The Inflation Dragon -
How You Can Help Us and Help You!
As I mentioned in my last column — it is our desire to offer you the best pricing possible ever more inflationary world. Despite our efforts to reduce the cost per seat we fly — factors out of our control continue to drive our expenses in the wrong direction. The biggest factor is our jet fuel cost — which is closely tied to the price of oil. While we set our 2008 budget for oil in $80 range — we were all surprised to see that it has actually settled above $104, beating the previous inflation adjusted high set three decades ago!
Luckily, while fuel is a huge cost for us, our overall expenses can be positively moved in the right direction if we work on reducing other expenses. It just so happens, that one of our largest expenses is not related to fuel at all! It is related to number of seats that depart empty on our aircraft — even though these seats were originally booked! We call these seats No Shows. These No Shows drive our operating cost per seat up by about 10 percent because we can never effectively sell them. No Shows also prevent you from getting the seats you want at your favorite travel times because someone has booked a seat he or she will never use.
So how can you help us alleviate this problem and in the process help keep our prices stable? Here are some guidelines:
- Please - take the time to CANCEL flights you don't plan to use
- Please - ensure you or your staff have not inadvertently DOUBLE BOOKED you on the same flight or different flights all on the same day
- Please - show up ON TIME so your flight doesn't leave without you!
- Please - ensure your contact information is ACCURATE - so if we do find you double booked we can call you to make sure we keep the flights you want and cancel the flights you don't!
Helping us with these simple No Show reduction guidelines will go a long way towards helping Seaborne extinguish a portion of the Inflationary Dragon's hot flames and as a result help us do our part to try to keep your expenses in line.
 As always, thank you very much for your valuable business and patronage.
Sincerely,
Omer ErSelcuk
President & CEO
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