If you own or operate a private aircraft, one of the most difficult challenges you may face is finding the right aircraft management partner to look after all the complexities necessary to have an operational jet that is in service at all times with minimal disruption. After decades of operation, we’ve learned from our Clients about myriad issues and frustrations that impact their ability to fly when they are not working with the appropriate partner or services.
In selecting an Aircraft Management partner, the primary criteria will always come back to people and processes. However, experience has taught us to look deeper and gather specific information in 7 critical areas to ensure the best result for an effective long-term working arrangement.
Here are our 7 rules of successful private aircraft management:
- Experience. No surprise here but be sure you ask questions and seek details that can be supported in terms of the experience your potential provider is promising. Meet the people, know who will be actively engaged on your business – don’t accept promises from top management if you’re never going to see them again. Who’s really going to be on deck on a day to day basis and to problem solve in the event you may need to call in additional assistance?
- Logistics. Once you’re satisfied the team looks good ask that team to provide a detailed perspective on how your aircraft will be managed based on your specific mission needs over the next 12 months. Do they have systems and procedures to provide seamless operation within the parameters agreed to? Are you satisfied that they have redundancy plans for any complex challenges that you may have faced in the past?
- Training. If you have pilots and crew under an employment contract can your aircraft management team train them on the specific aircraft with your specific service requirements? What is their approach to training and how will they apply it to your specific contract? If you don’t have crew and pilots, are they able to source them for you?
- Safety. This is something that should probably be number one on any document written about any aircraft. However, safety is intrinsic to everything discussed in numbers 1,2 and 3 above – now you want your aircraft management partner to articulate their approach to safety and how it will be applied to everything in relationship to your aircraft type. This is not something to be generalized and promised. It must be proven and inspected.
- Response Time. This is something that we’ve learned has caused many Clients to lose faith in their aircraft management partners over time. One of their great frustrations is not getting answers or actions within what they consider is a reasonable response time. Make sure they understand what your expectations are in terms of contact, response and action before you sign a management contract. Do they have resources, technology and geographic location that will enable prompt response?
- Financial, Contractual and Legal Accountability. When all is said and done, and you feel you’ve found the right team to manage your private aircraft, it’s time to look even deeper at to ensure alignment and processes that fully support your (and their) financial and contractual needs. Within that is legal accountability and agreement that should set the foundation to a long-term relationship that runs like clockwork.
- If you’ve approached the partnership applying the ideas proposed in items 1 through 6 above, then this should provide you the kind of trust you need to begin a working partnership. Then, over time, this will be something that builds and generates the kind of long term partnership and consistent operational effectiveness that everyone who operates an aircraft dreams of.