Jan. 25, 2024
When media outlets published an incomplete story about the many reasons why America’s leading companies allow for non-business use of aircraft by key employees, NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen was quick to correct the misconception with a letter some media organizations published to correct or clarify their coverage of the issue.
The news outlets’ coverage, based largely on data contained in a mid-summer 2023 report from executive intelligence firm Equilar, was published by The Wall Street Journal, FOX Business, CNBC, The New York Post, Entrepreneur Magazine and others.
Bolen’s letter noted a broader, fundamental point missed in the coverage: the post-COVID business landscape is as competitive as ever, requiring companies to optimize efficiency, productivity and flexibility at every level of the organization. Simultaneously, the competition for key employees is intense, requiring companies to be innovative in providing solutions for seamlessly meeting personal and business obligations. That’s where business aviation comes in, Bolen said.
“With business aviation, employees have an unmatched ability to schedule multi-stop business trips, promptly respond to unforeseen opportunities and meet unexpected customer needs, while remaining quickly available for travel to meet personal commitments,” he wrote. “It’s a capability that sharpens a company’s competitive edge and increases shareholder value, while protecting key employees’ security and safeguarding against corporate espionage.”
Bolen continued, “[What] your story failed to explain is that a company’s decision to allow for the use of an airplane to meet myriad travel challenges is simply good business.”
Read the full letter to the editor
Dear Editor,
Your recent, granular recitation about post-pandemic, non-business use of company aircraft (The $65 Million Perk for CEOs: Personal Use of the Corporate Jet Has Soared, Jan. 16) missed a broader point about business in the pandemic’s aftermath, and why companies understandably allow for such use.
The fact is, the post-COVID business landscape is as competitive and rapidly changing as ever, requiring all company activities, including travel, to optimize efficiency, productivity and flexibility. Similarly, competition to attract, invest in and retain key employees – including with solutions for seamlessly meeting both personal and business obligations – is as intense as it has ever been.
The value of a business airplane speaks to both of these priorities. With business aviation, employees have an unmatched ability to schedule multi-stop business trips, promptly respond to unforeseen opportunities and meet unexpected customer needs, while remaining quickly available for travel to meet personal commitments. It’s a capability that sharpens a company’s competitive edge and increases shareholder value, while protecting key employees’ security and safeguarding against corporate espionage.
That’s why such travel is typically made with the full approval of directors serving on boards with a number of companies ranked as the nation’s most-innovative, highest-performing and most-trusted brands. In other words, the reality your story failed to explain is that a company’s decision to allow for the use of an airplane to meet myriad travel challenges is simply good business.
Sincerely,
Ed Bolen
President and CEO
National Business Aviation Association
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.