Saturday, October 6, 2007

Collision between Aviation Superpowers


Corporate flight is becoming increasingly popular these days with airline ticket prices constantly rising and the hassle of security and delays at airports. Many people prefer the convenience of a flexible flight schedule and being able to cut the time of getting to their destination in half. Experts agree that there is an increasing number of passengers chartering airplanes rather than buying airline tickets.


The airlines are fighting back by accusing the growing number of small jets of overcrowding the skies. Also, at the same time charter businesses are blaming the airlines losses on their poor management and abundance of delays. A perfect example of airline mishaps occurred over the past summer when passengers were stuck on an airplane for over five hours while sitting on the ramp. Events such as these are one of the reasons why the airlines are struggling to keep in power and make a profit. Steve Brown, senior vice president for operations at the National Business Aviation Association said that "The vast majority of delays are caused by weather and the airlines always over schedule everything so if the smallest weather pattern develops, you have cascading delays all day long." On the other side of the spectrum Steve Danishek, an independent travel industry consultant based in Seattle explained "Corporate jets may be smaller, but they still take up space.


There are also different financial reasons for the growing conflict between the two aviation giants. The airlines claim that they are also losing money due to the fact that corporate and general aviation planes are paying for the faction of the cost for fuel. This has been a hot topic recently, as I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, where the airlines are supporting a bill that will put more restrictions and fees towards general aviation. Congress is in the process of voting whether these new set of rules will be set in place, but most agree that there is no clear resolution in sight between these dueling superpowers.

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