In the ''olden days,'' traveling by airplane was a luxury that was unsurpassed except, perhaps, when traveling by luxury ocean liner. Seats were wide and comfortable, courteous staff served meals on real plates, with real silverware and real linen napkins, champagne and other drinks were served in real glasses … basically, the whole experience was a pleasure.
Even when ''business class'' first went into play, passengers weren't crammed three to a row with little to no legroom. However, that's changed today. Today's passenger experience is usually a headache to be gotten through, not a luxury and pleasure to be remembered. Rude airline staff, the practice of ''overbooking'' flights so that some passengers may be left out in the cold even though they race to their gates to be on time, no food or drink served on a flight (unless you pay for it, and then it's substandard), flight delays, cancellations, and other woes have made flight travel something to be avoided in the ''real world,'' if at all possible.
Could Air Taxis be the Answer?
However, air taxis might be changing that. Air taxis are actually corporate jets; you arrange for this corporate jet to pick you up at an airport near location, and this ''air taxi'' then flies you and any other passengers with you to your destination, with no stops, no crowded, sans-legroom seats, no grumpy seatmate, and so on.
What air taxis do is that they provide a cost effective way to go around the commercial airline hassles that happen all too often. Oftentimes, these flights are even cheaper than first-class tickets on a commercial airline going the same distance.
Does This Bode Well for Increasing Aviation Jobs, Too?
This is an area that's expanding, too. That means aviation jobs will likely open up to fill increasing air taxi demand. Smaller and less expensive jets are coming to market, which means that the service is likely to be more prevalent as its existence becomes known, it becomes more popular, and its costs go down.
How does this help increase aviation jobs? These ''air taxis” are going to need staff, aircrew, mechanics, technicians, and pilots to get and keep them going, and to manage the flights themselves. Therefore, air taxi services are likely to need staff as a continuous row, which means this is good news for aviation jobs.
Currently, several companies provide air taxi services, with the most prominent jets used to being Eclipse 500, Piper, and Diamond Aircraft, and, new to the fleet, the Cirrus Vision SJ50.
A New Way of Thinking
Representatives of the airline industry say that these air taxi services are not just for the private corporate users anymore. Even now, companies are seeing so-called ''midrange'' customers’ book jets for personal use, such as going on holiday to a relative's house in Florida. Airline experts state that because typical airline customers are sick of the runaround they get with commercial airline travel as it stands today, air taxis provide a means by which passengers are in complete control of where they go and when they leave. No flights to rush to, no gates to be left at because a plane has been ''oversold,'' non e of the inconveniences of typical commercial travel.
Some companies are using online reservation systems so that customers have the convenience of arranging flights without picking up the phone. One of these is Door2Door Air, and another is Open Taxi Systems. Open Taxi Systems operates throughout the country, while Door2Door operates currently just in the southeast.
Currently, the system still isn't for everyone. Demand isn't high enough to make all travel cost effective. For example, a flight from Wisconsin to Iowa for a quick family vacation can still cost many thousands of dollars, in the five figure range. That's still out of most families' budgets.
However, if, as many of these companies say, they really want them to work like ''air taxis,'' based on our current ''car taxi'' system, some companies say that they could run their airplanes, too, like taxis, where the meter starts running when the engine is started. On average, this is purported to cost about $540 an hour — much less, up to a 10th of, than the previously quoted price. Should air taxi services come down to this range, ''air taxis'' truly would operate like a taxi service and be in a reasonable price range. That's still not to say everyone could afford them, of course, but that approaches a reasonable multiple of what a typical commercial airline ticket would cost you, without all of the hassle.
Industry experts point out that as more people use the system, the more it can truly operate like a taxi service because more people will be able to get to the pickup point and up the passengers on a charter flight. If a flight does not produce revenue, the company goes out of business, which means that the fewer passengers are on a particular flight, the more the price goes up for each customer.
Competitiveness, too, will come into play, as will the cost of personal jets. As the price of jets continues to go down and the market (it's hoped) continues to expand, air taxis may become almost as common as the four-wheeled kind.
Conclusion
Air taxis may be one wave of the future for the airline industry. If the cost matrix pans out right, the price of ''hiring'' these charter planes could drop to the point of the first-class commercial airline ticket or even below that. It's still too early to tell, of course, but as demand goes up and the price of jets in particular goes down, this truly could become a taxi service of sorts — just one hired by air, instead of by roadway.
In addition, this bodes well for an increase in aviation jobs, because employees all down the line are going to be needed to run these charter services. Mechanics, technicians, crews and pilots are all going to be necessary to maintain and fly these jets, as well is to serve the passengers on board. It remains to be seen whether or not this will truly be a wave of the future, and a welcome alternative to the current hassles of commercial airline travel.
