AirTaxiFlights.com: Everyone? As in “everyone including the scheduled airlines?”

Joe Leader: I believe the traditional airlines will smile upon the growth of the industry because people will utilize the combination of air taxi and commercial services alongside one another.
Five years from now I think everyone on both sides of the air-travel industry will be saying, “How did we ever live without this?”

AirTaxiFlights.com: Changing the subject to something we’d all rather live without, but can’t, how will air-taxi security measures differ from those of the scheduled carriers?

Joe Leader: Every member company is committed to safety and security measures that are at least on a par with those in effect at major airports. Our board members are already working on an industry agreement setting out minimum airport safety, security and efficiency standards, and we will work with municipal airport operators to make sure they are in place before every service launch.

That said, one of the great things about boarding an aircraft with only a few seats is not having to wait behind a line of 200 other passengers. Even after the security and weight and balance issues are all addressed, you’ll still be seated quickly.

AirTaxiFlights.com: The Association’s charter makes it clear that one thing you won’t be doing is Washington lobbying. But if you did, what do you think the government, particularly the FAA, needs to do to enable the air-taxi industry to quickly mature and flourish?

Joe Leader: The National Air Transportation Assoc. (NATA) and the National Business Aviation Assoc. (NBAA) have one common objective. They both unequivocally agree that the Air Traffic Control system in the U.S. needs to be immediately upgraded to a next-generation system.

We obviously support the efforts of the other, more politically active organizations in this and we also support their efforts to ensure that unfair taxes aren’t placed on general aviation.

At the same time, we feel strongly that the argument as to funding should be set aside in favor of getting a next-generation ATC system now. This is a case where the United States has unfortunately fallen behind other geographic regions of the world. Technologies like Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) could cut fuel costs and pollution rates for all operators — air-taxi, charter, and commercial aviation — by up to 20 percent. This is one thing that everyone in the industry wants to see happen.

To me, an ideal scenario would be for the government to view this as a critical area of infrastructure investment that should be carried out without massive new taxation on any part of the industry. This is something the government should be aggressively pushing because it would result in huge economic and business-productivity benefits, providing a great boost to the entire U.S. economy.

AirTaxiFlights.com: I think we both agree that the air-taxi industry is now poised on the cusp of a bona fide transportation revolution. Where do you see it being in, say, 12 to 24 months?

Joe Leader: I think there’s so much public desire that we’ll move beyond the early adopter stage very quickly as the majority of VLJ operators launch service within the next 12 months. Between 12 months and 24 months, as service spreads across the country from one region to the next, people are going to start leaving our congested, deteriorating roadways and getting into the skies.

They’re going to begin taking trips they might otherwise have never taken, going places they might previously have never gone.

AirTaxiFlights.com: Boldly go where no one has gone before … reminds me of some old-time science-fiction TV show. I think, maybe, that actor from “Boston Legal” was in it. The guy who used to do all those cut-rate airline ticket commercials.
Thanks, Joe, for giving us this insider’s look at air travel’s next, but certainly not final, frontier.

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