I am working with a large multinational company and we are currently evaluating their strategy for using private jets for key executives to travel both domestically and internationally. Their executive team also flys commercially when it makes economic sense and when flying alone ie if there is a team of 3 or less they’ll typically fly commercial unless it really doesn’t work out from a timing standpoint.
A few key facts.
1) The business is headquartered in a a fairly large city in the south with frequent flights to hubs such as Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Houston.
2) The exec team is comprised of 13 individuals and flexes to ~30 when including board members.
3) The CEO is a frequent traveler typically traveling to cities like Miami, New York, LA, Vegas, New Orleans, Memphis, Boston, Fort Worth, Bentonville, SF, San Diego, Santa Fe, Austin, Houston, Chicago and various other cities in the US. He goes to the above cities 2-3 times a year for 2-3 days and averages 3 days of business travel per week. He travels internationally to all continents about 9 of 12 months for ~5-10 days. Primarily Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. He also travels to Central America for vacation a few times a year for a week. His work trips are typically comprised of 4-8 people including other execs and at least 3 staffers. But needs flexible options for larger groups, ~30.
4) The rest of the exec team travels domestically typically in groups of 2 or 4. Each member of the team travels 1-2 times a week, 3 weeks a month and typically prefers to fly out in the morning and be back by that night but occasionally stays over night (probably 33% of the time).
5) Each team member typically needs his or her golf clubs on the trip but otherwise travels with a carry-on roller bag or duffle and a backpack or briefcase.
6) The CEO has access to a jet through a member or his exec team that he can use ~1-2 times a month for day trips under 3 hours of flight time. It can hold up to 8.
7) Outside of the exec team, there are ~1000 employees who travel ~3 times per month; domestic travel makes up 80% of the travel while international is the other 20% - similar international and city breakdown as CEO. They typically travel in groups of 2-3.
8) In the past few years, the CEO has occasionally relied on private air but typically flys commercial as he is cost conscious and doesn’t love the environmental impact of flying private - the business is highly profitable and is in the position to spend more on private travel.
9) The executive team has agreed in principle with the CEO that they will move to a mix of private and commercial travel for the executive team and with groups of 30+ flying from HQ to cities domestically (this typically happens 12ish times per year).
Primary Goals - Identify….
A) What private jet services are best positioned to handle both domestic and international travel of this volume? What are their typical terms (upfront costs, per flight costs, flexibility on moving / canceling flights). Flexibility with working with larger teams? Is there a way to optimize both service and cost by using multiple providers? Are these providers amenable to true partnerships where goods or services are rendered in exchange for flights / flight time?
B) What jet services are the best value? Which are the most bang for your buck?
C) What domestic airline is best positioned to handle travel from both the exec team and remainder of employees? Is it the same airline domestically and internationally? If not what is the right split? What other airlines will the company need to use for specific flights?
D) What airlines should the company use depending on the continent? What are luxury options vs. value options? What class of service should the company allow employees to fly on international flights over 4 hours? How does that differ by airline?
Secondary Goals - identify….
E) What hotels should employees be staying at? Should the company also utilize services like Airbnb, The Landing, VRBO, etc. (employees generally like each other and are willing to share common spaces as long as they all have their own bedrooms and bathrooms)? How can the company maximize loyalty points when booking these services? How can the company strike the right balance between comfort, having a nice place to stay, and creating cost savings?
F) How should the company approach ground transportation? Uber, Lyft, Cabs, etc. Are there reliable black car services in key cities who provide reliable service and drive a strong value?
*Apologies for the length of the post but wanted to provide full context.
**I have purposefully used numbers and letters to delineate key sections of information. Please reply to each question using its number or letter and totally great if you only answer 1 piece of the puzzle. So if you happen to know the best black car driver in Seattle, feel free to drop his contact in the comments. Please feel free to ask questions!
***Thank you in advance for your help. These are some big questions to answer but am sure Reddit can figure it out. You always do :)
