I am a big believer in risk mitigation. Particularly low effort, high impact risk mitigation. Think “umbrella policy” for reference.
Generally speaking, with commercial travel, and aviation in particular, there are a few driving forces behind consumer sentiment: availability, timeliness, and cost. The trunk of the tree, if you will. And, like an old tree with myriad branches, branches that are dead, dying, or weak, so too are there many variables that affect the overall health and wellness of commercial travel.
- Fee creep – U.S. airlines were projected to generate a record $157 billion in total ancillary revenue in 2025. That’s fees for bags, seats, boarding order, flexibility, and whatever they’ve decided to invent since you last flew. The base fare quickly gets turned into just that, the starting point for cost.
- Delays – 2025 was one of the worst years for on-time performance in the last decade, with roughly three out of four flights arriving on time system-wide. Q2 alone was the tardiest quarter since 2014. Due to a plethora of issues, most of which are structural problems.
- Geographic convenience – Commercial routes serve demand at scale, which means a lot of places that matter to Midwest businesses are either a connection (or two) away, or just aren’t served with any regularity or frequency that’s conducive to business.
- Downstream effects – Miss a connection, lose a meeting, lose a client. No convenient airports to your final destination, rent a car and drive for hours. Real costs in time and productivity for each. And then double that impact for good measure (you know, since you still have to get back).
Now, as a firm believer that everything we do (personally, professionally, or in-between) requires some combination of time, effort, and money, the “commercial travel” problem is (thankfully) an easy one to solve.
How? Mitigate the risks, trim or remove the tree. Private aviation, and jet cards in particular, do just that. Not by solving the problem in a strict sense, we won’t fix commercial aviation with what we do, but by avoiding the problem to begin with. The experience we offer isn’t “scaled commercial” it’s bespoke, it’s unique, and it’s yours. Which means it’s designed to solve your problems, not everyone else’s.
So let’s solve your problems, travel or otherwise.
-Mark
