While rentals afford a number of pros, there’s no substitute to owning the equipment you use. To find out if owning airport equipment for ground support makes sense for your company, here are a few factors to consider:
1. You’ve got the budget for it. AviationPros says a lot of companies are going for rentals primarily because it’s a low-cost solution. But if you can shell out money for the equipment upfront, then you could skip the rental and own the equipment you need—whether it’s an airstarter or aircraft tug. However, if you want to give several equipment a try before you settle on a final choice, you’d do well to explore rental options to help you pull that off. When you finally get a feel for the different equipment and find the one that works best for your team, then that’s when it’s time to look into buying options.
2. You don’t want to keep paying on a monthly basis. By buying the equipment outright, you won’t have to bother with the monthly payments that rentals have. No need to waste resources and time taking care of that every month, allowing you to focus your resources on your core business.
3. You want consistency in every aspect of your business. The best companies founded their name on nothing more than passion, effort and credibility. Out of all three, credibility is the hardest to achieve. It takes years to establish the right reputation. And one way to earn that credibility is to provide consistent service on all levels. Meaning, you can’t afford a single mistake or misstep in your operations. When you control and oversee every aspect of the business, including your ground support operations, you stand a better chance of preventing those missteps and delivering the kind of consistent service that wins markets the world over. Because you’re fully in control.
4. You want more leeway and flexibility. When you own your units, you can be more flexible in using your resources. For instance, if delivery of those airport rentals takes up a lot of time, that cuts into your profits. If you own the equipment, though, you can easily find ways to work out the logistical issues and allow faster airport delivery of whatever ground support equipment you need. By buying your own tractor or tug, you get to refine your process, improve on your delivery schedules and provide for the needs of your clients or passengers in a faster and much more efficient way.
So build your business by building your credibility. All you need is to invest in the right equipment to make this possible.
