Taxi Airline

Lufttaxis fly into the financial turmoil

Faced with increasing tariffs and the increasing unreliability of corporate traffic for corporate travellers, Ed Iacobucci stated that his plans for an aerial taxi services would be a captive offer. As DayJet's firm had proven that there was a small jet shop for short-haul and on-demand services and was ready to grow its franchise, the loan industry sunk.

The DayJet was not able to afford the $40 million it needed to expand, Mr Iacobucci said. Planned growth was delayed and the firm dismissed 100 of its 260 employees. Aerial taxi is a relatively new phenomena. According to the Association, there are about a dozen businesses that operate in different areas of the United States.

Enterprises encourage comfort and close the loop between business and charters, where a client is paying for an airplane. Lufttaxi operators use small jet or prop planes, mostly on fixedways. The majority depart from non-crowded alternative regional airfields and travel from one small town to another without the time-consuming hub -to-hub links typically associated with large airline operations.

According to the aviation taxi company, the conclusion is that a corporate journey, which often requires an night's accommodation with airline operators, can be carried out in one single flight because the traveller can directly travel to the point of use. DayJet, located in Boca Raton, Fla. is the largest aerial taxi company, the most aggresive and so far most affected by the financial turmoil.

She now says that she is planning to start operation next year. Others are making good progress because they have already completed funding, are using cheaper prop airplanes or have more limited business development intentions. Although the sharp increase in the price of aviation fuels has not benefited any of the taxi operators, it has not done them any particular harm because all aeroplanes are new, powerful and fuel-efficient.

Lufttaxi operators are not the only ones who make their models work. Leading producers of the aeroplane category of the so-called Very Lights are also interested in themselves. DayJet's jet manufacturer, Eclipse Aviation, has received over 2,600 orders for its Eclipse 500, but has not yet approached the annual output of 500s.

Embraer recently heralded that it will open an assembling facility in Florida to manufacture some of its very lightweight Phenom 100s. The DayJet family has a 28 Eclipse 500s aircraft which is the best-selling aircraft of very lightweight aircraft. The DayJet community has about 1,600 members, almost all of whom are corporate travellers and charge an annually registration fees.

Will DayJet be able to do it without having to expand to this crucial size? The DayJet says that its rates are slightly more than a standard walk-up bus rate on a regular airline. Currently, the only aircraft used by aerial taxi companies in this state are $1.6 million Eclipse 500s, which were the first to enter the game.

Operating in New England and neighbouring countries, Linear Air mainly uses the Cessna Grand Caravan with eight passengers, but is planning to purchase seven Eclipse 500 aircraft, which will travel about twice as quickly. By the end of the year, Linear is planning to purchase eight more Eclipse500s to expand its expanding operations.

Greenville, S.C. located SATSair is also extending its airport taxi services throughout the Southeast. The Cirrus SR22 is a four-part, short-range Cirrus SR22 aircraft that uses a unique pilots' wing and is fitted with a high-tech chute designed to ensure the aircraft slides down in an emergency. Pogo, whose senior leadership board is headed by Robert Crandall, former American Airlines CEO, said it intends to launch an Eclipse 500 jet taxi company at several hundred general aviation destinations within approximately 600 mile of New York City.

According to the report, the services will begin in the second half of 2009. But not all aerial cabs provide the on-demand per-seat experience that DayJet's advanced logistics technologies enable. "We have a wide range of aerial taxi aircraft but they all focus on one thing: bringing the on-demand fare within reach," said Joe Leader, chairman of the Air Taxi Association (), which was formed last year to incite the expansion of aerial taxi services in the United States abroad.

JetSuite, an aerial taxi firm founded by a group led by Alex Wilcox, one of JetBlue's founder directors, is one of the largest new projects. JetSuite, which is planning to operate services in Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, has ordered 50 of the very lightweight Phenom 100 jet planes manufactured by the major Brazilian airframe manufacturer Embraer.

Meanwhile in Europe, Mr Leader said, several aerial taxi start-ups are fly the new Cessna Citation Mustang aircraft, which with $2.65 million is at the top end of the super lightweight jets segment. Aerial taxi services, whether they run on a per-seat or per-aircraft basis (this is how airport taxi services usually work), represent "an evolving move that is likely to bring about a revolution in our travelling culture" as major carriers discontinue services and leave some overall stores, Mr Leader said.