees tremendous opportunities to fill the void in intra-state and intra-regional air transport. She has not seen this much activity in this segment of regional transportation since the 1980s.

Kathryn welcomes your comments: editor@blueskynews.aero