In the middle of March, business activity came to a screeching halt. Conferences were postponed or canceled. Business trips were scrapped. Meetings were moved from in-person to online.
The business aviation market certainly felt the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic when business aviation flight activity dropped 46.8% in a single week.
Additionally, for the entire month of March, all flight activity decreased by 31.7% compared to March 2019.
The nature of how business is conducted was materially altered due to stay-at-home, work-at-home orders recommended by national, state, and local officials. This impacted many of our partners and customers in the business aviation industry.
Now that we are in the midst of the transition period and looking ahead to the recovery period, it’s time for companies to think ahead and form their response to the “new normal” of the business aviation industry.
Forming the best response is especially important in anticipation of business jet travelers looking to re-establish habits and patterns for business travel in 2020. Also, many companies and individuals will be preparing to attend conferences that were re-scheduled for later in 2020 or moved to 2021.
Adjust for Changes in Business Aviation Order Cycles
Whether your company is an aircraft manufacturer, completion center, refurbishment center, or designer in the business aviation sector, you will need to account for changes in order cycles.
Business aviation has traditionally been cyclical in nature. And, having been in business since 1984, we have seen our fair share of ups and downs in the industry.
However, most changes take time to be recognized and realized; this change is different because of the sudden and abrupt nature of the disruption directly affecting the business aviation industry.
If looking for a similar event to draw from when assessing changes to order cycles, look back to 2008. During the global economic crisis, many companies scaled back on business travel, affecting the order cycle.
- What was the impact on your business?
- Did your company experience a slowdown in orders?
- Did you actually have a backlog that allowed you to continue normal production?
See if you can find similarities to this year’s disruption and identify next steps to prepare to meet the change to customer orders.
An Additional Consideration for 2020 vs. 2008
As we know, technology continues to advance at a rapid pace. This includes technology that supports the supply chain in business aviation.
We recommend taking steps now to optimize your supply chain so that you can quickly and nimbly respond to changes. Embedding this flexibility into your supply chain will help mobilize your people and resources to fulfill new customer requests.
One way that we can support your supply chain is by integrating the delivery of our high-quality decorative metal parts for business jets and related aircraft.
HighTech Finishing has been named Supplier of the Year by many companies during our history, most recently by Rosen Aviation. One of the keys to our success is our approach to customer service because we view our customers as partners.
During this time of crisis response and attempting to plan for an unknown future, it helps to have a partner in the business aviation industry that can intelligently support your company.
To help meet customer orders and optimize the supply chain, work with us to deliver high-quality, metal-plated parts for the aircraft interior. Our decorative plating process ensures the highest quality production, finish, and delivery of the aviation interior product.
Specific to Rosen, we proudly achieved 100% on-time delivery and 100% quality parts in 2019. During these rapidly-changing market conditions, you need a partner that can deliver quality parts with no defects exactly when needed.
HighTech is here to help companies in the business aviation sector. Contact us today to discuss the delivery of plated interior parts. We can get through this disruption together.
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