Managed flight departments

[g159av8tor]

I believe sometime in my education I was told that five aircraft is the magic number of diminished return where efficiencies of a managed flight department are lost and going internal actual starts making sense. What are some of the obscure (not obvious) benefits of having a managed flight department? Thoughts?

Tailwinds...

 

[h25b]

Use of someone's FAR 135 Certificate for tax reasons is about the only thing I can come up with. The only other reason would be if you aren't able to attract and retain quality individuals to do the job in house.

But I can't think of any reason why this decision would rely on how many aircraft you own/operate.

 

[SCT]

-Volume fuel discounts.
-Use of other managed a/c in the company(depending on the contract).
-Group insurance rates.

But over all, I don't think it is worth the money unless you are a private individual that does not want the hassle of your "own" employees.

 

[Spooky 2]

Worked for both kinds and for the same flight department. 10+ aircraft in this case. I feel certain that in this specific situation the pilots, mechanics and support personnel would crawl through a mile of broken glass to get the managed department back in lieu of the in-house operation. The money saved by the insurance, fuel and other bulk discounts more than offsets the cost of the management company fees. The worst part of the in-house operation in this case was not anyone in the flight department but rather the constant interference from coprporate officers/owners from headquarters that were by their own admission "clueless" about aviation in general. The bean counters, HR and a host of other folks work 24/7 to destroy the moral and working conditions at this flight department. I'm sure this is not a constant throughout the industry, but in this case you can take it to the bank for sure. Heavy turnover says it all but they just don't get it.

 

[rice]

Spooky,
I too have worked for both. And while I don't disagree with what you've said, the question was posed strictly against how many aircraft does it take before going it alone. I've seen two aircraft flight dept.s save as much as a management company would simply by being agressive with seeking out good fuel and insurance programs. At the end of the day it really comes down to how hard is the person running the show going to work to save the boss as much as possible without destroying the morale of the dept. It takes a strong but amicable leader who is just as much a $hit screen for the troops (when corp. is FU) as a professional looking out for the company's interests.

 

[Otter]

Rice gives sound advice here. The only thing certain in aviation, no certainty.