Introduction
For any organization, there are different departments with different responsibilities and work towards achieving set goals and objectives. Planning in an organization is an important aspect the management among other departments should be concerned about (Clark, 2017) . With proper planning, it becomes easy to achieve the set goals and objectives. The sales and marketing department of a company plays a vital role in the process of reaching out to the potential consumers of an organization’s products and services. There are sometimes, sales staff that are required to travel long distances to reach out to the target consumers. With regard to this, it is fundamental for any company to ensure that they facilitate the movement of the sales staff as they contribute immensely towards the expansion of the clientele base. When the sales and marketing staff are not provided with the required resources to reach out to the target market, a particular company may fail to reach its goals and objectives in the long run. In the engineering company in the presented case, it is argued that there should be the introduction of a flight that serves the movement of the staff working in the company (Hersch & McDougall, 2013) . The company would enjoy numerous benefits by bringing in resources that would facilitate efficient and effective movement of the sales and marketing staff across the different parts of Lynchburg town. This paper focuses on discussing the various reasons why the engineering company should introduce a flight management department in its operations. Also, it provides an insight into how the introduction of the fight plan would benefit to the company as compared to normal flight plans offered by flight companies.
Breakdown of Current Spending on Travel and Time
The engineering company spends a lot of money in the process of sending the sales staff in the field to reach out to the potential customers. According to the information presented about the company, it is evident that most of the expenditure is used on the sales staff so that they can talk market the products to the customers effectively. Additionally, there is a group of engineers who are sent to conduct surveys in the field on behalf of the company. With regard to expenditures, all the staff is most of the times required to take flight for convenience. The company is responsible for paying f or all the flight expenses and the costs of accommodation wherever the staff and the engineers are sent to do the company’s duties. First off, the company send about 3-5 sales employees on every trip that is related to the marketing of company products and services. On average, there are around thirty trips for the sales staff throughout the year. The trips normally take between two to three days. This means that there are costs related to movement and accommodation in the region where the sales staff are sent by the company. The accommodation expenses cover the 3-5 sales staff employees including their meals within the hotels. Additionally, the engineers are involved in inspection and pop-up troubleshooting trips which last up to three weeks. Thus, the engineers have to spend a lot of money on accommodation and movement throughout the three-week period. However, the engineers are a smaller number than the sales staff but the fact that they spend more time during their trips makes them spend more money. The total annual expenses of the sales staff and the engineers during their trips is calculated to be $180000.
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The engineers are estimated to spend approximately $80000 on both travel and accommodation. This covers the flight expenses and the other travel expenses that include vehicle hiring in their destination locations. They require vehicles to travel for inspection which means that they sometimes require hiring private vehicles. Additionally, the sales staff spend an approximated amount of $100000 for their flights and other travel plans. The amount also includes all the accommodation expenditures that they incur in the course of their trips. The expenses include traveling within a 400-mile radius around Lynchburg town.
Cost Analysis of Owning a Corporate Jet
According to (Phillips, Phillips & Phillips, 2012) , most companies that own corporate jets are considered to offer travel convenience for their staff. This is a factor that has contributed to the success of many companies in the world. Therefore, one of the main reasons why the company should purchase a corporate jet is for convenience and efficiency. When there is a corporate jet, staff members can conveniently move around without having to make flight bookings prior to their trips. For instance, the engineers that are required to go for pop-up troubleshooting would be conveniently served by the presence of a corporate jet. They would be transported to the site of troubleshooting and probably be taken back to their company stations. Secondly, the travel expenses would be cut down yearly. It is clear that when there is a corporate jet for the company, the company would only be required to fuel and do maintenance on the jet (Yermack, 2006) . Additionally, the company would be required to pay the staff working on the jet which could be expensive initially but affordable in the long run.
Hersch & McDougall (2013) argue that, depending on the size of the company and travel needs, it is important to have travel plans that would provide convenience to the staff members that require frequent movement. Comparing the commercial flights and the corporate jet, it is evident that using commercial aircrafts would be cheaper. This is due to the fact that the company is only required to buy air tickets for the staff members. Also, the company would not incur any expenditures on maintenance of the airplane and pay the staff working on it. Having a corporate jet means that the company would be required to hire additional staff that would be involved in operating, maintenance and among other thing relate to jet service (Yermack, 2006) s. This would, in turn, be expensive for the company and would end up spending more than $180000 annual expenditure on travel and accommodation. The fact that the corporate jet would be available does not mean that the accommodation expenses would change.
Flight Department
In any company that owns a corporate jet, there is a flight department that has various responsibilities. First, the mission of opening up a flight department would be to ensure there is improved deficiency in the transportation of staff members within the company when necessary (Hersch & McDougall, 2013) . The flight department would have the responsibility of planning and organizing flights for the staff. This would enhance the ability of the staff with different assignments to save time and be efficient. The department would also have the responsibility of controlling the jet when it is airborne. This means that they would act as a control center to help the pilots in their navigation (Phillips, Phillips & Phillips, 2012) . Further, the department would be responsible for conducting maintenance checks on the jet regularly ; this would help in keeping the jet in good shape at all times thus improving its efficiency and level of service to the staff.
The pilots required for the jet would be two. These are the main experts that would be required to fly the jet when required to. Additionally, the pilots should be certified and recommended by the FAA for them to be hired within the company. Having qualified personnel working in the flight would help to reduce cases of irresponsibility among the pilots.
Conclusion
Introducing a corporate jet in the flight plan of the company would help to improve the transportation efficiency for staff members required to travel for long distances. It would also help to save time as the staff would no longer be required to make prior flight bookings from flight service companies. However, comparing the expenses that would be incurred by the company in acquiring and maintaining the jet, it would be important for the company to seek expert advice on the best course of action that they should take before deciding to purchase the jet. The commercial flight plans appear to be more affordable for the company than having a corporate jet that requires a lot of resources for it to be fully functional and of service to the company. Despite the jet being an asset to the company, it would bring about more expenses which would derail the company in the long run from saving more profits.
References
Clark, P. (2017). Buying the big jets: fleet planning for airlines . Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.
Hersch, P. L., & McDougall, G. S. (2013). The demand for corporate jets: a discrete choice analysis. Applied Economics , 25 (5), 661-666.
Phillips, A., Phillips, A. P., & Phillips, T. R. (2012). Bizjets : Technology and market structure in the corporate jet aircraft industry (Vol. 1). Springer Science & Business Media.
Yermack, D. (2006). Flights of fancy: Corporate jets, CEO perquisites , and inferior shareholder returns. Journal of Financial Economics , 80 (1), 211-242.
