Corporate F/A Dispatch

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has announced that a new publication is now available to members only. Titled, “Business Aviation Insider” this new print publication will be distributed quarterly with an increased publishing schedule later on. According to Aero-News Network:

Business Aviation Insider, available only to NBAA Members, will touch upon virtually all aspects of the industry, including operational issues, developments in the federal policy arena, NBAA events and Member benefits and profiles of NBAA’s diverse Membership.

The NBAA is widely recognized as the voice of business aviation working along side of the FAA to set aviation policy.

Technorati Tags:
NBAA, National Business Aviation Association,
Business Aviation, Private Jets

Do you have a side business or some other way that can help you make some money between trips? If so, feel free to post that information on our Buy/Sell/Trade/Promote forums for corporate flight attendants. Listings stay up for 30 days and you can post whatever you want for free [no adult, no hate, no spam...]. At the end of the 30 days, simply repost your information or change it to reflect your newest campaign.

Technorati Tags:
buy, sell, trade, promote

One week after the NBAA conference has ended, many of our regular forum visitors are on trips across the globe making a living. Come to think of it, this is a usual cycle for business flight attendants come October: a flurry of flying, followed by the NBAA convention, followed by plenty of more flying. Indeed, from now through the Super Bowl I would imagine that this is the busiest time of the year for many veterans cabin crewmembers.

On the forums, activity has slowed somewhat but we are following the budding career of one corporate flight attendant who is trying to get a job with Netjets, an important conversation about stand by rates, and the surprise one member had with a recent catering order.

As much as things change, sometimes they stay the same. Thanks for staying connected with us by way of our forums which generate a full 75% of the site’s traffic!

Technorati Tags:
corporate flight attendant, forum, forums, message boards,
cabin crew, corporate flight attendants, resource center, job board,
flight crew, business aviation, private jet, NBAA, NATA, aircraft

As many of you are aware, I have a “Private Jet Charter Operators” page on the site which features many of the leading operators from across America. Just recently, I added several more operators to the list.

Please note that this list includes fractional operators as well as brokers. I included them with the list because they can be a good source of job leads for you as well. Ultimately, the list was put together by me as a way to make contacts for corporate flight attendants everywhere.

Happy reading!

Technorati Tags:
private jets, corporate flight attendant, corporate flight attendants,
business aviation, business jet, aircraft brokers,
fractional jets, NBAA, NATA, air charter

E-Flight started a conversation on our message boards a few days ago that has certainly taken off. Titled, Catering $urpri$e, this member discussed the shock she received for one catering order that sounded excessively overpriced. Turns out that many of the respondents have suggested that the FBO may have a lot to do with the final price with a mark up as high as 30% for some orders!

Why not join the thread and share your experience with catering, FBOs, and invoices? Just think about it: if your catering charge is normally about $800, it could easily be pushed past $1000 when a surcharge included. I don’t know about you, but this extra amount certainly does seem excessive. What do you think?

Technorati Tags:
FBO, in-flight catering, corporate flight attendant,
corporate flight attendants, food costs

The Articles landing page of this site was updated by me this morning to help you navigate what is simply a very looooong page. Now, you can access all the categories directly by clicking on the appropriate link and going directly to the list of articles featured. This means that if you want to read something about Wine all you have to do is click on “Wine” and you are there. Hit the “Back to Top” button and you are returned to the top of the page or you can choose to simply scroll up and down to read more information.

Hopefully, these changes will make what will soon become an even longer page much easier to navigate as the content increases over time.

Technorati Tags:
corporate flight attendant, business aviation, private jet

If you were able to attend the NBAA meeting in Orlando this past week, be certain to share your findings on our forums.

I wasn’t able to break free to get there, but I am very interested in how it all went. Particularly, was the break out session for corporate flight attendants what you expected it to be?

Let us know: inquiring minds want info!

Technorati Tags:
NBAA, NBAA Conference, Business Jets, Private Jets

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am also a freelancer — a writer, web designer, etc., but everytime I read on our forums about salaries and wages, I hope that people will not sell themselves short. You see, there is a quiet desperation lurking in the hearts of some corporate flight attendants, a desperation based upon finding enough work to make a “go” of their careers. Frankly, if you are new to business aviation, you know that getting that first gig is as much of a milestone as it is overcoming that nagging doubt in your head saying that you made the wrong choice, that business aviation is too competitive, or going with some other type of persistent discomfort that makes you want to act irrationally.

If you lowball your rates, then you can expect that you’ll constantly be pricing yourself too low to compete successfully in this business. There are operators out there who want you to fly for peanuts, but they need to be reminded that you serve more elegant fare and that peanuts are for the airlines. Of course, convincing these operators to see your point of view isn’t likely to happen. Instead, simply avoiding the lowballers instead of enabling their sad business tactics is the order of the day.

For those of you who have been working for some time and have been seriously considering raising your rates, now is as good of a time as any to do just that. Business aviation is booming, the economy is solid, and you are worth the prevailing industry rate — not a dollar less. Remember, the pilots get paid what they are worth and so should you.

Technorati Tags:
contract work, per diem,
corporate flight attendant, business aviation