First Class

New York City Gets VLJ Air Taxi Service

By Chris Kjelgaard, Senior Editor

posted: 24 June 2008 05:45 pm ET

: Linear Air says the Eclipse 500 very light jet it is basing at White Plains/Westchester County Airport represents the first VLJ air taxi service available in the greater New York City area. Credit: Courtesy of Linear Air
: The Eclipse 500 very light jets in Linear Air's air taxi fleet seat three passengers in reasonable comfort. Credit: Courtesy of Linear Air

Metropolitan New York City now has access to air taxi services operated by very light jets.

Concord, Mass.-based air taxi operator Linear Air has based a three-passenger Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ) at White Plains/Westchester County Airport to provide whole-aircraft VLJ charters to major and regional airports throughout the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state area, the mid-Atlantic states, the Northeast U.S. and eastern Canada.

Linear Air says its White Plains-based Eclipse 500 represents the first VLJ air taxi service available in the greater New York City area, which becomes the company's second VLJ air taxi base after Boston, served primarily from Linear Air's home base at Hanscom Field west of the city.

Another base for Linear Air is Manassas Airport, Va., where the company bases some of its fleet of eight-passenger Cessna 208 Grand Caravan turboprops to serve the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. Linear Air also began serving Manassas and other airports in the area with Eclipse 500s in late April, but has not based any VLJs there yet.

An FAA-certified Part 135 charter operator with a Gold safety rating from well-known independent aviation safety auditing firm ARG/US, Linear Air says it provides business and leisure travelers access to more than 750 airports throughout its existing network. Linear Air plans to expand its network to additional areas of the United States in the future as it receives more Eclipse 500 VLJs.

In mid-March, Linear Air joined the newly launched Virgin Charter Marketplace, allowing customers to search for, compare and purchase charter flights online from a network of more than 1,000 private aircraft.

Then, in late May, the company introduced its own online booking tool, allowing travelers to go to its Web site Linearair.com to check pricing and book flights online, the site providing instant reservations for specific aircraft in the Linear Air fleet and generating pricing and flight information using trademarked Quick Quote technology.

"Linear Air's goal is to make air travel as pain-free as possible for our customers — starting with the booking process," remarked William Herp, the company's president and CEO. "Now customers can go online and access aircraft pricing and availability with minimal effort and time involved."

At present Linear Air operates five Cessna Grand Caravans and four Eclipse 500s, but it has ordered a sizeable number of additional Eclipse 500 VLJs. Unlike DayJet, the Florida-based Eclipse 500 air taxi operator which recently had to curtail its growth and lay off staff when it couldn’t obtain additional investment as a result of the U.S. credit crunch, Linear Air has chosen to lease its aircraft rather than purchase them outright.

DayJet and Linear Air also differ in their business models. Where the Florida company offers a per-seat booking air taxi service where pricing is based on the extent of the period of time within which the person booking is willing to begin his or her flight, Linear Air primarily operates a whole-aircraft booking service, a spokeswoman said.

The Eclipse 500 was the subject of an FAA emergency airworthiness directive recently when the throttles of an aircraft became stuck in the fully open position just before it landed at Chicago's Midway Airport. The pilots landed the aircraft successfully but the aircraft's tires blew upon landing.