Securing Your Flight Department’s Future: What You Can Do Right Now

It’s no secret that establishing a safe work environment in aviation starts and ends with removing distractions that divert people’s attention from the task at hand. Whether they are pilots, maintenance technicians or schedulers, distractions take people’s attention off the task at hand and create an environment of elevated operational risk.

Workforce distractions can be caused by employee concerns about employment security, work/life imbalance, lack of professional development, inadequate compensation and growth opportunities, etc. Astute aviation leaders remove as many of these distractions as possible.

But a new distraction has recently emerged in aviation: the closure of Part 91 flight departments. Many of the closures resulted from unsolicited proposals to company executive leadership from outside providers of alternative lift.

The result is that aviation team members are asking themselves, “Is our flight department secure?” “Will we be the next to close?” This uncertainty is yet another distraction from the task at hand that elevates operational risk.

The good news is that there are things that aviation leaders can do—right now—to provide a more secure future for the flight department. It takes diligence, focus, and leading the flight department like the “business within a business” that it truly is.

Here are some great ways to start.

Maintain Objectivity

Start by defining the unique value proposition (UVP) to be provided by aviation and the service model that best delivers on that UVP. The UVP is defined by the executive travelers. Once the UVP and optimum service model are defined and agreed upon, openly advocate with your company’s executive leadership for the adroit use of business aviation in its most relevant form.

The most successful business aviation leaders today advance the optimum service model and cost structure for the company. Present your proposal with a “forward lean,” long before you are asked by senior executive leadership to evaluate the options that are available. If you are asked to develop options, you’re already behind the power curve. The executive asking the question will likely have already developed their own opinion.

Get in front, stay in front and remain in control of the dialogue.

Achieve Alignment With Your Parent Company or Host Organization

You must know the business of the parent company and demonstrate how aviation creates value for it or the host organization.

Are the priorities of your aviation organization in support of those defined by your parent company? What are the strategic priorities of your parent company? Do the tactical objectives of your aviation organization directly support your parent company’s strategic priorities and initiatives?

As the aviation leader, you must clearly articulate how aviation is helping the company achieve its most important objectives. That’s the only way to earn a “seat at the table” at the corporate level.

Clearly Communicate Often and With Data

“In God we trust, everyone else must bring data.” This is the universal refrain of senior executive leadership throughout the business world. Ignore it at your peril! The bottom line is that you must know your financial numbers and use them to create objective and compelling business cases.

An effective business case addresses “what” (what you are proposing to do), “why” (the anticipated outcomes in quantitative terms), “alternatives” (a fair and balanced overview of the alternatives to the action you are recommending, including the alternative of doing nothing), “financial implications” (the expense and capital involved), and the “request for approval” (don’t be shy—ask for the approval to proceed).

It is vitally important to know how to effectively use data to create compelling and actionable business cases.

Be Open to and Take the Lead on Alternatives

Do you know enough about each of the lift alternatives to make a compelling, convincing argument for your preferred course of action? Merely arguing that it’s “your way or the highway,” certainly won’t win the day.

Are you familiar with all of the aviation service models available to your parent company, or are you a staunch advocate for the service model that you presently deliver? If you don’t have an in-depth working knowledge of these service models, you can’t effectively champion the service model for which you advocate.

You need to show relative attributes (operational and cost) of lift alternatives, such as in-house Part 91, fractonal ownership, Part 135 charter, or management company

When you really understand the key attributes of each alternative and can explain them in a concise and thoughtful manner, you will have earned the reputation of a “subject matter expert” who is fair and balanced. It is then that your advocacy will prevail.

Obtain Customer Feedback

What is the perceived performance level of your flight department in the eyes of the executives you serve? Feedback should be solicited from those who experience the service offerings that your aviation organization delivers. The two constituent “customer” groups are the executive travelers and their travel arrangers (executive assistants).

It’s critical that you, as the aviation leader, personally conduct these sessions. Relationships must be built and maintained, and you can best do this with personal conversations, not emails or text messages. You must very intentionally “listen” and “hear” things from their perspectives, not yours.

The Next Step

There is nothing more important in aviation—business aviation or otherwise—than to continuously reduce the level of operational risk.

By taking the above steps, you can reduce operational risk and provide a much more secure environment in which your flight department can thrive.