Flying for business in Europe

Malibuflyer wrote:

And after a 10+ hr meeting day I’m really not fit to fly my plane back home…

After a 10+ hr meeting day I wouldnt drive any distance Id be flying either.

Malibuflyer wrote:

And after a 10+ hr meeting day I’m really not fit to fly my plane back home…

Very wise!

In Gallois’ example, hiring an express parcel company for this 900km round trip will cost far more than the rent of a DA40.
But it takes someone’s time, while GA’s point is to save it.

How much I would love my boss if he would let me deliver parts twice a week by airplane ^

I know for a fact that :

• one aerospace, then just a military supplier, had a twin making a line between the Paris HQ and engineering site and the production site in central france. It was before accountants took over the word
• another which recently deployed a daily airline by jet between 2 sites to improve efficiency when several big projects suddenly came in. It lasted about 1,5 years. Employees loved it but the gain in efficiency was non measurable. Both projects went on track though.

boscomantico wrote:

Which airport (in the Paris area, I assume) do you fly to? Customs? PCL? Please share some details.

I use Lille a bit far away from Paris but it’s neat if timed correctly: 45min flying, 15min taxi, 1h TGV to Gare du Nord and 20min bus to my place in Paris, it certainly does not beat Eurostar door to door but it beats the car drive by 2h-3h, it’s open 24h with customs and the bill is usually around 150E (80E night marshalling & 70E handling and parking), there is +250E surcharge after 2200LT but I never landed that late

I have not tried LeBourget yet but the other GA alternatives in Paris are not available or lot of hassle: Toussus close at 9pm and Pentoise is open but long taxi/train rides and needs Calais customs, and I am not looking to visit Beauvais any time soon either no one around or they are busy with commercial flights…

Not Business, but I have been able to do several trips in France by GA, using an aeroclub Robin – VFR only!! – where the trip was cheaper and quicker from here near Bordeaux than flying commercial or going by train. Using a car would have been slightly cheaper but taken absolutely ages in comparison. These were trips where the need for myself and partner to travel with little notice coincided with good weather, so off we went!!

Regards, SD..

I’m with @gallois on this one and from reading the thread most of the skepticism seems to come from German forumites who are used to a very different road and rail network.
Having lived in France for many years, I know all too well how challenging any province-a-province trips are. Everything, absolutely everything, in France is centered on Paris and traveling between provincial towns, especially east-west, is a nightmare. It’s also a big country with a good aviation infrastructure. The OP is based pretty much smack in the middle (Clermont-Ferrand) and I can perfectly see the business case for moving packages and people by GA. Seriously – if there is one country in Europe where GA for biz travel can really work well then I’d say France is it.

Not business user case but I depart at 8pm on Friday, UK to France to see my family.

Which airport (in the Paris area, I assume) do you fly to? Customs? PCL? Please share some details.

eddsPeter wrote:

think EddsPeter uses his own plane for his business with success for many years.

That is true, but only for private business travel. Having the Bonnie equipped with TKS, onboard weather with the ADL and stormscope I have had to cancel 1-2 flights per year due of weather. Before Pandemic I was flying around 100 hrs for business purposes during a year.

To not forget it, it is a non turbo aircraft.

I can concur..I do the same I also have TKS but its not a passe partout.. :-)…Had to cancel last Saturday to convective weather around the Alps (Vienna – Linz). Flying in the evening or at night would be great but I won’t do this with a SE piston. The weather outlook the next 10 days is not promising….freezing level at 5000FT….With Turbo maybe you have better options….

Malibuflyer wrote:

And after a 10+ hr meeting day I’m really not fit to fly my plane back home…

You will not be fit for driving your own car which require way more attention than flying an aircraft, especially one with autopilot in empty airspace !

Not business user case but I depart at 8pm on Friday, UK to France to see my family, flying that 1h30 is one of the most exciting and stimulating experiences after a long week at work, way better than than 7h of boring driving at night and worth every penny

GA commuting will get very boring at some point (you know frequencies/clearances/plates by heart) but way more stimulating than driving a car, even better to have the right amount of weather & planning challenges, worst case you just drive the miserable car with pee every 2h while checking METAR to see if you made the right call

We seem to be in wild agreement here: If you love flying and already own a plane, then it is great to go for it and use it when it makes sense.

The original question for this recent discussion was, however, “does it make sense to buy a SR22 for business” – and to that question the honest answer is “might be, but most probably not”.

This is not advocating against GA but to the opposite avoiding that people become disappointed by GA. As you write yourself: There are many different requirements for potential GA flights and the best fit solution to these requirements range from a helicopter to a Gulfstream. So buying “a random airplane” is typically not the best answer!

Btw.: I own quite a capable plane but consciously decided to never use it for business! I rarely have these “only one 2 hr. meeting a day” situations so either I have to use the time in car (or waiting for an airline flight) to do calls or it’s more like a 10 hr meeting at the destination. And after a 10+ hr meeting day I’m really not fit to fly my plane back home…
But again: Big variety in use cases and therefore big variety of “right answers”