AP may have ridden out recessions in the past. But this time it’s different. Flying private jets has become ‘unacceptable’ and parasites (middlemen) such as AP will find it harder to earn their commission. As I said earlier, lean companies will survive this downturn, not ‘top heavy’ companies like AP. People like AP are proud to have more people, more offices, more coffees consumed and more gas emitted per person.
If Netjets and Jet Republic can’t make it work, how does AP intend to make it work ?
Their share price says it all. Investors are losing confidence in the model.
When the going gets tough, the last thing, customers want to pay for are ‘broker commissions’.
As we all know, broker commissions are money for nothing !
As much as I disliked brokers to earn money for nothing, I did work with AP and other for a long time. for me, there are 2 ways to do business as a little air taxi operator:
1) invest heavily in
PR to get the clients
2) use brokers to get your aircraft airborn. let them do the advertisement
We did have a solid clients base and were able to fill in a lot through brokers. I always like AP since they were honest and paid.
I never viewed money earned by brokers as money for nothing. Lets wait and see, but I seriously doubt AP going out of business soon.