Today’s economy probably has less effect on corporate aircraft use than most believe. Understanding how the economy affects business aviation requires an understanding of how the nature of business aircraft use has changed over the past 15 years or so, according to Barbara Beyer, president of Arlington, Va.-based Avmark. Avmark is an intern-ational aviation marketing and management service that specializes in airline reorganization, aviation market analysis and manufacturing and maintenance evaluations.
Historically, it was a common practice for the CEO to have corporate aircraft available to use as he saw fit. And it was often used as much for personal reasons as for company business. If corporate earnings were down, the board of directors would sell the airplane, and when the economy rose, they’d buy another one. But that practice has become a losing proposition in today’s high-technology world.
