On first glance, people think there is no way
they can afford to charter an airplane. A commercial
airline may charge a few hundred dollars for a
round trip ticket, while the cost to charter a
King Air 200 for the same trip may be in the thousands.
But, is the only cost for a trip the airfare?
What about hotels? What about parking and rental
cars? Most importantly what is the value of time
for you and those you travel with? Maybe charter
is not as expensive as you first thought!
Lets look at a real world example and compare
the actual costs of chartering vs. commercial
airlines. You and 4 business associates based
in Atlanta need to attend a 4 hour meeting beginning
at 9AM in Florence, SC. After checking all the
roundtrip commercial flights direct to Florence
and any other nearby airports within 90 miles,
you decide the most efficient alternative that
will take the least amount of total time is to
fly into Myrtle Beach the night before the meeting,
stay overnight in Florence, attend the meeting,
and return to Myrtle Beach after the meeting to
catch the early evening flight back to Atlanta.
Airtime is 1:14 from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach.
The following costs*, per person, are incurred:
| Airfare |
$278 + tax |
| Hotel |
$89 +tax |
| Meals |
$50 (dinner, lunch) |
| Rental Car |
$15 w/tax (per person share) |
| Parking |
$12 |
| Total Per person |
$444 - Total for all 5 people:
$2220 |
* Costs are averaged from those obtained
from airlines, hotels, and rental car companies
with a 3 day advance booking in August 2004.
Here is an analysis of where your team’s time
was spent during the Florence trip.
DAY BEFORE THE MEETING
| 3:20 pm |
Leave the office in North Fulton for Hartsfield-Jackson
airport |
| 60 minutes |
Drive time to airport |
| 60 minutes |
Wait time before departing flight |
| 5:20 pm |
Depart Atlanta via commercial airlines |
| 6:34 pm |
Arrive in Myrtle Beach |
| 40 minutes |
Time from gate in Myrtle Beach, rent car,
on the road |
| 40 minutes |
Stop for dinner |
| 90 minutes |
Drive from Myrtle Beach to Florence hotel |
| 9:24 pm |
Arrive at the hotel |
DAY OF THE MEETING
| 9:00 am |
Arrive at meeting site after breakfast and
hotel checkout |
| 1:30 pm |
Begin driving back to Myrtle Beach airport
after meeting |
| 120 minutes |
Drive time Myrtle Beach airport with a stop
for lunch |
| 214 minutes |
Return rental car, check in and wait at
Myrtle Beach airport for return flight |
| 7:04 pm |
Flight takes off for Atlanta |
| 8:15 pm |
Arrive in Atlanta |
| 30 minutes |
Time from gate in Atlanta to car and on
the road home |
| 45 minutes |
Drive time to north Fulton |
| 10:30 pm |
Arrive at home |
11.6 hours Total non-productive time.
Now let’s look at the same trip using Quality
Aviation’s King Air B200. Since you define
the flight times, you can pick the closest airport
to your meeting. In this case, we’ll land
at the Florence, SC airport. Since you pick the
departure time, you can leave and return on the
same day. Let’s assume the meeting site
is a 10-minute drive from the airport and a car
(either from the meeting site or the local air
terminal) can transport your team. The airtime
is 1 hour.
| Airfare |
$536.60** |
| Hotel |
$0 |
| Meals |
$0 |
| Rental Car |
$0 |
| Parking |
$0 |
Total Per person $536.60 Total for all 5 people
$2682**
** Prices based on 2:30 total flight time and
4 hours pilot wait time at Florence. Quality Aviation
pricing is provided on a per trip basis
DAY OF THE MEETING
| 6:50 am |
Depart for PDK from North Fulton |
| 30 minutes |
Drive-time to airport for departing flight |
| 10 minutes |
Arrive before departing flight |
| 7:30 am |
Quality Aviation takes off for Florence |
| 8:30 am |
Quality Aviation arrives in Florence |
| 15 minutes |
From the door of the King Air to meeting
site |
| 1:30 pm |
Depart for Florence Airport |
| 15 minutes |
From the meeting site to the door of the
King Air |
| 1:50 pm |
Quality Aviation takes off for PDK |
| 3:00 pm |
Quality Aviation arrives at PDK |
| 5 minutes |
In your car driving back to the office |
75 minutes. Total non-productive time.
Bottom line: You spent a total
of $462 less flying commercially but you also
incurred more than 11 unproductive hours in the
process per team member! Traveling in the Quality
Aviation King Air is like being in flying conference
room so you could have been productive even in
the air. True, some of the unproductive hours
we counted were in the evening after close of
business. Well, what family time was missed? What
social engagements were sacrificed? When you factor
the most valuable asset you and your team possess;
TIME, flying with Quality Aviation is a very cost
efficient way to travel!
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