Kavoo Launches New Charter Service

The Fly Kavoo website says "it's about time" what does that slogan mean to the company and to passengers?

For customers, our service is about placing a premium on customers' time and giving them the freedom and control to choose when they want to fly. On the business side, the time has come for Kavoo to demonstrate to the industry that, given the right business model and delivering extraordinary customer service on top of an unblemished safety record, the vision of a new generation of successful air taxi service is already evolving.

When will Fly Kavoo be open for online reservations?

We have targeted October 5th to be "live" with our new proprietary reservations software but travelers can reach me directly 24 x 7 at 888-435-9528.

Kavoo currently has six Cirrus SR-22s and a King Air 200 with Kavoo headquarters in Danbury, Connecticut, any plans to expand?

We are always looking to talk with Cirrus owners about adding their SR22's to our fleet on a leaseback basis. We expect to add two Cirrus Vision 7-seat personal jets and will continue to expand our number of aircraft to meet customer and geographic needs.

At a time when frugality has become almost fashionable how do you pitch air chartering as a smart choice? Do you find people want to be more discreet about their charter flying for fears of appearing too flashy or not sensitive to environmental concerns?

The issue I've always had with the concept of "frugality" is that it doesn't include the value of time in the cost equation. Let me give you an example: I was recently asked by a company to provide an air charter quote for flying four executives from Worcester, MA to Leesburg, VA for a 6-hour meeting. When I provided them the price of $5,568.87 round trip the initial response was, "I can get a flight for $479.20 on US Air." Unfortunately, many decisions to fly commercial airlines versus charter are made that way, without looking at the true costs of flying commercial compared to the bottom-line advantages of air charter. So, in order to see how this scenario actually played out I called US Air assuming the role of the corporate traveler. I told the agent that I and three colleagues needed to attend a 10am meeting on September 29th in Leesburg, VA and wanted to fly out of Worcester, MA. The agent told me that she could not fly out of Worcester but could get me a flight on United Express-Chautauqua out of Boston at 12 noon that would arrive at Dulles at 1:52pm. Given that the business meeting started at 10am, this meant that we would have to fly down the day before and stay overnight. Since this would be a round trip, I inquired as to my return flight options. I had two, both on United: Scenario 1: leaving Dulles at 5:05pm the day of the meeting for $717.00 R/T but I'd have to leave the meeting early to drive to the airport, get through security and make it to the gate, or Scenario 2: leave at 10:05pm the evening of the meeting for $479.20 R/T. Every executive knows that the revenue implications of his or her decisions on the company's bottom-line are far in excess of his compensation. Executives are not expected to cover the cost of their own compensation but rather to raise the ROI of the business. Therefore, I am being extremely conservative when I say that four executives whose base salary averages $150,000 per year have a base break-even hourly productivity value of $72.12. For four executives that's $288.18 per hour. So, here's how the scenarios played out:

Scenario #1: 4 business travelers flying commercial

$2,868.00 R/T fares

$1,200.00 overnight accommodations

$6,339.96 22 lost productivity hours pre-meeting

$288.48 1 hour lost leaving meeting early

$576.96 lost productivity time for R/T drive from airport to meeting (36.40 miles 1-way)

$11,273.40 Total cost of flying commercial

Scenario #2: 4 business travelers flying commercial

$1,916.80 R/T fares

$1,200.00 overnight accommodations

$6,339.96 22 lost productivity hours pre-meeting

$1,730.88 6 lost productivity hours post-meeting

$576.96 lost productivity time for R/T drive time from airport to meeting (36.40 miles 1-way)

$11,764.60 Total cost of flying commercial


Now, if you revisit the air charter quote of $5,568.87:

1. Flying privately extends the number of airports you can fly into and out of from hundreds to thousands. The four executives can now fly out of Worcester Regional Airport which is close to their office rather than driving to Boston Logan International Airport. The lengthy and unnecessary delays in security and at the gates so characteristic of the major airports are avoided. The four executives can park close to their aircraft, walk up to it with the pilot, stow their gear and take off.

2. The four executives can decide when they want to leave. With private air, they can decide to depart Worcester at 7:00am and arrive at Leesburg Executive Airport at 8:52am. Since the airport is only 4-miles from their meeting, they have more than enough time to get to their meeting, greet the other participants and get started without the stress of having flown commercially. Since the meeting is over at 4pm, they can depart Leesburg at 5pm and be back in Worcester by 6:26 in time for dinner with the family. If the meeting runs longer, they can simply call the pilot on his cell phone and adjust the departure time accordingly. No more rushing and being subject to commercial airline schedules. These executives can even decide to add a leg to their trip or change their flight plan midflight. Freedom and choice are now in control of the travelers and not controlled by the major airlines.

3. Given the total costs outlined above of flying with a major airline, the benefits of flying private are significant:

Cost
Private=$5,568.87
Commercial #1 $11,273.40
Commercial #2 $11,764.60

Cost/Pax
Private=$1,392.22
Commercial #1 $2,818.35
Commercial #2 $2,941.15

Cost/Seat
Private= $696.11
Commercial #1 $2,818.35
Commercial #2 $2,941.15


When you add "value" and "time" into the "cost" equation, it's clearly evident that flying privately is the best decision. Again, it's about choice and freedom. YOU decide the "when" and "where" for your trip, not the major airlines. As for your question about whether people want to be more discreet about their charter flying for fears of appearing too flashy, flying charter no longer comes with a luxury price tag. Pricing air charter is not a simple cost comparison as demonstrated above but rather is part of a larger ROI equation that factors the value of executives' productivity time into the matrix. When you take all of the preceding factors into consideration, flying charter becomes a better value decision than flying commercially, a decision that any shareholder would embrace.

To your question about being sensitive to environmental concerns, emissions from road vehicles are the largest contributors to smog. When you see how difficult it seems to be to get people to car pool, Kavoo air charter is finding passengers more than willing to travel together in our Cirrus SR22 3-passenger aircraft for business and personal destinations that that they would otherwise drive to in cars. The SR22 is comparable to an SUV but at triple the speed...not too un-green, I'd say.

What's your opinion on the continued escalation of fees for travelers on commercial flights? Do you think that continued dissatisfaction with commercial airlines is a major factor in people opting for charter flights?

The continuing escalation of commercial airline fees will have a breaking point as more and more value for the dollar is taken away. Unlike flying commercially with its force-fit schedules, limited destinations, evaporating amenities, lengthy ticket counter delays and lost baggage, Kavoo is all about creating value by giving passengers affordable air travel choice and flexibility. The Kavoo business model is thoroughly "indie" and consumer value-driven. The business and personal air traveler has complete "independence" from commercial carriers to set their own schedule, change destination en route, eliminate ticket counters, select an airport from a wider number of choices, have their baggage handled personally, bypass security line delays and relax in privacy, comfort and a pristine record of safety.

One thing I found interesting on your website was the promise that travelers will receive "a firm handshake introduction" from the pilot, do you think that personal connection may be more important on smaller planes?

I am reminded of the Mike Lukovich cartoon showing two cowboys herding cattle and one of the steers says, "I'm tired of them treating us like airline passengers." Kavoo is all about treating our travelers with "superstonishing" customer service. And, for us, it's not a paper mission statement hanging on a wall. We go out of our way each and every day to make all of our travelers' experiences the best they can be. We are very public about "personalizing" our service, from the pilot's handshake to helping with the baggage to calling from the air to confirm ground transportation. Customers entrust us with their most valuable commodity: time. And we take every opportunity to make sure that their time with us is the best it can be.