Retrospective on personal air travel

This article is a bit of a retrospective on my use of personal air travel. I have been writing before on the development of capabilities. Now I want to see what the new capability delivers to my business.

Two and a half day in Munich

I had to meet with colleagues at a client to prepare and perform some work. We had agreed to meet for lunch on the day everybody arrives on site.

The direct cost of this trip was surprisingly very close to similar trips using the German high speed train ICE. The round-trip train ticket alone - without taking advantage of frequent traveler discounts and in first class - is 354 €. Instead of the rental car I had been using taxis. Each fare runs about 20 € and you need at least two every day.

Total travel time from door to door is the other important factor. On the outbound journey I closed the door of our home at 09:30 and I met the other party in Munich for the lunch meeting at 12:30. With the train I would have had to leave home no later than 08:00 and barely arrived at the same time 12:30, if the train runs on time and I am able to catch a taxi right away and there is not too much traffic.

Being able to leave a little bit later provides a huge value. It means one can participate in regular family life and doesn’t have to rush out the door and probably get breakfast on the go just to be on time on the train platform.

Day trip to Cologne

This was a day trip to a meeting where I got picked up at the GAT (General Aviation Terminal) of the airport and taken back to the GAT in the end. Thus the meeting started and ended right there.

Roundtrip with the train would cost 216 €, which again is pretty close to the cost for AVGAS. As my party would have picked me up at the train station as well, taking the train would have meant to leave home by 09:00 and arrive shortly after 12:30.

According to my logbook I started the engine by 11:30 and turned it off by 12:40. I believe I left home a bit after 10:30. On the way back I took off around 18:20 and arrived shortly before 19:30 and was home for dinner shortly after 20:00.

In the case of using the train I would have had to be on the train by 16:30, which would have cut the meeting short by about two hours. Using the train I would have saved 115 €, would have had a meeting 2 hours shorter and would have had to leave home about an hour and a half earlier.