Over the many years we’ve been involved in helping airline Start-Ups get EIS right for their aircraft operations, we’ve seen a lot of things go wrong… and a lot of things go right. The difference between those operators who get things right most often and those that don’t frequently comes down to preparedness.
Too often operators discover the financial squeeze is greater than expected between the time they make the decision to create the business (or grow the existing one) and the time it takes to meet all aircraft operations safety and regulatory requirements to actually fly…. with revenue generating clients on board.
We sometimes call this the “Entry Into Surprise” gap. That’s because it’s almost impossible to conduct a successful EIS without some surprises along the way that create delays and add to the financial squeeze. Recognizing the “surprise” gap and planning for it will help you succeed. The smartest operators we’ve worked with understand this and follow 6 success factors that help them manage surprises through careful planning and operational agility.
Here’s what we’ve learned:
- Have a proper plan to follow.
This seems obvious, right? Well, it’s not as prevalent as you might think. For many, the business plan creates unrealistic timelines that are easily derailed when surprises occur. Successful operators don’t let the business plan drive the EIS plan. They develop realistic objectives for EIS and are open to revising the business plan if required. Building a plan based on tight timelines that require everything to go smoothly is likely not going to go the way you hoped. - Understand what you want to accomplish, why and how.
When you’re developing your business plan in sync with your EIS plan, make sure the entire team clearly understands the objectives and their roles within them. What is it you’re actually trying to accomplish? Look beyond the short term objectives and identify the long term vision. The latter will help you stay focused on the real opportunity when short term surprises rear their ugly heads. If everything is geared to a short term need your chances for success are being limited. - Clearly identify the aircraft mission.
Again, this requires short term and long term planning. Develop a precise aircraft operations plan that ensures the right aircraft is being put into service. Approach it as part of your business plan. What will the mission be now and what might it be later? Are the missions compatible? What are the maintenance and financial requirements? Depending on your resources, this might be a good time to engage a third party aircraft operations consultant for advice and planning. - Clearly identify crew requirements
Based on your business plan and the aircraft mission, what will your crew requirements be? Are they compatible with the aircraft mission? How many, how often? Where will you source them from? Accessing resources from a crew recruitment provider may make your life a little easier. - Overestimate the financial implications
Insufficient budgets can kill your plans…and your business. This is a great place to remember the “Entry into Surprise” gap mentioned earlier. Make no mistake, there will be financial surprises. Make sure you and your investors have carefully planned everything from aircraft purchase or lease to operating and maintenance costs. Then add 25%…. at least. Eventually, if your business plan is sound, you’ll generate revenues and profits but this is the stage to be cautious and prepared. - Ensure the base of aircraft operations is strategically sound.
Hopefully your business plan has identified the geography your aircraft needs to serve. Ensure that you’ve selected an efficient operations base that takes into consideration things like prevailing weather factors, available facilities required to manage the aircraft and accessibility to the markets you will serve. Consider multiple options, weigh the pros and cons and select your base. You might want to consider having an experienced consultant do the leg work here.