TRIP PLANNERS: STRIVING FOR PERFECTION

December, 2012 | Full Article: BART International, www.bartintl.com

Excerpt from the article "Trip Planners: Striving for Perfection" published in Dec 2012 - Jan 2013 issue of BART International. To read the full article, please go to pages 42 - 47 of the printed issue.

TRIP PLANNERS: STRIVING FOR PERFECTION

Euro Jet. While the major players in flight planning/trip support services tend to stress their advanced trip planning software and menu of capabilities first and ground support services second, Prague-based Euro Jet takes the opposite track and stresses its concentration and expertise in a specific geographic area covering Central and Eastern Europe, and the CIS region. Which, according to Gareth Danker, Director of Global Sales & Marketing, sets it apart from other trip support service organizations.

“Our point of difference and competitive advantage is the fact that we are the only company offering a complete ground support network, with our own team of agents in Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS countries.”  Danker points out that, “While comprehensive ground support is our core offering, bearing in mind that there are few true FBOs in our operations area as opposed to what one might see in the United States or Western Europe, we also offer a wide range of services including flight planning, flight following, fuel, permits, security, crew care, ground transportation, pre-screened hotels and catering, to name but a few.” In other words, they leave no vendor un-vetted.

Danker stresses the importance of having a physical presence at airports to create relationships and pre-screen all vendors. “These are Euro Jet employees, well versed in airports and supervising the servicing of VIP aircraft. I like to say that we try to give our customers ‘a western experience’ as much as possible, with comprehensive advance planning and attention to detail. For instance, an arriving aircraft is met by a uniformed, English-fluent Euro Jet employee who has arranged everything, which can include fuel, crew hotel and transport and catering with all our negotiated rates, often times through credit arrangements, so the crew doesn’t have to be concerned about payment on-the-ground.”

According to Danker, Euro Jet has a presence in 29 countries, serving some 200 airports, providing complete ground support for business and private aircraft, commercial, cargo, government and military flights. In a sense, with its ground support orientation and focus on customer service, one might say that Euro Jet provides “virtual FBOs.” As far as brick and mortar are concerned, Euro Jet is now in a program of refurbishing or constructing private VIP crew lounges at participating airports in its expanding network.