First time post from the ‘inside’…
When an operator says to a broker “No availability”; he is effectively saying “Thanks, but I’m busy flying already; go find availability elsewhere; I can’t take any more today”
When they say that most days in most peak months, and all the quality aircraft are out flying, where do they expect us to take our business? If our clients want a high quality late model jet and the market only has a tired 25 year old, should we tell them to go away as well?
The simple conclusion is to go control our own – what’s wrong with that? It means we have our own aircraft to cover our own guaranteed card hours for our own clients. Without it, we’d have to break a commitment to a client. That’s basic strategic sense.
And as for pinching other brokers business, we just want to go flying – why start a war to own the business direct inside, when they’re giving us the business indirectly already? Everyone expects to pay commissions for 3rd party business.
Yes there’s a Gentleman’s agreement; to date ALL of our flying for the last 22 years has been flown by 3rd party operators under that Gentleman’s agreement (some more tightly than others) – brokers have no choice; so why do people think we’ll operate any other way. Let’s get real, everyone knows everyone else’s clients already; that’s sorted, but perhaps people need to remember the market is growing at 30+% and that’s where a growing company needs to focus. This is not a shrinking market with everyone gasping for their last breath to stay alive.
And on ‘independence’, I have no problem whether our client chooses an in-house or an external supplier's jet; in my experience clients are extremely well educated and quite smart enough to figure it out for themselves – if we move any more than 5% of our business in-house the Lears would be fully committed, without any external growth.