Air Taxi fleets are the biggest customers of Eclipse, and two providers are about to be the first to put their new jets into service.
Massachusetts-based Linear Air is set for a "mid-September" first flight of its lone Eclipse 500. Three more will join the active fleet of Cessna Grand Caravans by year's end.
"The fact is, this VLJ and the additional fleet we've ordered will make a seamless transition into our current business model allowing customers immediate access to cutting-edge aviation," said Bill Herp, Linear Air chief executive.
Florida-based DayJet announced on 5 September that the FAA has approved its use of Eclipse 500s, and chief executive Ed Iacobucci expects to launch service around 12 September. He says putting the new Eclipse on DayJet's certificate called for more proving runs than other craft would require. The service could launch immediately, but DayJet will be running more simulations and inspecting operations before opening its online reservation system.
"We'll watch those carefully and make sure we didn't miss something," Iacobucci says.
He adds that initial service will not be for every member. Certain client companies will be invited in so that the complex computer programs that run scheduling, routes and maintenance can be tested. "But I'm talking only a few days," he says.
Nearly 180 of the 350 employees he plans to hire by the end of the year are on board, and 12 of the 310 Eclipses on order have arrived. Four or five will be in service initially, he says. "We've got four that I'm dedicating to training, because we still don't have the simulators, of course."
DayJet expects eight more Eclipses by mid-October, with Avio NG integrated cockpits installed. The current fleet should be retrofitted by winter, Iacobucci says. "We're still flying the old fashioned way," he says. "Radar would be nice. LNAV would be nice. I know flight into known icing is one of the things that Eclipse chief executive Vern Raburn has high on his list right now."
Source: Flight International
