Business Aviation Terminology
Every metier has its own vocabulary, and professionals speak between each other with those words.
One of the most successful interview I have conducted it was with a lady who spontaneously applied for the position of flight attendant.
Great CV, long experience in Premium Cabin of commercial airlines, but never flew on a private jet before. Never saw one in her life.
When she arrived at the office for her final in-person interview , I welcomed her and we set down for our chat. For the first time I had in front of me an external person who knew the terminology and the meaning of each words and the conversation had been conducted very smoothly and at the same level of understanding.
This was something that really caught my attention, in a positive way. She took the time to investigate, ask questions and learn a little about the business. In other words, she took the time to prepare herself.
Of course she wasn’t an expert of the corporate world, but I felt she could understand me while I was talking about common situation, daily troubles, people and organisation involved.
We were talking the same language!
I used very technical words and she didn’t miss a thing.
Starting from the basics: on private jets we don’t have passengers, we have customers. Or guests. Or clients.
In the cabin there isn’t a cabin crew but a flight attendant or a cabin hostess or a cabin server. This differentiation has some legal involvements, so is really important to call things with their names.
We don’t have a ramp agent, we have a FBO agent. Where FBO stands for Fixed Base Operator and is the Ground Handling Agent who organise the additional services like fuel, water service, paperwork, boarding, disembarkation, luggage and so forth.
We don’t have a roster but a rotation instead. We don’t have a flight but a mission. We don’t have Private Jet Company but Private Jet Operator.
We also don’t meet customers at the aircraft but at the terminal.
VIP terminal sometimes are a completely separated building, far away from commercial airline’s terminal. Sometimes are totally different VIP airports such as Teterboro (NYC), Vnukovo (Moscow), Linate Prime (Milan).
Getting familiar with the terminology can significantly improve the first impression, and Private Jet Coach can help you with this.