Hello Phil
I concede that my previous statement was rather sweeping (and unfair) and I didn’t really get across my point properly and I apologise for that. I was not making a generalisation that smaller brokers cannot do the job, I know some smaller brokerage companies have been very successful and have a fantastic reputation… I also agree that conversely many of the large brokerage companies have some staff who have sat at the same desk for donkeys years and have become complacent – this is why some smaller (and start up) brokers have great success; offering clients a pro-active, modern approach. Look at H&P who have just re-branded their image and have become a little more funky with their literature and logo... Air Partner have bought Gold Air in a move push the Jet Card side of things and give them the perfect opportunity to rebrand and move forward both of the two "big" players have done this I guess because smaller broker recognise that tradition and old-fashionedness isn’t the way forward and longer !
We both agree that there are some very good, smaller brokerage firms but there are also some poor ones… likewise for the large firms – big isn’t always best.
Please don’t get me wrong, I am all for brokers going forward and I have massive respect for new brokerage companies that succeed and succeed by doing a good job – look for example at The Charter Company and the string subject of Oxygen 4 as new companies, they have done well by quietly and understatedly doing a good job for their clients (presumably at least according to industry gossip). One has to have respect for them for this...
The point of my first statement was as follows; there are some companies out there who have never seen a private jet but have a nice website and a bit of money to market themselves. This is the scenario to illustrate why this is a bad thing.
Scenario 1.
A broker with minimal experience, contacts and knowledge books an aircraft… said aircraft goes AOG on day of flight… some inexperienced brokers wouldn’t have resources – financially or expertly to provide another aircraft for the client. I know if it were a Centreline aircraft that had gone AOG (not that they ever do ;o) you would provide an alternative aircraft for the broker; but some airlines wouldn’t, thus leaving the broker with a problem. There is a good chance this broker may not have a credit line with many operators and therefore have a problem on the morning of the flight to arrange payment to the replacement airline. Leaving the client with the problem and the word "broker" associated with bad service...
SB