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Are you tired of sacrificing comfort for cheaper air fare? Having to squeeze into smaller commercial jets that seat 20 to 50 persons to reach your local regional airport? Well, perhaps those days of crowded, uncomfortable flying are numbered with the advent of a new category of business jets called the Very Light Jet (VLJ) or MicroJet; due to hit the market in early 2007.
The some of the vlj aircraft hitting the market this year include the Eclipse 500 from Eclipse Aviation, the Adam A700 from Adam Aircraft, the Citation Mustang from Cessna, and the Phenom jets from Embraer. The Eclipse jet and the Mustang jet have already received their full FAA certifications and currently have a backlog of orders from private owners and air taxi companies. The Adam jet and Phenom jet have already received orders from air taxi companies. Other microjet aircraft include the Phenom 100, the D-Jet, the HondaJet, the PiperJet, and the Spectrum Independence.
The VLJ come equipped with smaller, more fuel efficient engines that were spurred into developed by NASA and specifically designed for these smaller jet aircraft. They are designed to seat at least 4 to 5 passengers with a pilot crew of two and one of the primary markets for these aircraft is a developing air travel service called the Air Taxi.
What makes the Very Light Jet a catalyst for change in the aviation market is their fuel efficiency and ability to access the more then 5,000 local airports in the U.S. that are currently under utilized. As a result the Air Taxi market has tremendous growth potential and seasoned entrepreneurs like Ed Lacobucci, founder of Citrix Systems and DayJet, have entered this arena.
Companies like DayJet in Southeast US and Pogo in the Northeast US have been developing a unique air taxi business models based on serving up to 600 mile radius of local to local airports with an on-demand air travel service for the business traveler; such as lawyers, sales persons, small business owners, medical professionals, and entrepreneurs. The Air Taxi air fares have been estimated of around $600 per seat per leg. If this price holds true then the Air Taxi service can be highly cost effective business tool.
Take a typical sales trip that could involve several cities in one week. Traveling by car would incur high gas prices, hotels, additional food, and more time away from family and the office. The ability to take an Air Taxi to several cities in just one day rather then 3 or 4 would be an effective business tool. There are many additional Air Taxis growth factors that remain to be seen, however, with the launch of the Micojet and the over capacity of our current commercial air travel they have a fighting chance. Stay tuned to Kewljets for the latest on the Air Taxi market.
Air Taxi companies:
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