WHAT EXACTLY DOES AN AIR-TAXI SERVICE DO?
Air-taxi operators offer competitively priced point-to-point transportation between local and regional airports at their customers' convenience. Sometimes called fly-on-demand, air taxis are frequently the most time and cost effective way for business people to get from one suburban or rural community to another on short notice.

WHY IS AIR-TAXI SERVICE USUALLY MUCH LESS EXPENSE THAN CHARTERING A PLANE?
Chartering an airplane typically involves paying a fixed per hour charge for the aircraft and crew. Air-taxi operators usually charge by the seat-mile or have a fixed rate for flights between given airports. Some air-taxi operators will also try to sell vacant seats to bring the price per person down even further.

If, on the other hand, your office is in Eureka, California and you have vendors or customers in Livermore, Reno, Ogden and Bakersfield, flying by air-taxi could save you hundreds of person hours and thousands of dollars a year.

There are also numerous intangible benefits to flying air-taxi, not the least of which is arriving at important meetings free of the post-traumatic stress, rumpled clothes and frayed temper caused by rush-hour commutes, airport access road and parking lot jams, crowded terminals, endless baggage check lines, slow-moving security checkpoints, etc.

WHAT TYPE OF AIRCRAFT CAN I EXPECT ON AN AIR-TAXI FLIGHT?
Right now, most air-taxi operators are using piston-engined aircraft with a top speed of over 200 miles per hour and a service ceiling of about 25,000 feet. Delivery of next-generation Very Light Jets (VLJ) for air-taxi service is expected to begin later this year.

WHAT IS A VERY LIGHT JET?
Very Light Jets, also known as microjets, use fuel-efficient, low-thrust, low-noise turbofan jet engines to achieve near-small-business-jet performance at a fraction of those aircrafts' acquisition and operating costs.

VLJs currently going through the FAA certification process have a cruising speed of 325-375 mph, maximum altitudes close to 40,000 feet, and can take off and land on runways as short as 3000 feet. Most models are expected to be priced between one- and two-million dollars and operating costs are estimated at between $1 and $1.50 per mile .

HOW FAR WILL AN AIR-TAXI TAKE ME?
Theoretically, there is no limit. In practical terms, today's air-taxi flights are time and cost competitive with business- and first-class airline travel up to about 350 miles. Once the speedier microjets go into service that range is expected to expand to 600 miles.

WHAT COMPANIES ARE PRODUCING MICROJETS AND THEIR ENGINES?
Current VLJ manufacturers include Cessna, Eclipse, Adam Aircraft, Embraer, Diamond Aircraft, Avocet, Exel-Epic, and Spectrum Aeronautical. Engine manufacturers include Pratt & Whitney, Williams and GE/Honda.

AREN'T EARLY ARRIVAL REQUIREMENTS AND SECURITY HASSLES THE SAME FOR AIR TAXIS AS FOR AIRLINE FLIGHTS?
No, primarily because air taxis usual carry two to four passengers instead of 200 to 400. This makes security and check-in procedures virtually transparent. You arrive ten or 15 minutes before flight time, identify yourself, are checked for weapons, one of the pilots stows your bag in the luggage compartment, and you board.

HOW CAN USING AN AIR-TAXI SERVICE BENEFIT MY COMPANY?
That depends on how near your home or office and the places you visit are to a major airport. If your office is in Burlingame, California, and the only company you call on is in Inglewood, California you won't derive much benefit from using air-taxi because you are within ten minutes of SFO and LAX respectively and shuttle flights between those two airports run almost continuously.

If, on the other hand, your office is in Eureka, California and you have vendors or customers in Livermore, Reno, Ogden and Bakersfield, flying by air-taxi could save you hundreds of person hours and thousands of dollars a year.

There are also numerous intangible benefits to flying air-taxi, not the least of which is arriving at important meetings free of the post-traumatic stress, rumpled clothes and frayed temper caused by rush-hour commutes, airport access road and parking lot jams, crowded terminals, endless baggage check lines, slow-moving security checkpoints, etc.

WHAT ABOUT AMENITIES AND CONFIGURATION?
VLJs are truly a new class of aircraft, the first from-the-ground-up redefinition of what a high-performance, limited-seating passenger airplane should be in over 20 years.

As such, they are the first such aircraft to be engineered specifically around state-of-the-art electronic navigation and control systems. Indeed, some models are configured to use the same avionics as full-size commercial jets and at least one incorporates an advanced onboard fire-control system more effective than that used in 90 percent of the world's airliners.

All VLJ models currently undergoing flight tests and those still on the drawing board have also been designed pretty much as single-purpose vehicles, that purpose being the transportation of small groups of people in executive-level luxury.

Though sizes and configurations vary from model to model and interior appointments will be customized to customers' requirements, a "typical" microjet will hold two to six passengers and two pilots. (Some models may be certified for operation by a single pilot, but dual controls and pilot seats will be standard.)

Passenger seats will be arranged in a conference room or lounge configuration unless otherwise specified by a buyer and will typically be similar in width and comfort to business or first-class airline seats. Power outlets for notebook computers, portable DVD players, razors, etc., air-to-ground telephone service, and work surfaces will be available at each seat.

Headroom will range from 4 to 4.5 feet and most models will include a fully enclosed restroom.

WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT'S POSITION ON EXPANDED AIR-TAXI SERVICE AND THE INTRODUCTION OF VLJS?
Projected growth of both conventional air-taxi service and VLJ air-taxi service are key elements of the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) being jointly developed by the FAA and NASA. According to one NASA report, expanded air-taxi service and related expansion and improvements in the nation's Air Traffic Control system could produce an average travel-time reduction of 50 percent by 2015.