It’s interesting how out of the blue one comes across a concept that is sure to change the world as we know it.
I was reading CNN Money when suddenly one article caught my attention and made me with that I had access to billions of dollars in venture funds.
Dear friend, the air taxi industry as mentioned in the article is about to take off and it will make a lot of entrepreneurs and investors richer than they are already.
Air taxis are very light jets that can only fly 3 to 7 passengers. They are very cheap to operate compared to traditional private jets hence personal air travel suddenly becomes more affordable.
The current star manufacturer of these very light jets is Eclipse Aviation, the maker of the Eclipse 500 which has about 2500 advance orders already (if I read correctly). Just as a matter of interest, one Eclipse 500 costs just a little over one million US dollars which is not bad if you happen to be an industry insider.
There’s no doubt that Eclipse Aviation will have no problem selling their products. What’s interesting is to what purposes, the buyers will put them to and the many opportunities that will surface.
For instance, DayJet is a start-up air taxi.
Like every good idea, the Eclipse 500 and air taxi travel is having its share of critics who incidentally are part of the aviation and travel industry.
- “There are no toilets, no one will want to fly in a plane without a loo”, says someone in the NY Times. My personal answers to that is that a) no one said that these planes will be flying from New York to Tokyo for instance but from Montréal to Toronto for instance, a very busy air route that’s a 40 minutes flight b) how many choppers have toilet? c) how many people commute two hours or more without the need of visiting the toilet?
- “Eclipse Aviation won’t sell many of these planes because the concept won’t take off in droves” say some industry analyst. My answer is: “Who said that these air taxis want to compete with the American Airlines, the British Airways, The Air France or The Air Canada of this world?”.
Basically air taxi is such a novel idea that no one seems to know where it will lead.
Well, the entrepreneurs who are buying into this can rest assured knowing their concept will fly profitably.
How do I know? Do I have a mirror ball of some sort?
Well, I am a business person, a seasoned air traveller, an impatient person, a person who values his time and heck, I am even a romantic.
What am I getting at?
How many people worldwide:
- Are sick of the general state of air travel
- Who sometimes have emergencies or pressing business deals that require them to go to a city as fast as possible?
- Would like to go on honeymoon in an affordable yet private manner?
You see where I am going with this.
Right now, there’s no market for air taxi but trust me, when the option is available, people will jump onto it like they did jump onto the Internet when it hit the mainstream.
So to all the “haters” know this: the Eclipse 500 will sell and air taxi will take off like mad.
As a matter of fact, if I had access to some billions in capital, I would start a business in that field such as a ultra fast air cargo (for those important documents or medical cargo), an air taxi and so on. The opportunities are there and entrepreneurs who placed a pre-order for some aircrafts will do well.
I will update this post the day I fly in the Eclipse 500 telling why I took it and how much time and hassle I have just saved myself.
