SHARE:
Travel
The Mini-Jet Era Dawns
If Delray Beach-based DayJet makes good on its plans to begin service among five Florida cities by the end of the year, the company will usher in an era of very light jet travel in the state, offering "on- demand" service with more convenience than traditional carriers at lower prices than charters.
 Founder Ed Iacobucci's Day Jet will use Eclipse 500 jets. |
With that service comes the promise of both economic development around smaller airports and, according to a NASA study, hundreds more flights a day at airports large and small. NASA modelers project Florida to be thick with VLJ traffic and place several airports in the top 30 nationally for VLJ flights: Fort Lauderdale Executive, Orlando Executive, Opa-Locka and St. Petersburg-Clearwater among the top small airports and Miami International among the majors. How many? 890 a day by 2025 at just Miami International, St. Petersburg-Clearwater and at the executive airports in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.
Some fear a VLJ boom will lead to congested runways, with commercial jetliners with hundreds of passengers stuck behind tiny jets. But NASA study author Jeff Viken, a research scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center, says that while there's a "potential for congestion," there are also indications that a VLJ network will evolve away from it. Reason: "This business model is very sensitive to time savings" -- more so than price savings. "They will not sit in lines" at major airports. So if using MIA means a half-hour runway wait, passengers and the light jets will head for Opa-Locka, Fort Lauderdale Executive or Kendall-Tamiami.
Meanwhile, Florida airport managers say that for the immediate future they can handle the increased volume from the VLJs. "Four runways and no waiting," says Miami International spokesman Mark Henderson, who says Opa-Locka also can handle more traffic. NASA projects Fort Lauderdale Executive will see 225 VLJ flights a day by 2014, which would push the airport over its peak annual flight figure from 2000-2001. Assistant airport manager Alex Erskine says some delays could occur if that peak is passed but also said VLJs might capture some of the market now held by other aircraft at the airport.
DayJet expects no VLJ-caused congestion. Founded by Ed Iacobucci, the founder of software success story Citrix Systems, DayJet aims to connect "can't-get-there-from-here" destinations, such as Boca Raton-Pensacola, that otherwise entail long drives, overnight stays or layovers at hubs. Traver Gruen-Kennedy, DayJet vice president for government and community affairs, says DayJet plans to avoid major airports and hubs in favor of "unused and underutilized airports" and also will fly at altitudes and in airspace commercial carriers don't fly in -- a "separate discreet network in many ways."
[update: DayJet has since ceased operations. For alternatives, see JetCharters.com]
