Studying Arrow Aircraft’s business rules and policies

You have been hired on a contract basis to build a web application for Arrow Aircraft Services. Before you start designing the database, you make sure you understand all the organization’s business rules and policies that will affect the application. This section describes the (simplified) business rules and policies of Arrow Aircraft Services.

Arrow Aircraft manages a fleet of five business jets of varying sizes and models for their owners. Each jet has up to eight fractional owners--corporations or individuals who have purchased a share of the aircraft. This type of arrangement is popular with those who don’t need a business jet on a year-round basis.

The fractional owners, or shareholders, pay Arrow Aircraft the following fees:

• A monthly management fee proportional to the owner’s share of the aircraft to cover pilot, insurance, and hangaring costs
• An "occupied" hourly fee covering all direct costs such as maintenance, engine reserves, and catering

In exchange, a shareholder tells Arrow Aircraft when and where they want to go and Arrow Aircraft takes care of the rest, including obtaining flight and ground crews and catering the flight. Arrow Aircraft requires a minimum notice of 8 hours to prepare an aircraft for a flight.

Arrow Aircraft guarantees 800 "occupied hours" per year for each aircraft. Occupied hours are hours where the jet is both in flight and occupied by at least one passenger. Occupied hours begin six minutes (0.1 of an hour) before the aircraft takes off with passengers and end six minutes after the aircraft lands.

Each aircraft can have up to eight owners. For example, an individual or corporation can purchase a 1/5 interest (or a 1/5th share) in a jet. Since Arrow Aircraft guarantees 800 occupied flight hours per year, the owner of the 1/5th share is entitled to 160 occupied hours (800 hours / 5 = 160).