Whopity,
I know you already know about this from another post. I thought I would put it here for tidiness.
https://en.wingly.io/index.php?page=...imburghFlights
So professional schools are now under fire from two directions: "introductory" flights and "cost-share sightseeing".
I can look at our business two ways: the profit from gift vouchers subsidises the pilot training, or the profits from pilot training subsidises the gift vouchers.
Because without one, there won't be the other. And without both, we are out of business!
And a flying instructor earning £15k a year from PPL training and then £10k a year from gift vouchers will stop instructing if they only get 15k a year because the gift voucher business has gone elsewhere! (yes, that's what we aim to pay, I am aware those numbers are very generous for many many other ab-initio-pilot instructors)
And we lose the opportunity to try an "upsell" as they say, i.e. sign up for a PPL course.
I wonder if any of the flying schools - such as Tayside, I presume, in the above example - know or care that someone is hiring their aircraft to cannibalise their business?
Fortunately, we own the airfield and the flying school, so the lease and airfield user agreement will be altered to prohibit this sort of activity.
I pity others.