Got a question posed to me by one of the newer guys in the fleet who happens to have an airline background. He asked me why the corporate guys always measure their aircraft duration in nautical miles and not hours flown. This threw me for a while but I told him I honestly don't know. The best I could come up with was that when corporate aviation started, planes didn't travel very far, thinking about the Lear 23, then the Jet Star came to mind along with the bigger G I turbo prop.
Does anyone have any idea why we corporate types tend to measure our a/c in NM versus hours for the airliners? For instance, when asked about the range of a Westwind, I said it had about a 2300 mile range. Well that's good enought to make it non stop west to east( LA-NY), you won't make it the other way with strong winds in the winter. On the other hand if I ask what the range was on a 727, he said about 4 hours. I'm not trying to get into the semantics between range and endurance, just curious about why we do it differently.
I'm just taking a stab at this...but perhaps its to take into account the variations in cruise speed. This sort of gives you an apples to apples comparison between 2 planes. If your Challenger cruises at .80 and the Citation X at .92 (I have no idea what a Challenger cruises at), then you can compare the range.
I'm just an airline guy so don't pick on me if I'm wrong. I've gotten the corporate door shut in my face enough in the last year to last a lifetime!!
I would have to say that it is a marketing facet. Bizjets are sold to entities (companies, wealthy individuals, etc.) who do not necessarily gauge their schedules by airline timetables, but by their own.
Time is definitely important to these entities. The question is always "can I make it non-stop, or do I have to stop for fuel?" I believe O.E.M. bizjet marketers have been successful by boasting on their particular aircraft ranges measured in miles and graphically represented in their brochures; the key point being "you can go non-stop anywhere, anytime." This sells flexibility which is a-typical of the airline model. If you view several O.E.M. or fractional provider websites, most likely you will have a graphic presentation of the particular airframe's range.
I've seen my share of those brochures and note that most travel in an Easterly direction, such as Tokyo-NY, NY- London etc. I never thought of the sales pitch though, that could be plausible, I mean how many times have you been on a fuel stop when the pax approaches you and says the broker told her it would be a non stop flight.... Let's leave the brokers for another discussion, but I'm sure we could light the lamp witht that one..
Perhaps it's a culture difference between airlines and corporate.
Airline marketing is geared towards the pax. Pax want to know how long it takes to fly from A to B, not how many miles. Tell a pax it's 2000 nm, and they might not have a clue as to cruise speed or how distance translates to time.
Corporate is centered more on pilots, since we typically serve at the pax point of contact and as the "expert" for the CEO/CFO buying the airplane. Cessna gives range in miles, pilot translates that to company requirements, advises the CEO/CFO, and tells the pax how long the flight will take.
Or maybe I'm wrong.
Last edited by trafly : 10-26-2009 at 11:48 AM.
Reason: readability
Got a question posed to me by one of the newer guys in the fleet who happens to have an airline background. He asked me why the corporate guys always measure their aircraft duration in nautical miles and not hours flown.
I guess it's how the question is asked......if someone wants to know the max range of my aircraft, I would answer in nautical miles. If they ask how long it can stay airborne (endurance) I would answer in hours. Duration deals with time, so a nautical mile response would not be correct. I was not aware this was some type of corporate thing. From a planning standpoint, range is always a key requirement.....whether planning a trip or making a business case for an aircraft acquisition. Obviously, there are a lot of variables that impact range (wind, fuel, weight, profile flown etc.) If someone asks how far your airplane can fly, and you answer with how long it can remain airborne, your not answering the question and vice versa!
I'd guess that since you can find the distance between two cities without too much work, it is easier for a manufacturer to provide a potential customer with figures to fit their standard mission. Plus, since the owner of the plane is a passenger, it seems like a bad selling point to tell them how long they will be "stuck" on board. The airlines don't have that problem, since their owners aren't passengers.
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