Contributed by: Eric Wilkins, Co-Founder, Antaero Aviation
The pre-buy is complete, the paperwork is signed, and the aircraft is on its way to your hangar. Congratulations! Your flight department has moved into ownership. Gone are the days of third parties managing your travel arrangements or last-minute bookings to accomplish a late notice meeting. But while aircraft ownership provides a flight department or individual the ultimate flexibility, it’s likely before long you will find mission that doesn’t suit the aircraft you acquired. Perhaps the once a year meeting overseas, or an annual conference requiring more passengers than usual, possibilities that didn’t justify the added expense of a larger, costlier aircraft. Supplemental lift can dramatically increase your flexibility to accomplish these side missions without requiring a larger aircraft for only a few trips per year.
Supplemental lift comes in many forms, and the best option will depend on the requirements of your department. Wholesale charter offers the most flexibility, but also requires a strong analysis of forecast travel needs. Working with a professional broker can dramatically increase the flexibility of your department by designing a custom program molded to fit these mission needs. The broker market is saturated with programs, ranging from intensely professional programs complete with SMS training and strong industry experience to less reputable brokers with no oversight of their flights and little aviation experience. Using a qualified and experienced broker can save your department money by reducing cancelled flights and navigating issues from maintenance or weather before they affect your itinerary.
These programs will often offer guaranteed block rates over a given number of hours similar to a jet card. But where a jet card will generally be restricted to a specific size aircraft or charge a premium to utilize larger aircraft, many reputable brokers will offer flexibility to use different size aircraft. This improves your flexibility should you need a replacement aircraft at the last moment, or your trip requires a larger aircraft to accommodate.
When working with Altivation Aircraft on your aircraft acquisition they take the time to analysis your aircraft ownership needs, and help locate you the best day to day solutions for your mission. Part of this review works to find solutions for your less common trips, which may require supplemental lift. At Antaero Aviation we work close with Altivation to assist their clients with custom programs to meet your supplemental lift requirements and to ensure the best value on trips outside of your aircraft’s standard day to day operations.
Eric Wilkins is the Co-Founder of Antaero Aviation and is an active pilot with both Part 121 and military aviation experience, as well as years of experience in corporate aviation.
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