Canadian Business Aviation

Canadian Business Aviation Association

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A Time of Travel

IN A CHANGING ECONOMY, ROUTES TO EFFICIENCY ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER. BUSINESS AVIATION CAN GET YOU THERE

T

here was a time when the office

computer was something of a novelty – a luxury even. Now the IT department and all its attendant hardware and software are necessary parts of the workday. For most oil and gas companies operating in the rugged Albertan north, as with other companies elsewhere in Canada, corporate and private commercial aviation is likewise an entrenched tool that facilitates business in any economy.

Canadian Business Aviation Association

Rudy Toering, president and CEO of the Canadian Business Aviation Association, says that business aviation is a tool that allows for increased productivity, customer service and customer retention.

“And it enhances supply chain performance across Canada,” he says. “Private business aviation is a business tool that allows travellers timely access to the places they need to go, it expands the scope of what they can do and where they can go, it allows them to work en route and it gets

them home quickly and safely.” Especially in a changing economy, travelling executives and camp crews alike need to count on easy access to remote sites.

Toering advocates for CBAA members who serve this sector of the travelling public. Members are varied and range from private owner-operators with a single plane to those people and companies who own fractional shares in one or more aircraft, to full-service business aviation specialists with multiple aircraft.

cbaa-acaa.ca

Make Business Work

PRIVATE BUSINESS AVIATION GETS TRAVELLERS FAR FROM THE HUB-AND-SPOKE CENTRES OF COMMERCIAL AVIATION AND DROPS THEM INTO THEIR WORKSITES AND OFFICES QUICKLY AND EASILY

P “Canadian companies use aircraft as business tools,” If the company has no flight department, we offer turnkey services.”

– Stan Kuliavas, Levaero Aviation

ANNUAL TAX CONTRIBUTIONS OF BUSINESS AVIATION IN CANADA: $470 million to the federal government (72 per cent)

$170 million to the provincial/ territorial government (26 per cent)

$13 million to the municipal governments (two per cent)

$650 million total

cbaa-acaa.ca

rivate aviation eases the burden

of travel for people who work in oil and gas exploration and it makes remote work camps possible. In short, it makes business run smoothly.

In the days of moving oil prices, executives simply can’t excuse themselves from the office multiple times a year. For off-site meetings, especially in multiple locations, the obvious choice is business aviation. The management team can get to the airport, avoid the juggernaut of the terminal, get through security and be wheels-up in a span of minutes, not the hours that it would take if they were flying commercial.

Plus, commercial flights only go so far, and some managers ending up renting a car and driving for hours after they land. And business happens everywhere.

A trip to Minot, North Dakota and back to Calgary can take three days. Estevan, Saskatchewan is nowhere near an easy jaunt on a commercial flight. There are hundreds of airstrips, aerodromes and even – for aircraft like the Kodiak and the PC-12, for example – gravel roads where private planes can land. The business aviation route means a time savings that allows managers to meet in the air, and accomplish several site visits in a day, if necessary. Flyers might even be home in time for dinner.

“Traditionally, commercial aviation works on a hub-and-spoke system,” says Geoff Carlyle, director of business development at Skyservice. And it’s a system that works well to manage large numbers of the flying public, transporting them from city to city, or from the depths of winter to a balmy beach getaway. But to get to destinations nowhere near the hubs – some of them without even an airport – requires business aviation specialists.

“Skyservice is one of Canada’s largest charter and management companies,” Carlyle says. Some flyers need occasional charter to support their business needs.

“For them, charter is the answer,” Carlyle

says. Other clients might own their own fleet, for which Skyservice provides turnkey support. It offers to manage customers’ maintenance, flight coordination, catering, security, flight operations, and other technical and administrative services. The needs of one company are not the same as another.

Especially in Alberta’s oil and gas industry, where headquarters are far from the field and jobsites can be remote and far flung, private business aviation and private commercial service remain necessary tools to move executive teams around on smaller aircraft and to get crews to worksites on larger ones. Sometimes, it’s the only transportation option available for technicians, exploration crews and other professionals to reach remote or distant locations that are off the road system altogether and accessible only by float plane or helicopter.

Canadian air travellers are increasingly taking flight in private aircraft, especially for business purposes. As many as 20 per cent of all business flights in the country are now private, as are 14 per cent of flights to the U.S. The movies might tell you that private aviation is for the rich, but people

BUSINESS WINGS 1,900: The estimated number of business aviation aircraft

76: The percentage that are fixed wing 24: The percentage that are rotor aircraft

$1.3 billion: The direct employ-

ment generated by business aviation in Canada

$3.1 billion: The direct economic output of business aviation

Canadian Business Aviation Association

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who work in Alberta’s oil patch know that it’s an effective tool to expedite business.

Many companies need access to more than one aircraft. For example, on one trip a company may need to fly four to six people to a site 2,000 kilometres away.

But on another trip it might need to fly eight passengers further afield. “In this case, our customers who own a fractional ownership interest in a smaller jet can interchange their hours on the larger jet when they need it,” says Bill McGoey, president of Aurora Jet Partners. Aurora Jet Partners operates and manages a fleet of business jets for large corporations, private companies, individuals, fractional owners, and charter clients. They are also the authorized sales reps for Embraer Executive Jets in Canada, and sell both full aircraft and fractional shares of aircraft.

“Our differentiating factor for our customers is our interchange agreement,” McGoey says. “It creates efficiencies and allows customers to defray some of the cost of owning and operating an aircraft.” Aurora

looks for the right combination of aircraft owners (partners), and jet fractions sell in sizes from one-sixth to one-half. Many aircraft in the fleet are Wifi-enabled and workspace-friendly and can function as a lounge in the sky.

Likewise, the PC-12s and PC-24s that Pilatus offers open a world of opportunity to the business traveller, says Stan Kuliavas of Levaero Aviation, which sells and services signature corporate jets in Canada. And he sees the growing interest in the business community.

“Canadian companies use aircraft

as business tools,” Kuliavas says. “If the company has no flight department, we offer turnkey services.” Executive travellers can maximize their workdays, and business carries on in the air, much as it does on the ground. Coming to the family in 2017 are the new, bigger PC-24s. Kuliavas acknowledges that every corporate customer has their own specific set of variables at work that dictate which aircraft is right, but he says that the PC-12 is a favourite in Alberta’s oil and gas field. “It can access unimproved strips and easily move people and things in and out of most sites.”

A Time Machine

BUSINESS AVIATION SAVES COMPANIES TIME AND INCREASES EFFICIENCY. IS IT RIGHT FOR YOUR OPERATION?

P “Some customers will tell us they need to move 30 people twice a week,” he says.

“Other clients will want to move thousands of people a month.”

– Keith Hopkinson, Hopkinson Aircraft Sales

ASK YOURSELF:

Do I need more time?

To where am I typically travelling?

How many hours a year am I typically travelling?

What time of year?

How remote are the sites to which I travel?

How much is my schedule and my business impacted by the commercial airlines?

What are my transport needs and my travel budget?

cbaa-acaa.ca

rivate aviation and private

commercial service can look like many things. “About half our fleet consists of single, owner-operated aircraft,” says Rudy Toering, president and CEO of the Canadian Business Aviation Association. “The other half is managed.” Fractional ownership benefits travellers who might fly privately for only a few hundred hours per year. It allows them to defray the cost of ownership. It can also give the fractional owner access to other aircraft in a management company’s fleet.

Justin Jones and Keith Hopkinson see customers whose aircraft needs run the gamut. “Business aviation is a time machine,” says Jones, vice-president of research and appraisals at Hopkinson Aircraft Sales, Canada’s oldest aircraft brokerage. With 15 employees in Calgary, Toronto and Scottsdale, Hopkinson buys and sells aircraft on behalf of customers.

Often customers will come to Hopkinson with an idea of the aircraft they want to buy, but after talking to Jones or Hopkinson, will find one that fits their needs better. “We see a lot of people who start a conversation with ‘my friend is a pilot,’ “Hopkinson says. “So we start out by asking how we can help. Some customers will tell us they need to move 30 people twice a week,” he says. “Other clients will want to move thousands of people a month.” The company uses its connections to research the world for the best new or preowned aircraft for customers’ expectations.

There are a number of considerations when you think about private aviation.

Experts suggest you map out your needs carefully in advance. “If you are travelling by air under 100 hours per year, maybe charter is smarter,” Skyservice’s Geoff Carlyle says. But there are some business benefits to ownership. Talk to an accountant about writing off the depreciation of an aircraft. More than 100 hours a year, you can start thinking about some degree of ownership, fractional or otherwise.

For the oil and gas client, private helicopters seating a few geologists are a

versatile choice at the outset of exploration.

Later, a Beechcraft King Air or Kodiak, for example, could fly people to a remote exploration camp and land on a short gravel airstrip. As the project grows, the oil and gas company might use a Beech 1900 or de Havilland Dash 8, which can hold 75 passengers, or fewer with more room for cargo.

Once a camp is in full swing and there’s a long, paved runway, the oil and gas company might start moving large crews in and out on any large private aircraft, such as a Bombardier CRJ or even a Boeing 737. “But there is also the client who does day trips to locations in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan,” says Hopkinson. “He can do five stops in a day and be home by 7 p.m.”

Carlyle and Hopkinson agree that private business aviation can allow clients, even those with a smaller customer base, a reach that they would not otherwise have.

In a changing economy, that reach might make all the difference.

Safest Yet

T

he CBAA represents private/

pivate commercial aviation to the public and to government stakeholders and regulatory bodies. Rudy Toering, president and CEO of the CBAA, is working to ensure that these aviation services are allowed to operate under a regulatory regime that is scalable to the size of the operation and appropriate to the model, in keeping with historical practices.

“The safety record of business aviation speaks for itself,” Toering says.

Regulations took effect recently that saddle private aviation with a set of restrictions that are poised to make the regulatory burden for small operators untenable, risking harm to their businesses and supporting businesses. Fortunately, the CBAA lobbied to achieve a two-year exemption for its members while it works to amend the regulations. “We are urging that the new regulations be scalable and Canadian Business Aviation Association

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more appropriate for smaller operators,” Toering says. “As they are currently written, the burden of red tape is too onerous for them.” The organization is taking on the painstaking work of suggesting by-the-line amendments to the regulation that will keep the best elements, and help codify the already-safe operations. Toering says the association has already asked for a second two-year extension.

Private aviation operates to high safety standards. As a business expense, there is no incentive to do otherwise. Companies that facilitate private aviation and private commercial service understand that and bring it forward to their operations.

Business aviation is governed by Transport Canada, and provides the safest form of air travel, operating under the world’s highest standards. There is no need to fix something that isn’t broken.

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A Fixed Look

F

ly by night. It’s an aviation term

for companies that operated outside the auspices of a fixed base of operations – today, most often called an FBO. In an FBO in Calgary, for example, you might see groups of rank-and-file oil sands employees and contractors trickling into in what looks a little like a pleasant airline waiting area, before boarding a 737 bound for work camps in northern Alberta. You have probably seen an FBO before without realizing it. A typical FBO, if you can say there is a typical one, is a plain structure that your brain might have registered as a hanger or other service bay at an airport. It’s a private air terminal that lets users bypass the mass-transit, time-eating regular terminal. Depending on the client, an FBO may be a basic refuel-and-service bay for aircraft, or it may offer a luxurious customer service experience, with customs agents from Canadian Border Services available 24 hours a day.

GET INVOLVED!

Canadian Business Aviation Association Tel: (613) 236-5611 www.cbaa-acaa.ca

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A New Altitude.

Elevate Your Standards Corporate, commercial, mission specific and personal aviation users have known us for more than two decades as Pilatus Centre Canada. We are excited to announce the evolution of our company as we become Levaero Aviation. By broadening our scope we can better serve the diverse needs of our clients. Levaero Aviation is built upon

Stan Kuliavas, Vice President of Sales skuliavas@levaero.com 1 844-538-2376

a solid foundation of international experience. Join us for the ride as we raise the bar in Canadian Aviation to a whole new Altitude.

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