Private aviation appears to be a closed segment. Indeed, this area requires confidentiality, professionalism and, of course, does not forgive mistakes. Olga Akatieva, founder of Global Group Business aviation & Concierge, talks about the private aviation market, its realities and prospects.
Establishing a company
Until 2013, I worked as an aviation broker. Among my responsibilities was the search for an aircraft on request, its preparation and flight control. Since I was inside the system and saw customer requests, I had an understanding of what services can be added to achieve even greater customer loyalty.
The company's management did not react to my initiative with enthusiasm and did not consider it necessary to consider opportunities for improving the service when the business was already working. As a result, I realized that I want to make such decisions myself, and not enter into difficult negotiations in order to become even better.
Therefore, in 2013 I created the Global Group business aviation & concierge. According to my idea, the company should be not just an aviation broker, but a concierge service that is able to close both basic and additional client requests. As it turned out later, we created a new and highly demanded niche.
The initial investment in setting up the company was approximately RUB 300,000. I spent them on registering an LLC, renting an office, initial staff costs and launching a website.
The opening of the company was facilitated by the fact that we did not have to look for the target audience – we worked with my regular clients. Word of mouth helped to get new ones – we were recommended with the note “they can solve any request related to the flight.”
We got the second wave of new clients on cold sales, which work well with the target audience. This is how we formed a pool of loyal customers.
It was very difficult to assemble a good team at the very beginning
To be honest, the staff is one of the hardest stories ever. Almost everything has to be taught independently.
The specificity of our profession is such that a lot depends on the personal qualities of a person. Therefore, the search for personnel is a separate complex process, here it is exclusively manual selection, which I cannot entrust to someone.
When hiring an employee, I evaluate his social networks, because they can also affect my reputation, I ask personal questions in order to understand how a person is attentive to details, flexible in making decisions.
The main criterion is the totality of a person's professional competencies and his personal qualities, because in our business there is a lot of personal communication with a client, and the cost of a mistake is extremely high.
When applying for a job, I sympathize with young professionals, but there is an unpleasant tendency, which has only intensified recently – many of them do not see and do not want to see their future and earn money. Freedom and creativity are more important to them, and in these two concepts they just do not invest!
In employees, I value hard work, dedication, love for myself and my life, the desire to acquire new knowledge and improve skills.
Personal qualities are great, but better when they work in conjunction with professional ones. I believe that being a good person is not enough to be a good employee. Therefore, sometimes I had to say goodbye to people whom I liked humanly, but did not know how or did not want to work.
Also in our work it is extremely important that an employee can easily get out of a conflict situation and at the right time independently make the necessary decision.
We conduct the main recruitment search on specialized sites, recruiting agencies, as well as among friends and on the recommendation of colleagues. Now our team is:
jet managers,
travel team employees,
concierge service specialists,
flight managers,
specialists dealing with passenger logistics,
employees who ensure the work of the office,
accounting,
IT specialists.
How the business works
This market is structured as follows: there is a pool of aviation brokers. Today there are about 200 of them in Russia, and there are about 20 large ones. In fact, all these companies are engaged in the management of private courts.
Almost all aircraft are either owned by individuals or organizations, or owned by airlines. Most of the business jets are based in Moscow, the most popular airport is Vnukovo-3, the less busy ones are Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo.
When I started my business, there were significantly fewer companies in the market. Now the situation has changed, and the number of players has doubled. But many quickly leave, unable to withstand the competition.
Some people think this is a simple business, but it is an illusion. In fact, this area requires a very clear structure, 24/7 involvement, as well as a lot of different nuances. It is very important to keep your finger on the pulse, maintain relationships and monitor the external situation. Since the market is partly closed, it is difficult for beginners to do this.
It should be noted that lately this segment has dropped significantly – we feel a decline and a decrease in budgets. On New Year's Eve, for example, 40% fewer flights took off. Why is unknown.
This did not affect us in any way, it was just that our clients began to be more attentive to costs and became more rational. After the holidays, the dynamics went up again, and everything again returned to our expected indicators. We are now actively planning the summer.
The cost of the flight consists of fixed and variable costs. Variables are airport taxes, fuel, permits, reserves, they are 70-75% of the price of an hour. The permanent category includes expenses for crew, insurance, and more.
The most popular destinations today are Nice, Pisa, Geneva, Milan, Ibiza, London and Sochi, and if we talk about longer flights, then the Maldives, Seychelles and America. I would also like to note that in recent years, Greek islands, for example, Mykonos, Africa and other exotic destinations, have begun to gain great popularity.
In business aviation, there is the concept of Empty Leg, or “empty shoulder”. It means a flight without passengers from the home airport after a completed flight, or, conversely, an approach to a passenger at another airport. To reduce the cost of such empty flights, operators put them on the market at a discount of 20 to 70%, which many business aviation passengers love to take advantage of.
Many companies and families fly this way because it is very convenient. You can be sure that they will wait for you, if something happens, food delivery from your favorite restaurant will be organized. And, of course, there is a big plus in the fact that there are no strangers on the plane and you can comfortably spend this time with loved ones or solve any work issues.
Work with clients
Today our clients are individuals and corporations. In percentage terms, they are divided almost equally.
If we consider the market as a whole, then it is quite specific and gives rise to many myths around it. The most common one is that it is very expensive to fly in a private jet. But the cost of renting a private jet is comparable to business class tickets for two families or a small company.
For example, it is more profitable for corporations to order a private jet under their management – more often it turns out to be cheaper, moreover, it is an excellent opportunity for negotiations.
We work 24/7 and can arrange a departure two hours after the aircraft has been confirmed. In this business, the main difficulty lies in the fact that many things do not depend on you. Therefore, it is vital to work out in detail every stage, nuance and service. My task is to track every step of the whole team. I myself ask you to guide me along the route as you would take a client.
When searching for a specific aircraft, we request information on the ships that are available and analyze it. We choose the board with the price and year of manufacture suitable for us.
This is a fundamental point, since we have clients who fly on certain types of aircraft and if it is not available, then we try to find a similar option or convince the client to change to another type of aircraft, but this is extremely rare. There are also situations when we need to select a crew at the request of our clients.
We are always ready to fulfill everything, even the most unusual wishes of the customer. Sometimes, upon request, we customize the board from Europe. Then we are engaged in the approval of the board, obtaining permits, determining the time of arrival of the aircraft, refueling it, loading it with food, ordering a cleaning service.
We work in strict confidentiality, and it is impossible to find out from us where a particular plane took off or where the plane was during a month. We do not disclose this information even to close relatives.
The peculiarity of my work is such that it is difficult to surprise me with some unusual request. And with the help of iron restraint, I can handle almost any situation. Of course, there are also negative aspects. Almost all of them are related to the human factor, and often they cannot be predicted.
For example, yesterday the driver did a perfect job, but today his wife left him, and he simply cannot work at the proper level.
But many customers simply do not give the right to make a mistake. In such situations, we do everything and even a little more to correct the situation and show how important each client is to us.
Personally, outwardly, I do not react to negativity in any way and teach this to the command. They are the safety point that must be objective and calm at all times, no matter what happens outside.
There are, of course, unusual requests and curious situations. For example, a couple of times the girls were delivered flowers on a private board. But the most memorable request was for organizing a board to distant islands and finding a local operator who could pick up a grave for our client there.
Promotion
We do not deal with advertising as such. Word of mouth helps us – very often we are advised to friends and colleagues. Oddly enough, social networks work with private clients – often orders come from there.
Currently, the peak of flight activity falls on New Year's Eve and on all official holidays. In general, I do not feel the market fall. The requests for directions have changed, now exotic ones are gaining more and more popularity. In this regard, in the next two or three years, I plan to open offices in Europe or America.
