The flying ban gives more time to do business
Was your journey really necessary? Probably not, now that the Europeanwide flying ban has become the latest transport problem to prevent businessmen travelling. Grounding the continent’s executives is a good reminder than commerce can be conducted electronically quite efficiently.
For British business, the suspension of flights because of the Icelandic volcano eruption follows a series of strikes and threatened walk-outs at British Airways since before Christmas, snowstorms that closed airports and caused cancellations, and the disruption of Eurotunnel services.
Executives have found themselves trapped on their own island regularly over recent months – or prevented from returning to it. Yet business has not ground to a standstill. The inability to hold a face-to-face meeting has not prevented deals being done or contracts being agreed.
The enforced grounding has made businessmen turn to the range of electronic communications that they currently take abroad when they visit but which should be a substitute for travel. Blackberries, internet, lap-tops, mobiles and even old-fashioned landlines are very acceptable alternatives to airplanes.
Email messages and the dispatch of documents as attachments not only make much travel redundant, they are largely replacing speech-based communication.
Travel, especially international travel, is nevertheless still regarded by many as a key indicator of effort. Being out of the country is seen as a virtue. Some chief executives boast that they spend 80 per cent of their time travelling. Politicians use international summits as evidence of their efforts.
And travel is still seen as a perk in many business organisations with the right to first-class seats a sign of status. So-called conferences in sunny climes are still used as rewards for middle management.
Yet the truth is that travel is time consuming and stressful even without the risk of being stranded at some overseas airport by strikes or volcanic particles. Security measures since 9/11 and the requirement to check in long before a flight mean that even short-haul flights can take the best part of a working day from door to door.
British Airways, which makes most of its money from executives buying expensive tickets, has suffered during the recession because an increasing number of businessmen realised that travel was an easy cost to cut. So companies have already decided that not all journeys are necessary: the latest travel difficulties should remind yet more managers that a morning spent in the office is much more productive than a rush to the airport, a slow check in and the wait for a delayed flight. Sating at home is even green too!
