Twin-Engine VLJs
Single-Engine VLJs
VLJ Air-Taxi Operator Progress Report |
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Since the last report in this space, air taxi operations using the Eclipse 500 VLJ have started by DayJet in Florida and North American Jet in the Mid-West. Linear Air in the Northeast has begun their acquisition of Eclipse 500 to expand their existing operations. Breakdown of Operators by Type Type I: Operators who own or control everything - the aircraft, pilots, reservations
Type II: Brokers, network operations, or aggregators who contract with various aircraft owners, and have reservation systems to marry them to flying passengers. All size and type aircraft are involved with these firms.
Non-VLJ Air-Taxi Operator Progress Report Several operators have been using new single-engine propeller planes, the most prominent being SATSair in the Southeast. Other newer firms serving the Northeast and Southeast are Open Air (Washington, DC area) and ImagineAir (Atlanta, GA area). Common to all three is that hourly fares are charged only for passenger flight time (no repositioning fees) and the Cirrus four-seat plane with parachute is used. Also using the Cirrus aircraft is AirQuest Aviation (Butler, PA) serving portions of the Northeast/Southeast, and Scanlon Aviation (Novato, CA) in the West. Copyright 2007 VLJ Group LLC. |
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Note: Do not make purchase decisions based on the information above. Contact the manufacturers directly.
There are several additional Very Light Jet projects in various stages of development. Very Light Jet Magazine will report on them as information becomes available.
VLJ Views
The Very Light Jet era has arrived with several aircraft manufacturers in the competition! What exactly is a VLJ? These new planes have also been known as microjets and personal jets. The name Very Light Jets, or VLJs, is now official!
The NBAA Training Guidelines for Single Pilot Operations of Very Light Jets and Technically Advanced Aircraft defines Very Light Jet as: "Jet aircraft weighing 10,000 pounds or less maximum certificated takeoff weight and certificated for single pilot operations. These aircraft will possess at least some of the following features: (1) advanced cockpit automation, such as moving map GPS and multi-function displays; (2) automated engine and systems management; and (3) integrated autoflight, autopilot and flight-guidance systems."
What's in it for us? Very Light Jet travel technology offers us a revolution in the way we travel for business and pleasure. The price of these sleek rockets is from $1.0M to $3.0 million and change, placing them well within the reach of many businesses and individuals.
Very Light Jets can operate from shorter runways than commercial airliners and this means that they can utilize the 5000+ satellite airports around the US.
Our days of having to endure the obsolete hub-and-spoke system to get anywhere by plane may finally be numbered. Affordable jet ownership and private jet charter is soon to be available to a massive number of travelers!
