On June 29th at the Daytona Beach, FL campus, Jet Advisors founder, Dr. Kevin O’Leary, successfully defended his dissertation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Doctoral Dissertation Title:
THE EFFECTS OF SAFETY CULTURE AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP ON SAFETY PERFORMANCE
Brief Summary:
The study focused on pilot’s perception of their company’s safety culture / ethical leadership and if those constructs had an impact on the pilot’s safety performance. The most important finding revealed that safety culture and ethical leadership are highly correlated. This means that if pilots have a strong positive impression about their safety culture, there is high likelihood their perception of the ethics of the company’s leaders will be strong and positive as well.
Effects of the Ph.D. on Jet Advisors products and services:
A Ph.D. program teaches their candidates how to properly research topics and draw scientific conclusions from an objective analysis of the data. Jet Advisors clients need the best possible research to make their aviation decisions; therefore, a research degree will assist Jet Advisors clients when trying to reach the best decision.
Needs Assessment:
Drawing the best conclusion starts with a complete understanding of the needs and wants of the individual client. The need is based on a client’s schedule and where they need to be to accomplish their mission. While needs are based on requirements, wants are based on preferences and it is important to understand the distinction between the two constructs and place the appropriate amount of weight on each. In Jet Advisors needs assessment, needs are given full weighting where the preferences are weighted based on client preference scoring. Some of these wants or often called preferences are considered “hot buttons” and are still given full weight. For example, if a client is 6’5” tall, flying in a cabin that is appropriately sized may not be a true “need” but would still be given full weighting. The full weighting is based on the fact that some light jet cabins are just 4’9” inches tall and would make taller passengers very uncomfortable.
Our needs assessment also analyzes each individual trip. These trips are placed into our Flight Time Calculator (FTC) which identifies the flight time for many different types of jets. The trips are analyzed by distance, runways, services and length of stay. The FTC then estimates the cost of each flight based on the billing procedures and current costs from an ad hoc charter, fractional ownership and full ownership.
Charter / Card / Membership or Fractional Ownership:
Jet Advisors guides clients all the way through the process. Whether it’s a fractional ownership, card, membership or charter agreement. Our experience with over 2,500 transactions helps us identify the pitfalls in any program based on the needs assessment and preferences of the individual client and compared with the billing procedures of the different potential solutions.
Whole Aircraft?:
The next step is the whole aircraft overlay, this is only conducted when the total number of annual hours exceeds an amount where a whole aircraft would be less expensive than other modes of private travel. This step places one aircraft over all the trips from the needs assessment. This step is done by hand due to the operational complexities in aircraft ownership. Subsequently, several Net Present Value (NPV) financial models are generated to analyze the optimum solution.
Private Jet Index (PJI) / Multi-Attribute Decision Model (MADM):
An outgrowth of the Ph.D. program was the use of big data and advanced analytics to scientifically conclude which aircraft type is the best for each individual client. Jet Advisors has arguably the most advanced decision making tools for selecting the optimum aircraft for both the client’s needs and wants. The Private Jet Index (PJI) is a patent pending software package developed by our founder. The PJI is an advanced analytical tool that separates the reality from lore, and places aircraft performance and attributes at the center of the decision. The PJI takes into account more than 30 attributes, performance measures, and owner satisfaction and combines it with advanced forecasting models to determine the optimum aircraft in each cohort group.
No decision could be complete without a multi-attribute decision model (MADM) where the client’s preferences are combined with industry average preferences to pin point the aircraft type that best fits both the client’s needs and wants.
Finding the Best Aircraft:
Jet Advisors founder is an American Society of Appraisers or ASA Senior Accredited Appraiser. This certification is extremely important when searching the market for the best value aircraft available for purchase. Jet Advisors conducts the equivalent of a desktop appraisal on the top several aircraft in the marketplace to show which one will have the lowest cost to value (CTV) ratio. This is a very important step because the CTV ratio often includes many different variables that could be easily overlooked during the aircraft search. While this step is quantitative and based in analytics, there is a qualitative step that includes the client’s preferences and weighs those into the CTV ratio as well.
Buying the Best Aircraft:
Jet Advisors staff have been through over 500 jet transactions. The acquisition process is laid out in a step by step planning software program named Aircraft Acquisition Planner (AAP). The AAP is designed to remind the staff of each individual step repeatedly until that step is signed off. Each sign off is then checked by the quality control (QC) supervisor for accuracy. This standardized procedure is enhanced periodically to ensure all lessons learned from each and every deal are built into the program so that nothing is missed on during our acquisition service.
Manager Select:
The Manager Select service by Jet Advisors is the final step in our comprehensive line of acquisition services. The manager select program was developed by a former executive at the largest aircraft management company in the world and was designed to measure the level of fiscal responsibility of an aircraft management company while operating your aircraft. This selection process has benefitted from our years of auditing the financial fitness of the operation of client’s aircraft by many management companies. Jet Advisors is dedicated to our clients and wants to ensure their aircraft ownership is a positive experience.
Summary:
Jet Advisors is a data driven company that takes data collection and analysis seriously. We consider data collection and analysis as a critical success factor for our advisory services. Our representation is built on trust and is completely transparent. We are only paid by our clients and disclose all relevant information to our clients during the transaction process. Our high ethical standards are only rivaled by our scientific approach to decision making.