VLJ Story

Here is part of a story from travel weekly:

The first test of the concept, however, should come when DayJet is allowed to take possession of its first Eclipse 500s for the “per-seat, on-demand” short-haul service it hopes to begin near the end of this year for service in the Southeastern U.S. DayJet said its seats would be priced about 20% higher than full-fare coach on regional carriers. It believes that will cost travelers about the same as air, hotel and daily expenses on a typical business trip.

DayJet will have two pilots and up to three passengers per flight, and spokeswoman Vicky Harris said the company could break even with just 1.3 passengers per flight. DayJet, based in Del Ray, Fla., will serve routes under 600 miles, with its first services connecting the Florida communities of Boca Raton, Gainesville, Lakeland, Pensacola and Tallahassee. DayJet said it chose the five Florida cities because each one “represents a strong and growing local economy and business environment that is underserved by the airline hub-and-spoke system.” It plans to add four more cities in Florida and 12 more across three Southeastern states within 12 months of launching the service.

DayJet is targeting midlevel managers and people who typically drive on business trips today because their air-service option is not appealing. It also said travelers might take a scheduled service flight in one direction and a DayJet flight for the trip back to avoid having an overnight stay.

Another service, Lexington, Mass.-based Linear Air, is planning to be the first jet-taxi service in the Northeast. It’s already offering air taxi service on Cessna turboprops and has ordered 30 Eclipse 500s for delivery over the next two years.

Dick Knapinski, a spokesman for the Experimental Aircraft Association, said he believed the biggest market for the very light jets would be air taxi services and companies that can’t afford big corporate jets.
Knapinski said he can appreciate the potential appeal of air taxi services. Any community with 25,000 people or more usually has a fairly nice local airport, and “the vast majority of airports in this nation are under-utilized,” he said. And as a former resident of northern Wisconsin, Knapinsky said, he knows how frustrating air travel from those communities can be. “I know some rather large businesses in far nothern Wisconsin, near nice airports with 5,000-foot runways, but at least two hours from any commercial air service,” he said. “It would be two hours just to get to an airport where you would probably connect with a regional carrier to connect to a hub airport, where you would get on another regional carrier.”

But asked how much business travelers would be willing to pay for more convenience, Knapinski said, “You would have to ask each company, ‘What is that worth to you?’ “