Pilots Blog

Will the Air Taxi ever arrive?

In the Autumn of 2007 I was sitting in a room at a hotel near Heathrow airport, London with around 30 aspiring air taxi operators, at the first meeting of the Air Taxi Association Europe. A good number of those present had their business plans fully formed and the majority were going to use the Eclipse 500 because of its lower operating costs. The euphoria surrounding the VLJ was in full swing and some of the operators already had the money in the bank and were purchasing their aircraft.

This all came to mind, three years on, as I have been travelling around Europe preparing for this year's Light Jets Europe conference and exhibition at London Oxford Airport. What is clear is that no air taxi model as originally defined - point to point on demand services with multiple hubs and 50-100 aircraft - has actually been established.The fears from the regulatory authorities that the skies over Europe would be darkened with light jets have not come to pass! Would the situation have been different if the global banking crisis hadn't have happened? - We just don't know.

However, the mood out there seems to be that the private aviation market is picking up and Eclipse are back in the frame and will be coming to Light Jets Europe. I think what comes over from talking to operators is that light jets (nobody uses the "very" anymore) are proving popular with customers and pilots and are a key entry point into the world of business and private aviation. I suppose a lot depends on how the European economies perform over the next year or so but the true air taxi is still no further up the taxi rank.

4th annual Light Jets Europe conference and exhibition, 23/24 September, London Oxford Airport, web: http://www.miuevents.com/lje10