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Air taxi an upgrade for the private jet set
Sleek and fast, these Very Light Jets could bring air taxis to a community near you.
By Alexandra Marks | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the September 5, 2007 edition
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New York - In a hangar outside Boston sits a small, sleek jet waiting for final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to take to the skies with paying passengers.
It's the first Very Light Jet (VLJ) delivered in New England, and Linear Air, a start-up air taxi and charter service, hopes it will be the start of an aviation revolution.
VLJs are light, powerful, and affordable compared with current corporate jets. Advocates believe that with engines originally designed for cruise missiles, sleek exteriors of light carbon-fiber composite, and the latest in avionics they will usher in an era of affordable, on-demand air taxi service. The goal: Pay the price of a full-fare coach ticket and, instead of the hassle of going to a major airport and waiting in check-in and security lines, you arrive at a small airport five minutes before takeoff and are ushered into a small, comfortable jet that delivers you directly to your destination.
Sounds great, enough to lure millions of dollars in investments. But skeptics doubt the demand exists to support large-scale air taxi services. These powerful, little fuel-efficient jets, they say, may prove to be nothing more than dotcoms with wings -a great innovation that brings jet flight to a relatively small number of private pilots.
Still others worry that if VLJs do take off, they'll crowd the already-congested air space, making the record delays of this summer look good by comparison.
Six companies plan to manufacture VLJs, banking that air taxi service will succeed. Linear Air has ordered a total of 30 Eclipse 500's to be delivered over the next two years.
"These aircraft represent a technological leap forward that has the potential to change the economics of private air travel in such a way as to make it affordable to vastly larger numbers of people than you can justify today," says William Herp, president and CEO of Linear Air.
The Federal Aviation Administration is also gung-ho on the VLJs. The FAA hopes they'll bring commercial air travel to thousands of smaller communities around the country. That's a major selling point for the consultants and investors banking on the air taxi model who believe the VLJ finally makes it possible. While regular small business jets start at around $4 million each, the VLJs on the market currently cost between $1 million and $3 million. They can seat up to six people and have high performance, fuel-efficient engines that make them twice as fast as turbo-props, which are often used in regional private travel.
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