New Study: Companies Using Private Jets Outperform Non-Users

NEXA Advisors found over five years companies that use business aviation beat non-users in sales growth, profit, employee satisfaction and accolades

Dear John Flannery and General Electric. Hold onto those private jets! A new study released today covering S&P 500 companies shows those that closed their flight departments experienced less financial success, compared to those that continued to utilize business aviation, even during economic downturns. Over a five-year period, users of business aircraft grew their top line by a factor of 2.4 more than non-users on a weighted and indexed basis. Further, private jet users out-performed non-users by 23 percent in revenue growth and users out-performed non-users by 18 percent in market capitalization. 

“This report reaffirms what study after study, from one decade to the next, have repeatedly found: smart entrepreneurs and companies understand the value of business aviation in making them more efficient, productive, nimble and competitive,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen in a press release. “As this report makes clear, these are America’s most innovative companies, most admired companies, best brands, best corporate citizens, and best places to work.”

The study, “Business Aviation and Top Performing Companies, 2017,” is the sixth completed by NEXA Advisors, LLC. The report was commissioned for the No Plane No Gain advocacy initiative, which is co-sponsored by NBAA and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA).

“Our Aviation team members are an integral, trusted part of our overall Hormel Foods team. They enhance our ability to service our plants and respond to our customers. With our headquarters located in rural Minnesota, we find business aviation to be particularly valuable — the time savings and efficiency gains are significant,” said Jeffrey M. Ettinger Chairman, President and CEO Hormel Foods Corporation.

Arne Sorenson, the CEO of Marriott International, added, “We’ve got to understand that business airplanes are about people meeting and creating ideas and building their cultures.

The study examines the financial performance of the S&P 500 between 2012 and 2017, and finds that, over that period, S&P 500 companies utilizing business aviation to support their missions outperformed those not using business aviation, as demonstrated by a number of key metrics, including drivers of shareholder value.

The latest NEXA study highlights three additional financial drivers positively impacted by using private aviation: Revenue or market share growth, profit growth and asset efficiency. Non-financial indicators positively influenced by using business aviation include customer and employee satisfaction.

The study also shows that, using a “best of the best” analysis, leading of the S&P 500 overwhelmingly use business aircraft.

Private aviation users include:

• 98 percent of the top 50 among the “World’s Most Admired Companies,” a list of the global top companies by reputation, compiled by Fortune magazine
• 100 percent of the 100 companies in Forbes magazine’s listing of “100 Most-Trustworthy Companies in America”
• 95 percent of the “Change the World Top 20,” as rated by Fortune magazine
• 92 percent of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens, according to the CRO 2017
• 95 percent of the top 100 companies in Forbes magazine’s listing of “100 Best Places to Work”