November 01, 2007

Linear Air

It appears Linear will have their first VLJ jet in early November from xconomy.com:

Linear Air on Verge of FAA Approval for Very Light Jet Service; Backlog Already Brewing

These micro-jets can operate at close to the same speeds and altitudes as the light business jets flown by charter services, but at less than half the cost. That makes them tailor-made to the needs of an air-taxi service. And any day now, Concord, MA-based Linear Air is expecting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly its first “VLJ.” Expect service to start in early November. But be fast, a backlog is already brewing.

Linear Air’s CEO, Bill Herp, who got his pilot’s license in 1996, has been a “VLJ” fan ever since he first heard about the concept in 2001. At the time Herp was CEO of e-Dialog, a Lexington-based email-marketing-services firm he founded and eventually built up to over 200 employees, and which constantly sent him and fellow executives on nightmarish, prolonged commercial-airline escapades to pitch potential clients.

Herp started playing with the new math of VLJ-enabled flight and decided to build an air-charter business around micro-jets. “E-Dialog was running pretty well, and I saw a window opening for a new approach to air travel,” he says.

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