As many companies remain reluctant to travel, corporate flight department managers need to actively engage with their organizations to stress the important benefits of flying private and to ensure they have a “seat at the table” when shaping health and safety protocol, according to Aviation Personnel International CEO Sheryl Barden. Recently stressing her concerns in a blog and during an NBAA webinar, Barden noted many corporations remain in standby mode on travel and said, “Quite frankly, it’s unsettling.”
Many aviation leaders are awaiting directives from headquarters, she said. “Let me be perfectly clear: waiting for the phone to ring is not an effective strategy. If you’re not flying, I encourage you to disrupt the status quo.”
Aviation directors need to “lean in” and request to be part of any Covid-19 response efforts, including the development of health management policies to ensure a seamless and safe travel environment, she said, suggesting flight departments consider expanding their aircraft-use policy. “You need an end-to-end solution that focuses on safety—one that delivers significant value to your corporation.”
Barden cited the example of a corporate flight department executive who remained actively involved in his company’s Covid-19 conversations, concerned that otherwise employees would travel by airlines. His task was to convince company executives of the need to travel aboard company aircraft for health and safety reasons, she said. His team further developed travel go-kits that contained items such as cleaning products for rental cars and hotel rooms.
“I realize, of course, that we’re not infectious disease experts. But we can offer our learned perspective on current practices,” she said, noting business aviation teams already have been focusing on the protection of environments, from the FBO to catering and baggage handling. “It’s all about providing an ‘end-to-end health corridor’ for the executive traveler.”
This is particularly important as corporate legal executives remain concerned about “duty of care” for their employees, Barden said, noting that flight department executives can stress that business aviation has much lower risk, with only about 20 touchpoints versus 700 for commercial travel.
But to get back into the air, flight departments need a strategic plan, she said. This includes a business case built around data that defines/redefines the value proposition of flying aboard a corporate aircraft.
If leadership questions the ability to travel safely, the flight department executive should be prepared to illustrate how that could happen. “All of this boils down to figuring out how you can add value. Redefine your service model to put the aviation assets back to work. Convince the leadership team that there is a need for corporate travel. Explain to them how it to manage it with the greatest ‘duty of care.’”
She also suggested forming a “back to work” team to facilitate this. “It’s unrealistic and unfeasible for a Fortune 500 company to ban travel altogether,” she said, adding that’s why “you’ve got to get creative.”
That message was reinforced during a recent NBAA News Hour webinar. "There is this spectrum, almost polarized," with companies in the supply chain that have been flying on a regular basis to others that haven't had any flights other than to "exercise the airplane." But people need to move she said, and companies are beginning to start moving. These aren't necessarily the senior executives, but different people who need to inspect plants or retool operations. The question is how to reach the decision-makers to highlight the safety of business aviation.
“There's no question in the business community, things have changed,” said James Lara, principal of Gray Stone Advisors, adding that aviation leaders must consider how to get people out of the "suspended mode." Noting the aviation leader is the people logistics provider in the company, Lara told NBAA, “An aviation leader has to understand what the company’s post-Covid organization looks like and the flight department’s reason for being. Be a fountain of ideas and suggestions.”
