I did not have a particular desire to see what BT where up too as an organization, but Doug Richard was hosting one of his excellent School for Startups.

Now I last visited “Adastral Park” during the 1980′s.      Those not familiar with this part of the world – semi-rural Suffolk, BT’s research Labs where built in the 1960′s on the site of a former RAF base.

The main building represents all that was wrong with post war architecture and the central tower is I am told reflects back to it’s RAF days give a control tower feel, but reaching up into the stars, hence the name.

Well apart from the name change in the 1980′s I cannot see what else has changed ?

The building is “shabby and dated”, the hospitality was at minimal levels, other than from the fine girls that did car park duty – out in pretty indifferent weather.

But this is the bit that would worry me as a BT shareholder – you have I’d guess over 100 budding entrepreneurs in the room along with one of the countries, if not Europe’s leading entrepreneurial educators in Doug Richard, they made no effort to do any marketing at all !

A BT chap came on a the start did the health and safety brief, informed us not to take any photographs and left! – that was it – after that zip.

Surely the thousands of engineers are working on something they could at least give us a sneak preview on?

I now understand why it’s called “Adastral Park” – somebody’s head is certainly in the clouds !

Hopefully some BT employees where in the audience, they need marketing advice as badly as startup’s do.

Roy 11th June 2010

I have already built my first application and used AppMakr as an initial web based development tool, just to get up and running.     Having subscribed to the Apple developer program, I now have access to the tools and ability to offer approved applications via the iTunes store.

Now the last real programming I did was on the 6510 processor, the divertive of the 6502 processor that fuelled the 1980’s home computer revolution.    I am finding it really refreshing, because it’s an activity that is mentally taxing, yet free from a large degree of interference – you just simply get on, design, build and test.   It’s also fun because the last code that I wrote was over 20 years ago whilst at Plymouth University, and we had nothing like the set of tools available today – I remember still writing code that would be batch tested overnight!

However I am conscious that this is only a short lived period in the evolution of the FBO Guides as my primary focus needs to be on the marketing and business development of the project, but at least I will have a grounding in the technologies that are being used, which I am sure will help in future product development.

I am really enjoying getting to grips with a new challenge, but also laying the foundations of the project, so I can go out and promote what I am working on to the business aviation community with a good understanding of how the product might evolve and what the possible is.

Roy 3rd June

Nokia 5230 running the AV8Services Application

Currently a lot of my focus is on the development of the FBO guide, and how to deliver the information to the prospective audience.

Given the very nature of the service, delivery on a mobile platform is taken as a given.

Having read this morning that the iPad has arrived, I started thinking about the mobile strategy and which platforms to deliver on.

I’ve always had a time for Apple and think that it’s healthy that alternative platforms exist. When the iPhone first came out I think it was universally regarded as “cool”. However as the other phone manufacturers have now caught up, I think Apple is over-rated and certainly overpriced.

I have discovered the iPad with mobile connectivity is going to use a non-standard SIM, what a joke ! – Does the iPad data have something magical about it ? – other than the ability to allow the mobile service providers to rip you off for the privilege of being an Apple user. I can see no technical reason, it’s purely a marketing scam.

Sorry it’s not innovative or “cool”, Apple – your doing just because you can.

My first exposure to mobile data was back in the late 90’s when I was working at Ideal Hardware, the Nokia banana made famous in the Matrix was all the rage – I wanted one and immediately set about using the 9600 baud data connectivity. Websites still where largely designed around a dial-up-audience. So I’ve seen the game evolve from day one.

Well yesterday I’ve invested in a new Nokia 5230 – OK it’s the budgetary mainstream for Nokia at the moment, but here are my four reasons for choosing Nokia over Apple

1/ It’s a phone first – At a meeting in central London the other day, the only attendees who could get a signal where those with Nokia phones. Your blackberry, iPhone or whatever is useless if it cannot communicate with the outside world.

Nokia built a lot of the mobile infrastructure and transmitters as well – it follows therefore that it should have a head start on the reception front

Round 1 – Nokia

2/ Cost of Ownership

Firstly I am with T-mobile, therefore I either need a jail break phone or to change to 02, at £50 per month for 18 months, so £900 worth of contract or £500 to purchase a phone.

Then we turn to data, I currently get unlimited (well I’ve never hit the barrier) as part of my monthly tariff, I think it added a £5 to the monthly costs. iPad option see to start around £20 per month for realistic monthly usage.

Round 2 – Nokia

3/ Extras

Lets see – Nokia’s entry level sub £100 touch phone has given me – full GPS mapping and directions for most of the known world, 10 tracks to download from the Music Store, 10GB of online accessible storage, e-mail clients and access.

Understand from my Apple friends that Apple’s policy is like a 1980’s BMW – anything you might desire is likely to be on the options list with a suitable price tag attached.

Round 3 – Nokia

4/ As a Development Platform

Now I don’t have a Mac, but to develop iPhone applications you need both an iPhone and a Mac computer and a later model intel chipset one at that.

Nokia have actually made the process of developing Apps so easy, that I already have one in the works already – due for publication in the next week or so

Round 4 – Nokia

So now back to the serious business of which platform

Market Share

Well, this is where we get to the power of marketing and brands – essentially I get the same functionality form my Nokia as my friends do from the iPhone – but Apple have taken a huge market share in the markets that matter to me in the past five years or so.

Market share for Q4 2009 is coming in at 40% for Apple in North America, v 11% for Nokia, and things are even better for Apple in Nokia’s backyard with market share at 68% and Nokia hanging in at 8%

So unless my specific aviation market feedback reflects that aviation professionals across Europe are bucking the trend, reluctantly the iPhone platform must be on the agenda and is more important than the Nokia one.

So on that note, whilst I will always champion Nokia, my head say’s it has to be Apple.

Roy 28th May 2010

I doubt if any modern Olympic contender has sought a gold medal has done so without some coaching, even if this is not formally acknowledged.

But when it comes to business, we often think only in terms of mentoring, but not coaching. But surely nearly all of us a playing a team game and we want to “win”, we may work as a freelance, but are nearly always part of a larger team game.

Why am I writing this?  well I have just come off the phone to Linda Mattacks. Now I have only known Linda for a couple of weeks, and she was introduced by a long-term friend Andy Ferguson. Now Andy is quite well known and is very much focused on bring the best out of people, buy making them understand what he refers to as there “higher purpose”.

“Higher purpose”, is very much about what you aspire to do in the longer term and I best describe it as what should be the message that comes across in your obituary ( no I am not trying to be morbid just trying to focus your mind!) – it also when discovered helps define you, your aspirations and your reason to get up each morning.

When I first meet Andy my “higher purpose”, did not come across as very lofty – given that we had been speaking about some of the greatest characters of the 20^th century, such as JFK or Gandhi, I simply wanted to work and make a difference in aviation, well six to seven years on I’ve made it? – Or have I?

Now my longer-term higher purpose is to become involved in the transportation of big cats and other endangered species around the globe – because aviation can contribute toward positive elements of the environment and our collective futures, and I still want to make a difference in the wider world of aviation as well.

I mention mentoring in passing, because all of the entrepreneurial training programs such as Doug Richard’s school for startup’s put a lot of emphasis on this and rightly so.    My career thus far has in part been shaped by a couple of good mentors, however you cannot usually substitute a mentor for a coach.

Linda for me is not a mentor, she is a coach – we cannot any of us work in isolation. We need a running mate – somebody who can ensure that we are pushing ourselves to the limit and not just coasting.

To others Linda is able to help them formulate what our higher purpose might be – because in today’s uncertain world the career paths or other things that we may have pursued might be for us personally be the wrong ones.   Also why should you allow others to define what “winning” is.

Coaching requires commitment and that commitment must be both ways.

Now the great thing about being self-employed is that I to a large extent am able to do things as and when I please, but those who know me well know that I more than anybody have a good understanding of how close that obituary might be – so the greatest gift that I have had since discovering my higher purpose, is to be coached.

Please if you are in a rut and want to move forward, my gift to you is that coaching should be an option that you seriously consider – because every body has Olympic potential with the right team around them.

Roy 24th May

Firstly it’s worth remembering that that potentially EASA can bring huge benefits for all member states, but the devil is in the detail and the regional interpretation of the legislation that it draws up.

Currently within it’s remit is a intention to harmonise professional flight training across Europe, which given the crowded nature of it’s airspace can in principle be seen as a good thing.   However at the moment many UK based flight training schools, and other organisations involved in pilot training such as those offering simulator training have some major reservations about the legislation in progress in regards pilot training due to come into force across Europe next year.

Firstly, whole sections of flight training activity appear to have been completely overlooked – helicopter pilot training was sighted as a particular example.    Secondly many aspects such as the integration of the NPL for pilots who are unable to obtain a class 1 or 2 medical, but are currently accommodated by the NPL scheme – these include many former professional pilots, who now pursue flying as a recreational activity or in some cases are still active in specialist areas of flight training because of specific expertise they can offer.

The more serious concern is not however the details, it is the whole process of the creation of new legislation.

EASA, like many organisations needs to make cutbacks, to help with the generic European budgetary issues, so has a resource issue.

What appears to be happening is that the process of consultation, so vital to building of comprehensive, yet workable legislation appears to be at risk because not enough internal expertise can be brought into play to address the many valid and valuable contributions the industry makes.

This issue runs the very real risk of devaluing the work of EASA, which has already caused problems at a national level because the national civil aviation authorities are being progressively relegated to the roll of local enforcement officers, rather than real decision making bodies.      This diminishing power means that the national aviation authorities no longer-hold as much attraction for aspiring aviation professionals who wish to make a difference, yet because of the budgetary constraints on EASA these same professionals who can in many cases bring years of experience to the legislation making process cannot be employed.

If the current proposed legislation in regards pilot training does not go through the process of consultation and industry involvement, future pilots will be denied the experience and wisdom of those who have created a very robust and safe system of pilot training in place across Europe today.

Roy 22nd May

One of my favourite treats would be a trip to what I thought was the largest bookshop in the known universe – Foyles in Charring Cross road.    As a small boy I stood in wonderment at the vast collection of railway books on offer – which like many small boys at the time was a particular passion of mine.     Books where piled in every conceivable space – the shelves where often filled to overflowing, small piles of books on the floor where not uncommon.     The place seemed to have a special magic, surely if you needed a book on any topic known to mankind it could be found here ?

Yesterday, some three decades later with another couple of hours to kill, I decided that I needed a book on mySQL, so being “in town”, I headed to Foyles.

No doubt, many things have improved – books seem organised and none are seen on the floor in piles any more – much I am sure to the delight of the local fire brigade inspector.   The whole place seems light and airy, yet for all the improvements the wonderment is long gone.

The place appears to be now exclusively staffed by young graduates – bight and astute I am sure – but merely “passing through” or I am sure in today’s climate just grateful to be in paid employment.   The old hands who both had a life long interest in books, where usually often subject specialists and could make highly informed recommendations no doubt are in retirement.

I found that much to my horror that all of the books, well certainly all that I was browsing in the computer section where already marked with a theft detection device – usually located mid-book on a page where removal would mean damaging the book.  So my book shall be marked for life, for Foyle’s benefit.

Having located the book that I was thinking of, I looked in disgust at the price – it was FULL retail ! – Not only had all the perceived magic gone, I was still expected to pay for it – because even historically books where always at marked retail price.

So long Foyles – you are now part of my history and Amazon will ensure that you remain that way.

May 20th

With all the hustle and bustle of activity surrounding EBACE, it is all too easy to overlook one very specialist group – the FBO’s and ground operators.

However there is no escaping from the fact that large percentage of the corporate and business jet travel experience is dictated by the activities that occur on the ground whilst embarking upon on or ending what should be an un-eventful journey.

On the Wednesday afternoon a select few of a couple of dozen attended the EBAA’s Airports and ground handling meeting.     Three items where on the agenda, all potentially impacting business aviation as we see it in Europe today.

The first item on the agenda was that of slot and slot allocation.    Europe has some of the most densely utilised airspace in the world.    The recent volcanic ash interruptions demonstrated the very high utilisation of this airspace both for intra-European flights, transatlantic flights and intra-continental flights to the four corners of the earth.    The dramatic rise of low-cost carriers has increasingly put pressure on the ATC systems and a growing number of airports.    Whilst slot and slot coordination is a necessity and a practical proposition for scheduled operators, it is nothing short of a disaster for the business jet world, who’s timetables are driven by the needs of it’s premium paying customers.

Whilst at a operation level advances are being made to include business jet operations within airport facilities with slot allocation, for example by the development of XML standards to allow communication between scheduling and other operation systems, precious little has take place to address the fundamentals, in that an allocated slot is of no use to an operator if his passengers need to arrive or depart at a different time.

Discussions as to how to address this challenge where largely inconclusive, this issue is further complicated by the fact that in airports of high constraint the slots are held under long standing grandfather rights and in some cases in major European airports are valued in millions of euros, and are under the control ultimately of state owned authorities who have little time or interest in the needs of the business jet community.

The next item on the agenda was that of operational standards for FBO’s.   The rapid growth of business and corporate air travel across Europe has not been matched by an equivalent growth in facilities.   Some reported FBO’s are merely local ground handling agents with little or no dedicated facilities, whilst others provide all the bells and whistles; standards and expectations are very diverse.

Some criticism was made of the current system of “self verification”, where prospective FBO’s merely fill in a from and return this to the EBAA, and may without any independent verification and audit be classed as an operational FBO.

A number of leading European FBO’s where quite vocal on this and highlighted it as an issue for further attention.    However a change to the current system would require any verification and audit costs to be covered, which may preclude further progress on the topic. A couple of the attendees even suggested that the national regulators would have a role to play in monitoring the proliferation of FBO’s, much to the horror of other members who could see further governmental regulation as a hindrance that would not deliver any commercial benefits.

The last topic on the agenda was the seemingly obligatory subject of any aviation get-together, that of security.   On the 29^th of April a few days before EBACE new pan-European legislation came into place in an attempt to harmonise security standards and requirements.    Whilst the high level directive is pan-European in nature, each country has the option to provision some local derogations for certain categories of flights, such as helicopter flights, police and governmental agency flights.

What has transpired away from the corridors of power in Brussels is potentially a more fragmented system with each derogating authority at a national level interpreting the requirements upon business and corporate travel very differently.   Practices of minimal screening of passengers in one country, would be deemed potentially “illegal” just a few hundred miles away.

Again as in the case with the issues surrounding slot and slot allocation, the legislation is not mindful of the practical realities of business aviation and in many cases the response to the security concerns is dispassionate to the risk.   For example, it may soon be difficult technically for your VIP customer to bring on-board that bottle of wine that his host has just presented him with because it is over 100ml.

Roy

11th May

I’ve yet to fully understand how two largely dysfunctional legacy carriers with a raft of problems can truly benefit from the merger.   As a fellow aviation professional my first thoughts are with the employees of the respective airlines, currently the employment levels across the two companies are 86,000 people.

United Airlines Glenn Tilton call the deal “great for our customers, our employees and our communities”.      He indicated minimal cutbacks in front-line employees, but given the oversupply problem that has plagued the global air transport market for nearly a decade post 9-11, one cannot realistically see how their will not be significant job casualties over and above any retirements and voluntary redundancies.

Merger talks between United and another US carrier, US Airways came to an end on April the 23^rd.   Again the reasons for merger where stated as it being in the best interests of customers, shareholders and communities, so the story is the same, this time the outcome different.   Mergers are back on the agenda.

Before you think I am being biased towards the USA, I have some very serious reservations of the true benefit of British Airways and Iberia merging.  British Airways has some serious financial problems, a potentially crippling pension deficit, and a serious reputation problem with a large section of the travelling public across the world.    Who ever in marketing dreamt up the title “The worlds favourite airline”, clearly failed to consult with the world at large or at least those who had actually travelled with the airline.

Now moving away from the specifics of this particular merger, where else would you find two giant loss making businesses, with a raft of issues ranging from long term pension provision issues, to a massive oversupply of product (in an airlines case empty seats), and a market that is taking a battering as a result of events which are out of the control of the market players ( 9-11, global recession, Ash clouds), in my mind two dysfunctional businesses with no sound basis to move forward on merging into one business with a myriad of problems is not the way forward.

The problems that persist in the American aviation business are in my mind beyond the issues that mergers try and seek to solve, by economies of scale and the subsequent reduction in parallel business functions.

In Europe over a decade ago, it became illegal for the state / governments to prop up failing airline businesses.  The two airlines that seem immune to this position are Olympic and Italia, which are widely regarded in financial circles as basket-case airlines and are probably in truth beyond redemption.

The American aviation sector is very much protected and most of the major carriers have spent periods in Chapter 11.    I almost cynically think that the boards get together in tough times and decide, shall we operate normally or shall we call for chapter 11 again.     This combined with a complete unwillingness to have any significant foreign ownership means that the American carriers operate away from the normal financial realities that the rest of the world’s airlines live with.

The larger American carriers are “too big to fail”, this simply means that should the shareholders and other stakeholders agree to the formation of the new “United”  (the proposal calls for the use of the Continental logos and the United name), the new airline will simply have the option of trading using the Chapter 11 rules when things get tough again, which no doubt they will.

I find it Ironic however that one of the best performers historically on the NY stock market is that of another airline “Southwest”, this is not only a good performer in it’s sector, but a good performer financially across all sectors.

The Southwest business model has been reapplied in Europe to form some of the leading and now largest carriers in Europe, notably easyJet and Ryanair.

At the end of the day, I remain convinced that far from providing any real improvements for customers, employees and the wider non-aviation communities, all that will be achieved by the creation of the largest world airline will be a few “winners” – a small number of shareholders and as always in these things the banks and other financial advisers who are “in on the deal”.

Roy

9th May 2010