Air Taxi Service Plans SE Expansion In Two Years
They've been flying for weeks... but Wednesday morning, DayJet
made it official. The upstart air taxi provider formally launched
operations in a ceremony in Tallahassee, FL attended by, among
others, Florida governor Charlie Crist.
Billed by the company as the world's first "Per-Seat, On-Demand"
jet service, DayJet plans to utilize a large fleet of Eclipse 500
very-light jets to connect "DayPorts" in Tallahassee, Gainesville,
Boca Raton, Lakeland, and Pensacola. The company also announced
plans to expand operations within the next two years to dozens of
additional DayPort locations across the Southeast, including
Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and
Tennessee.
"I applaud DayJet for making Florida its headquarters and launch
pad," Governor Crist said. "DayJet is investing in Florida's
economy by creating new jobs, and I commend them for their
work."
Many in the industry are keeping a close eye on DayJet's
admittedly optimistic business model. The air taxi service offers a
customized approach to business travel: passengers tell DayJet
where and when they want to travel, and how much they are willing
to pay.
If their time is at a premium, members can create a narrow
travel window. When they have more flexibility, they can reduce
their cost by setting a wider travel window. The more flexible
members are with their travel time, the lower the airfare -- which,
in most cases, should rival last-minute fares on commercial
airlines, according to the company
To maintain a cost-effective management structure of such a
fluid schedule, DayJet will rely on an all-digital, real-time
operations system, which the company calls Advanced System
Technology for Real-Time Operations, or ASTRO. The system -- which,
DayJet points out, contains more lines of code than early releases
of Microsoft Windows -- automates and manages every aspect of the
company's operations, end to end. This includes customer
reservations, billing and membership management; flight records and
training; flight planning and scheduling; pilot electronic flight
bag (EFB); DayPort field information; and maintenance control.
DayJet states over 1,500
business travelers have signed up for the company's services.
"We are embarking on a new era in regional transportation that,
for the first time, brings the benefits of on-demand jet service to
the average business traveler," said Ed Iacobucci, DayJet president
and CEO (shown at right). "Starting today, business travelers in
the Southeast can have all the power in the travel relationship.
They can decide how much their time is worth and dictate a travel
itinerary that increases their productivity and enhances their
quality of life. It took years of hard work and innovations to make
this new service a reality. It would not have been possible without
close collaboration with our partners at Eclipse Aviation, Pratt
& Whitney Canada, the Federal Aviation Administration, the
State of Florida and our first DayPort communities."
Howard Gruverman, CEO of Edify USA and first customer to fly
DayJet service said: "I was the first passenger on DayJet and the
service exceeded my expectations. The plane was roomy and
comfortable, the pilots had impressive experience and the whole
service model worked exactly as promised. DayJet is a great tool
for business people who want to make better use of their time,
conducting more business while they improve their quality of
life."
DayJet has raised more than $200 million to date in both private
equity and debt to begin operations -- placing DayJet among the
best capitalized pre-operational passenger air carriers in American
aviation history, and the single largest carrier in the on-demand
sector.
DayJet's success is not only important to the airline itself,
but also to Eclipse Aviation. The on-demand airline is the
Albuquerque, NM-based planemaker's largest single customer, by a
significant margin.
"The Eclipse 500 very light jet's value proposition has inspired
a new layer of affordable regional air transportation that will
allow travelers to save time and be more productive," said Eclipse
CEO Vern Raburn. "DayJet and Eclipse are demonstrating that the
idea of a new class of aircraft that are compliant with the FAA's
NextGen strategy will change the work-life balance of hundreds of
thousands, and eventually millions of Americans."
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