Two of the keys to an effective advertising campaign are a memorable theme and repetition of the message. Most campaigns fail at the first, but even many with potentially enduring slogans often abandon the effort within a year or two, too soon to achieve its full measure. The US-based National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA), together with the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), launched their “No Plane, No Gain” advocacy campaign over five years ago. And NBAA CEO Ed Bolen vows, “We intend to move the campaign forward as far as the eye can see.”

“No Plane, No Gain” is an adaptation of a long-popular theme for athletes to encourage them during tedious and sometimes painful workouts: “No Pain, No Gain,” a variation itself on an 18th-century theme penned by American political icon, Benjamin Franklin: “There are no gains without pains.”

The NBAA-GAMA “No Plane, No Gain” was initially a reactionary initiative. After enjoying heady sales success through 2007, the “Great Recession” of 2008-09 hit the general and business aviation market hard. From 2007-10, the production of General Aviation (GA) aircraft dropped by more than half (52.8 per cent) from a record 4,276 aircraft in 2007 to only 2,020 in 2010.

But perhaps worse for the bizjet community’s reputation, corporate aircraft almost overnight became the poster child for profligate excess by business executives at a time when America’s poor and middle class were suffering from massive job losses, home foreclosures and financial ruin.

One of the devastated industries was automobile manufacturing, and the major American automakers were driving without brakes towards certain bankruptcy. So, as many large mismanaged companies and financial institutions do these days, the car guys went begging to the politicians in Washington, DC, for a taxpayer-funded bailout to save their businesses and their bloated salaries as well as bonuses.

But instead of driving from Detroit to DC, or perhaps taking a Greyhound bus to at least appear to save money, three auto executives – Alan Mulally of Ford, Robert Nardelli of Chrysler, and Richard Wagoner of General Motors– flew into the Capitol, each in separate high-end corporate jets. The executives were seeking support for a $25 billion aid package which was later granted to Chrysler and GM, Ford abstaining. Unfortunately, the ridicule of the beggar businessmen spilled over to business aviation generally. Flying in a corporate aircraft was labeled as an elitist perk, a wasteful expense.

President Barack Obama added to the bizjets-are-bad mantra with multiple comments demeaning the use of business aircraft and challenging the industry’s tax breaks, even though he ostensibly flies in one of the most expensive business aircraft in the skies, Air Force One. His administration reportedly killed Citigroup’s order for a Dassault Falcon 7X in 2009, prompting GAMA President Pete Bunce’s comment: “If you go after our customers, you go after every one of us.”

Scandals, or perceived scandals, tend to linger in the public memory far longer than positive stories, in part because salacious news or what passes for news in this era of ubiquitous television and online channels. Such news is often splashed on TV and social media networks ad nauseam – until the next bit of gossip comes along to command attention.

A report produced by NEXA Advisors, which specializes in the aerospace and transportation sectors, stated, “Recent setbacks for business aviation are reflected in a precipitous drop in new aircraft orders, the ballooning of used aircraft inventories and layoffs of highly skilled personnel. Among business aircraft operators, some publicly traded companies have reacted to the economic downturn by canceling new aircraft orders or shuttering their flight departments. Due to negative publicity, many companies which retain flight departments work to keep their existence out of the public eye.”

Influencing Legislation

Unfairly villainized, the NBAA and GAMA brainstormed ways to stop the tailspin and educate key stakeholders on the multiple benefits of business aviation.The primary audience from the beginning was small – the President, the 100 US Senators, 435 Congressmen and Congresswomen and their staff who manage the legislative flow. They were the few who would decide legislation either favourable or detrimental to the GA industry.Corporate leaders, especially financial officers, were a secondary audience. If any of the public were swayed by the message, all the better.

“No Plane, No Gain” is aimed squarely at policymakers and decision leaders,” NBAA spokesman Dan Hubbard told SP’s. “Congress is definitely one of the key audiences.”

One of the most tangible benefits of the advocacy campaign has been the formation of the General Aviation Caucus in Congress. Before “No Plane, No Gain,” there was no such caucus to advocate on behalf of GA aircraft manufacturers and operators.

As this is written, there are 248 members of the House of Representatives in the GA caucus – well more than half of that body – and 41 members from the Senate. That’s 289 politicians (of 435 potential) who have publicly sided with promoting general and business aviation. “It’s a pretty sizeable block of people, but we are still working to grow it,” Hubbard says.

Hubbard says the GA Caucus is bipartisan – ranging from Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins to Connecticut Democratic Congressman Jim Hime – so legislation should not get caught up in the polarizing partisanship of most political issues.

When the “No Plane, No Gain” process was launched in 2009, Hubbard says the reaction of many Congresspersons was, “We don’t know what the benefit of business aviation is,” and they welcomed the education effort. Now, if proposed bills or amendments might threaten aspects of business aviation in the US, GA Caucus members have the information to “raise their hands” in opposition. According to Hubbard, “No Plane, No Gain” is also being pursued at the state level, resulting in numerous public proclamations by Governors on the value of business aviation to their constituencies. “Sometimes we’ll see a Republican Governor issue the first proclamation and their Democrat successor continues the practice. Or the reverse.

Campaign Themes

The central messages of “No Plane, No Gain” are fourfold:

• Job creation: More than 1.2 million jobs and an annual $150 billion impact on the American economy.
• The value of business aviation to companies of all sizes: For example, when using a business airplane, employees can work enroute, even discuss sensitive or proprietary information in a secure environment and without fear of eavesdropping, as on a commercial aircraft.
• Business aviation as a transportation lifeline to many smaller communities: The majority of airline flights service only 70 major cities in the US. Business aviation serves 10 times the number of communities served by the commercial airlines.
• Support for humanitarian causes: Volunteer organisations regularly provide life-saving services to people, disaster relief of food and medicine or transporting seriously ill patients for life-saving medical procedures. According to GAMA, volunteer pilots fly well over 1,00,000 hours a year on charitable and medical missions.

The Corporate Angel Network (CAN), for example, uses otherwise empty seats on aircraft from about 600 companies to transport cancer patients. About 250 flights a month are arranged and CAN has flown nearly 50,000 patients so far. Last year, a charity auction and dinner at the NBAA annual conference raised $4,40,000 for CAN efforts.

A group of operators known as Patient AirLift Services (PALS) also regularly donate their aircraft and pilots helping transport cancer patients to distant medical facilities.

Yet another is Angel Flight, which arranges free air transportation for any legitimate charitable, medically related need primarily to and from the central US states. The service is available to individuals and health care organisations. An umbrella for the charitable flight groups is the Air Care Alliance, which has created a directory and an online inquiry tool for requesting services: http://www.aircarealliance.org/submit-request-for-assistance.

Benefits by the Numbers

To bolster the arguments for business aviation, the NBAA commissioned a study in 2009 by NEXA Advisors, “Business Aviation: An Enterprise Perspective.” NEXA devised a UBV methodology which correlates the use of business aircraft to a company’s long-term value: Utilisation yields Benefits that yield enterprise Value.

Among their findings issued in 2009:

• 95 per cent of the S&P 500 companies on Business Week magazine’s 2009 list of “50 Most Innovative Companies” were business aircraft users.
• 95 per cent of the S&P 500 companies on Fortune magazine’s 2009 list of “50 World’s Most Admired Companies” were users.

Business aircraft users outperformed non-users in several important financial measures. Between 2003 and 2007:

• Average annual earnings growth was 434 per cent higher for business aviation users.
• Total stock and dividend growth was 252 per cent higher.

Subsequent NEXA studies examined the value of business aviation to small- and medium-size enterprises, government use, and maintaining shareholder value during turbulent times.

Last year’s report looked at business aviation and top-performing companies worldwide. NEXA found that “today’s top performing businesses, true engines of the global economy, need every possible advantage to succeed in the most competitive marketplace ever,” noting that “top performing companies in the world utilise business aviation as a critical tool.”

Among the “Global 2000” compilation of leading companies produced by Forbes magazine, 88 per cent of the top 50 were business aircraft users. For Interbrand’s “Best Global Green Brands,” the world’s top brands using sustainable business practices, 94 per cent of the top 50 use bizjets. In the Fortune magazine ranking of the “World’s Most Admired Companies,” a not-surprising 98 per cent of the top 50 were business aircraft users.

“A business jet is not a luxury, it is a necessity,” TS Kalayanaraman of Kalyan jewellers is quoted in the 2013 report. “He uses his business jet to supervise his 30 or so jewellery stores throughout India. Flying commercial in India’s chaotic, overcrowded airports means constant delays and frequent cancellations. It used to take him all day to travel from one city to another to visit his stores. But now he flies efficiently between three or four cities in a day in his Embraer Phenom 100 business aircraft.”

Will there be campaigns similar to promote business aviation elsewhere in the world? The NBAA’s Hubbard said, “We have been discussing ‘No Plane, No Gain’ with other groups – there’s a lot of international interest. We’re collectively working to determine the best ways to get the word out in each region and to various constituents.”