Flight Options, the second-largest company in the private jet travel industry, announced June 4 that it has been awarded the biennial Argus Platinum rating for the sixth consecutive time. That's more than any other fractional jet operator. Argus assessed Flight Options against industry best practices in a multi-day audit of continuous improvement efforts in all areas of aviation operations, maintenance and safety. The audit efforts evaluate historical safety ratings, current aircraft and pilot background checks and passage of the comprehensive on-site safety audit in all phases. One element that helped seal the award was Flight Options' ASAP, a component of the company's Safety Management System.

Flight Options executive vice president of Sales and Marketing Matt Doyle said, "We first began the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) in 2006 because we knew we couldn't just sit back and let things [unsafe conditions] happen. We needed to foster continuous improvement." Doyle says fatigue management is a topic on which Flight Options has worked closely with the FAA. "We wanted to go one step further than we needed to, like not simply saying 10 hours of crew rest is enough. We're developing software to look at how trips alter a pilot's circadian rhythm. We tell our pilots to call in [on any trip] if they are fatigued and think anything is unsafe, and there are no repercussions." Unionized Flight Options pilots are represented by Teamsters Local 1108.