Cessna turboprops prove business model while operator waits for very light jets
US air taxi start-up Linear Air has established a second service location as it continues to test the operating model planned for Eclipse 500 very light jets now on order. The company has added a fourth Cessna Grand Caravan to its fleet and based two of the aircraft at White Plains, New York.
Operating from Hanscombe Field near Boston, and now Westchester County airport near New York, Linear offers on-demand charter in the north-east USA and seasonally in the Caribbean. Additionally, on summer weekends, the company offers per-seat scheduled charter services from Boston and Teterboro airport near New York to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
The turboprop Caravans are being used as a proxy for the Eclipse jets as Linear develops its operating model. “The operating costs and trip margins are the same, so we can charge the same price whether four people want to fly faster or eight people slower,” says chief executive Bill Herp.
In Linear’s model, the per-seat service is used to introduce people to private flying, to generate customers for the on-demand service. “These are people who are not flying privately today. We have to shift their thinking,” says Herp. The company has built a base of 500 customers in its 18 months of operation, he says, each on average flying once a quarter and buying two seats.
When the 30 Eclipses on order begin arriving late this year, they will be used only for whole-aircraft charter, Herp says, while the Caravans will still be used for both on-demand and per-seat services. Linear plans to have 18 Eclipses and six Caravans by the end of 2007, divided between Boston, New York and Washington DC, and by 2010 intends to operate 280 VLJs and 20 Caravans in 15 markets.
“Our aim is to be a car service with wings, flying two to four people on business day trips,” says Herp. While six of the Caravan’s eight seats are filled on average for Linear’s per-seat service, the typical load for on-demand charter is three passengers. “That fits the Eclipse,” he says.
GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
