Fleet Planning to Asset Management – How You Can Save Millions

Whether your fleet consists of one aircraft or ten, better fleet planning leads to better execution. Guardian Jet’s fleet plans are living, reviewable documents. There are steps you can take when managing your asset that will result in substantial savings.

An aircraft is not your typical investment vehicle seeing as it doesn’t make you money. When you initiate fleet planning with Guardian Jet, we look at your aircraft as an asset in your portfolio. We implement a fleet plan that is coordinated with your corporate strategy and the aviation market, which allows you to save millions of dollars.

In this article we will discuss:

1.       The 3 different perspectives to look at fleet planning from
2.       How will Guardian Jet monitor the success of your fleet plan?
3.       The possible outcomes of your fleet plan
4.       What Guardian Jet’s asset management program enables you to do

Like any other asset in a portfolio, our asset management team wants to make sure you have a plan. Fleet planning is one of the Five Pillars of Guardian Jet’s philosophy, and our process is fully collaborative with you and your flight department.

Fleet planning comes down to a few key concepts. Firstly, determining which aircraft model is best suited for your needs. Deciding how many aircraft you’ll need to accomplish your goals. Locating the appropriate airport to base your aircraft. Finally, you want to calculate the optimal time to trade your aircraft. Guardian Jet approaches these factors from three different scopes.

3 Different Perspectives

Guardian Jet conducts fleet planning in a collaborative effort with your flight department. When you allocate capital into your fleet plan, you want you to be able to see the value it brings to your business. Guardian Jet approaches planning from three different lenses:

1.       Operational – Our team will review the condition of your company, your current mission, and vision for the usage of your airplanes. Our consultants will analyze up to five years of your travel history, trends, and patterns, which will help them forecast future opportunities for your fleet.
2.       Financial – Guardian Jet will evaluate a number of different fleet combinations, comparing the scenarios in a 10-year cash flow, and profit & loss analysis. Viewing not just the macroeconomic marketplace, but the aircraft marketplace specific to a model. Our team will also look at your aircraft operating budget, tax consequences, and capital issues such as cash, debt, and leasing. This is all done so our team can provide accurate comparative life-cycle costs.
3.       Strategic – Guardian Jet wants to get to know your company through interviews. Once Guardian Jet has a strong understanding of your company’s aviation goals, we will ensure that the fleet plan is aligned and cohesive to your strategy.

Financial projections are how Guardian Jet separates itself. The consulting team will simplify budgeting with customized aviation analytics. Tracking and analyzing all the details in your plan and specific aircraft markets, will help us craft the best possible fleet plan. Guardian Jet wants to fully align ourselves with your vision and strategy.

Reviewing Your Fleet Plan

Once the plan is established, you have a foundation for managing your assets. Guardian Jet’s fleet plans are living documents, meant to be reviewed and capable of being renewed.

Monitoring the performance of your fleet plan is the key to asset management. You may not be looking to replace your assets for a number of years. However, combing through your fleet plan frequently will ensure that the plan is still relevant to your mission.

Guardian Jet’s evaluation of your fleet plan is ongoing. Guardian Jet reviews your plan from those same three perspectives: Operational, Financial, and Strategic. There are two types of reviews that Guardian Jet utilizes:

1.       Fixed Interval - The fixed interval review consists of quarterly statements and annual reviews. Guardian Jet loves annual reviews in the summer or fall season. This allows you to get well ahead of capital expenditure budgeting for the following year.
2.       Opportunity Driven Review - Opportunity driven review is sparked by something happening to the market, or from a vendor supplying aircraft, or even within your company that prompts us to reevaluate your fleet plan.

Looking at your fleet plan in a different light may be beneficial in an opportunity driven period of time. Is right now the best time to make a change? You won’t have that answer without the proper monitoring of your fleet plan, and always being ready to sell means your asset will be faster and for more money when the time is right. The results from your review will prompt a response on whether you should continue forward with the plan or modify it.

Renewing Your Fleet Plan

The success of your fleet planning will guide the actions you take over the life of your asset. There are four possible outcomes from reviewing your fleet plan. Those outcomes are:

1.       Stay the course – If you are exactly where you want to be and the plan is working, the plan will continue to follow through as it was originally constructed.

2.       Accelerate – It may benefit you and your flight department to move assets in or out of your portfolio at a faster rate than you had previously been doing.

3.       Slow the plan – Perhaps the current market is displaying that right now isn’t the appropriate time to be enacting this plan. It may be advantageous to hit the brakes and slow down the phases of your plan.

4.       Change the plan – There might be hurdles that require us to alter the fleet plan in some fashion, like changing the type of aircraft it includes.

Asset Management

Over the course of five years, Guardian Jet’s Asset Management Team will collaborate with your flight department and treasury team. Together, we will analyze opportunity-driven decisions. You will receive a personalized Vault. With the Vault, you have direct access to all your fleet planning information, at every hour of the day, updated in real-time.

While you stay up to date with your Vault, Guardian Jet will help you track current fair market values, replacement values,market conditions, and an archive of fleet plans, customized reports, and asset management documents. Keeping these in mind and making incremental changes to your fleet plan can help you get the most out of the capital you invest in your fleet. Additionally, our five-year aircraft asset management program enables you to:

•         Continuously synchronize your travel solution to the current and future reality.
•         Use pre-approved financial guidelines and reporting mechanisms to keep leadership aware of options and opportunities.
•         Put into place contingency plans for several scenarios.
•         Create risk-averse strategies to execute incrementally.
•         Access historical aircraft transactions and fleet plan documents in your vault.
•         Select a long-term, strategic partner that streamlines the procurement and selection process.

Revisiting your fleet plan on a regular basis is crucial to actively managing your aircraft assets. By frequently analyzing your plan, Guardian Jet had a firm grasp on the direction of your organization. Fleet planning truly becomes asset management when it is repeated, and this is where Guardian Jet can help save you money.

Conclusion

Guardian Jet wants to manage the asset in your portfolio as wisely as possible. The asset management team can help you evaluate the right time to buy and the right time to sell, because that is where millions of dollars can be saved. Looking at the aircraft in your fleet plan as an asset in a portfolio will open you up to opportunistic savings.