Business Flying in Europe,
1970 Style

3
The company payed the equivalent of airline transport costs for each flight and, in addition the same amount for each business passenger carried. My break-even was reached at a seat occupation of 1.5 paying passengers plus myself. Not bad for a 6-seater. Of course I flew many of my business trips alone, thus staying short of the actual operating costs. But N1544X was made more affordable because my wife Flo functioned as a sales manager for V-Air.

She would pick up the phone and call a couple of her girlfriends: "Felix is flying to London again next Monday, returning Wednesday night," she would offer. Flo charged them 100 francs each, about one sixth of the corresponding airline ticket. So I strapped in a planefull of housewives and got them on their shopping tour. Three days later I would collect a happy bunch of ladies and their substantially increased baggage at Luton, Biggin Hill or Gatwick for our flight home. There was a marked difference in popularity between my regular destinations. Paris, London, Milan, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Vienna, even Copenhagen or Helsinki were tops on the list of my fares. No problem with that. When I had to go to places like Dusseldorf, however, Flo had a hard time finding anybody who "had the time to...". I countered by writing a brochure about the city on the Rhine, highlighting the marvelous old town sector with its Dixieland Jazz Cafés. No way; flights to the Ruhr were always lonely flights.

Back to Aviation


Back to Home Page