Management Company or Flight Department?

Today the perennial either/or question of the best way to manage and operate business aircraft is colored by the growing complexity of operations, demands for more accountability and transparency, and new support options available to owners regardless of their management structure. Yet whether to use a management company or operate through a company flight department remains often as much a cultural decision as a logical one. Conklin & de Decker has no data on any operational cost differential between the two, and David Wyndham, president and co-owner of the consultancy, said he’s seen no evidence of a shift in either direction. For every case of a company electing to put its flight department under a management company, another opts to manage its own. But the shifts are occurring. Here are some of the factors driving the activity, and their effects on those seeking to find or offer the best management arrangement.