atpcliff said:
Hi!
THe big difference with DayJet is their software. They supposedly have developed a software model, which is only possible with current technology, that will optimize the scheduling and use of their Eclipse jets to make an on-demand/scheduled type of company economically feasible.
They have been working on their software for quite a while.
Cliff
ABY
Thats the big difference in this case. Heck, if the airlines had something even half as sophisticated as the real-time integrated logistics software that will run DayJet, you would see CASMs go down a healthy percentage. DayJet has been running a virtual airline for over a year now based on logical customer habit prediction and has proven the model can run very profitably with 4-hour/day aircraft utilization (kind of like The Sims for airline managers).
Remember, Ed Iacabuci (check spelling) founder and CEO of DayJet is an IT genius who worked on IBMs Big Blue project, formed Citrix Systems in the early 1990s (the fastest IT company to get the S&P 500), and is paired up with Vern Raburn, founder of Eclipse Aviation who is also an IT guy who left upper Microsoft management echelons to start Eclipse.
Not to mention that Rob Crandall (former American CEO and founder of Sabre and Yield-Management), who has rarely failed, is so convinced of per seat-on demand that he too is starting a VLJ operation called POGO up in the northeast.
I don't discount the insurance costs though, which will be a heftily priced reality. I don't know if these companies will be able to attract the quality of pilot they need to keep those insurance costs acceptable and to keep customers feeling safe. True, the Eclipse is so automated and integrated that, really, the aircraft itself is the "second-in-command", but we all know the vagaries of single-pilot operations. If only one of these VLJs go down too early in the maturation of this industry niche, that could spell the end of it all.
Time will tell though, and the customer base is indeed there. The customers just have to be convinced to STAY customers.