GA Airport Business Ethics Issues?

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Hotrod97z

Filing Flight Plan
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Jan 13, 2014
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Hotrod
I am an MBA student taking a Business Ethics course. We have to write a case study about a business ethics issue of an actual business. I will have to analyze the issue, present several alternative solutions and pick the best one.

I plan to get my PPL after I finish the MBA program. Since I have no practical experience with flying, I have very little inside information about how a GA airport works, especially from the business side of the operations. Does anyone know of typical business ethics issues in GA airports that might help me pick a good topic? Thanks for your help.
 
How about
- not publishing your ramp fee
- lying about your ramp fee if someone contacts you
- charging ramp fees even if you didn't provide any service on a passenger drop-off
- charging a ramp-fee because you have the only door through the security fence.

You may see theme there.
 
Common issues:

1) On ground instruction, overstating times (= $$$)
2) PII/Privacy violations (ie, using personal info from a person's training files for non-business uses)
3) Not providing the promised service fully and/or charging more for it
 
Where's that big thread on the airport in Texas that the town got into a huge pi$$ing match with the FBO over the fueling operation (and other stuff, I'm sure)?
 
At my home field, the hangar waiting list is a big point of contention. A list of people who need/want hangars is maintained by airport management. That list is frequently ignored when the occasional hangar frees up and the people who have the best political connections or who have connections at the FBO end up with the open hangar.
 
You could research 'through the fence' issues where an FBO attempts to block access to independent A&Ps on the field.
 
There is absolutely nothing unique about FBO and GA airports behaving unethically that is not done every minute of every day around the town and a hundred times worse.
At least the fuel supplier to the airport is not buying rejected fuel loads and passing it off as permium.
The FBO is not posting fake mechanic licenses on the wall or buying wrecked airplane titles and changing the serial number tag on a stolen airplane.
The girl at the counter is not selling counterfeit low altitude enroute charts and terminal plates
And on and on.

As far as whining about the FBO on a field trying to block independent mechanics from the field and such - I can tell that you have never owned a business.
If you had you would have had experience from constant attacks by competitors filing complaints against you, putting false reports about you on the internet, sending shills to scam you, having graffiti sprayed on your walls, pouring sugar/water/ into your truck's fuel tanks, etc. I could write a book on this.

All in all, GA airports are decent enterprises.
 
kyleb said:
At my home field, the hangar waiting list is a big point of contention. A list of people who need/want hangars is maintained by airport management. That list is frequently ignored when the occasional hangar frees up and the people who have the best political connections or who have connections at the FBO end up with the open hangar.
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This. :yes:

Also, renting hangars to buddies for storage.
 
Thank you for the responses! This gives me some great material to proceed with.

Before starting the MBA program, I spent a lot of time reading through publications like the Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge to try to learn as much as I could to be better prepared when I get to start flight training. I also looked at airplanes that were for sale online to get a feel for available options, the purpose of each option and how it operated. Since starting the MBA program, I don't have time to think about an airplane, much less time to build knowledge to prepare for training. By choosing a topic for an class assignment based on aviation, I can build knowledge about GA without taking time away from my MBA course work. It also gives me a great opportunity to make contacts in the GA community. Thanks again for your help.
 
Because airports are most often run by municipalities, government incompetence, outright dishonesty and back room dealing is the most common ethical problem.
 
I personally don't think I have run into any instances of poor business ethics in the hundreds of FBOs I have visited. Sure some are more expensive than others and some provide lousy service, but those are business issues, not ethics issues.

There was only one time I think they may have indicated that the put in more fuel than my plane should have been able to hold. My FS450 fuel flow indicator is extremely accurate. If it says I used 22.2 gallons, I can expect somewhere between 22.0 and 22.4 gallons. One time the indicator said I used about 11 gallons and they put in 15.

Almost every other time I received free services, like battery boosts or help putting on the cover with no charge. Throw in free courtesy cars and free coffee and snacks and free overnight parking and you have to understand they are going to try to get their money back somehow. Fuel is the primary revenue generator.
 
JOhnH said:
I personally don't think I have run into any instances of poor business ethics in the hundreds of FBOs I have visited. Sure some are more expensive than others and some provide lousy service, but those are business issues, not ethics issues.

There was only one time I think they may have indicated that the put in more fuel than my plane should have been able to hold. My FS450 fuel flow indicator is extremely accurate. If it says I used 22.2 gallons, I can expect somewhere between 22.0 and 22.4 gallons. One time the indicator said I used about 11 gallons and they put in 15.

Almost every other time I received free services, like battery boosts or help putting on the cover with no charge. Throw in free courtesy cars and free coffee and snacks and free overnight parking and you have to understand they are going to try to get their money back somehow. Fuel is the primary revenue generator.
Click to expand...

You have mentioned a couple instance that could be a business ethics issue. Business ethics is related to motive, how a person justifies their actions and how other perceive their actions. Take the free services you mentioned, for an example. Airport policies for providing these services would play a big part the determining if the decision to provide those services at no cost would be ethical or not.

Suppose a manager views that providing those services increases uses of the airport and increases sales of fuel, supplies, hanger rentals, etc. These free services must be paid for by someone - the entity that benefits from the profits. The manager may justify his decision to provide these free services - services paid from profits that would have benefited some stakeholder - because it keeps the airport open. An operating airport will benefit a great number of people: pilots, employees, community, etc. In this way, the managers ACTIONS are justified because the outcome benefited a great number of people. Basically, the end justifies the means. But, does that make his actions ethical?

Suppose the airport has a policy governing the payment for these services, but doesn't strictly enforce it. If the manager ignores those rules and keeps the airport in operation, has he behaved ethically even though he broke the rules?

The manager could give those services away to his friends or influential people to gain a returned benefit from those people. I'm not accusing anyone of this; this is a hypothetical situation to demonstrate one of the philosophies of business ethics.

If the manager thinks that his actions or adherence to the rules are what makes a situation ethical, would allowing the airport to close by adherence to the rules or personal moral code be ethical if it costs the community the benefit of an airport?

You could actually judge many business decisions as ethical or unethical depending on the perception of the observer. I'm thinking the hanger rental policy may be a good place to start looking for a topic.

Thanks again guys for the help.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Where's that big thread on the airport in Texas that the town got into a huge pi$$ing match with the FBO over the fueling operation (and other stuff, I'm sure)?
Click to expand...


I believe that was New Braunsfel, KBAZ.
 
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