macgruber

Hi All

I was just curious if anyone out there flying part 91 corporate has been affected (job security/less flying) by the rising price of jet fuel.

Thanks in Advance

elssaw

To the best of my knowledge the price of jet fuel has not had any significant negative impact on part 91 corporate flight departments. In fact, every pure 91 jet operation I know of has been flying more than ever since the economic bubble burst in 2008. 135 operators have really been hurt by the bad economy and high fuel costs. My guess is the top wealthiest individuals/organizations can afford to buy jets for private use and fuel prices are not going to factor into their decision matrix. Whereas, the semi-wealthy who can afford to charter but cannot afford to actually own the jet are much more sensitive to increases in fuel costs.

Just my two cents.

OnTheRun

Well said. I agree I fly part 91 and we are as busy as ever. My boss will not change his travel plans due to gas prices. You wil see a decline in charters as flight departments
have to raise prices.

__________________
I am sick of Billionaires yelling at me because of the weather.

Red Forman

It helps when you can have your own fuel farm. I think we save around $400,000 a year in fuel because of ours.

NowCorporate

No.

As usual, we shop fuel the best we can. We also budget fuel fairly high from the start as to absorb the typical summer rise (such B.S.!)

We fly as usual, but you can bet our boss knows what it costs and he is sensitive to it and asks us what fuel is costing all the time. Of course, this does not affect our trips.

Whenever an aircraft owner changes their trips due to fuel costs, start polishing up that resume. Its a pure luxury item despite the weak BS NBAA spews....and you can afford it or you cant.

macgruber

Thats pretty much what we do as well. Bossman told me after i started this thread (this morning) to start looking for an xls so things cant be to bad.

thanks for everyones input

BoilerUP

I work for a small company, and while we are sensitive to fuel costs, we don't cancel trips due to price.

We have the option of using our Cirrus for trips with just 1/2 pax, and often utilize that if time isn't pressed and weather cooperates. Then again, we were doing that a couple years ago when fuel was under $3/gal.

Rising energy costs can certainly stunt the economic recovery, but aviation in general and bizav specifically *should* be able to weather a fuel spike better in an economy trending upward vs. one that was falling downward in late 08/early 09.

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"Fat pilots carry less payload." - R.M. Grundman

geosynchronus

I think it would be best to gauge the entity's financial health that uses the business aircraft to possibly answer that question.

Well capitalized, profitable entity= less sensitivity to increased direct operating costs= possible sustained demand.

Under capitalized, unprofitable entity= more sensitive= possible reduced demand.

The dude

People who can afford to fly around on a corporate jet for pleasure don't typically sweat a dollar or two per gallon bump. Kinda like when postage stamps go up three cents for us poor folks.

Iowapilot

I was just talking to a couple of 91 guys yesterday about this and they were getting worried about it. They had been outpacing the budget for fuel costs and amout of time flown and the boss man said there was no more money beyond the budget. I asked what they were going to do and they said they were going to start canceling trips. Not good.