US air-taxi operator SATSair is expanding, adding bases in Atlanta, Georgia and Manassas, Virginia. Citing growing demand, the Greenville, South Carolina-based company is hiring pilots and basing Cirrus SR22s at the two new locations to increase availability of its on-demand service.
SATSair has four other domiciles within its US East Coast service area: at its headquarters in Greenville and in Charleston, South Carolina; Danville, Virginia; and Gulf Shores, Alabama. The company, in which Cirrus is now a shareholder, has 16 four-seat SR22s, having added four in the last two months, and continues to add aircraft, says director flight operations, Gil Chenery.
Customers book a whole aircraft for a one-way flight and are charged for occupied time. "When the engine's running, the meter's running," says Chenery. One-time, or retail, customers pay $595/h, but regular users can buy blocks of time, from 5h to 50h, which brings the price down as low as $420/h, he says. "We are doing a lot of flying," Chenery says. "We are keeping the aircraft busy and hiring pilots."
Source: Flight International
