Even these days, a lot of retailers operate fleets of private jets even for district or regional managers, because it saves somebody like Walmart a lot of paid hours to fly someone from rural town A to rural town B rather than potentially deal with the hassle of an overnight booking at an airport hub.
replyI still don't quite get it given I have never worked high enough or in a big enough corp. What kind of mission a person earning $19k a day have to do at the destination to justify the cost? I imagine to earn this much their main responsibility is to lobby / influence someone important (at dinners, golfing and such). Otherwise, if there are no outsiders involved the whole thing could be just done online. If it's about lobbying though - does it have to be done immediately and 3-4 times a week?
replyAnother example that comes to my mind is a highly skilled expert in repairing some important machinery, e.g. ship engines or factory lines.
Again thinking too small. Large business dealings are still done in person, who is going to give another entity $50mm or more without meeting in person, having dinner and getting to know the counter party. It’s not about lobbying so much as time in person counts.
replyWho said anything about 3-4 times a week? There are plenty of businesses with high earners where time matters and I could see flights like these being profitable. Boards meet quarterly typically and they are often preferred to have in person.
Well yea great but why do they have to be there so quickly that not even a private jet is good enough?
replyWhat kind of multi million dollar deal blows up because a dude arrives 18 hours later? And what are they doing when they get there that couldn’t have been done online?
Again, time is money. It’s not about arriving later but the efficiency of time. Many different attributes to consider from sleep, to time optimization or more simply a lot of folks don’t particularly enjoy the long travel and it’s worth the premium. The kind of trips I am thinking about are business related, may only last a day or two with zero buffer before or after.
replyIn business face time still matters. Less than prior to COVID but it still matters. Most boards prefer to meet in person.