An opportunity for small airports/commuter airlines?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20050826/ts_csm/aruralbus

With Greyhound abandoning hundreds of rural towns, perhaps there is an
opening for an affordable air taxi service? What percentage of people
who ride the bus would rather use an air taxi, if it were reasonably
priced?

Is it even possible to create an "affordable" air taxi, with all the
FAA crap on the books? History would seem to prove otherwise.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20050826/ts_csm/aruralbus

With Greyhound abandoning hundreds of rural towns, perhaps there is an
opening for an affordable air taxi service? What percentage of people
who ride the bus would rather use an air taxi, if it were reasonably
priced?

Is it even possible to create an "affordable" air taxi, with all the
FAA crap on the books? History would seem to prove otherwise.

I would agree that it would be very difficult to run an air taxi
business and keep fares low enough to attract the Greyhound set.

If Greyhound can't turn a profit at these locations, I don't see how an
air taxi could.

Jay, you're an experienced entrepreneur. Why don't you give it a shot?




--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

At around $35/seat it would be a challenge. My instinct says you'd be
better off marketing towards people who have the financial means to pay
for their transportation and are willing to pay for the speed of air
travel vs. driving their own car. The greyhound pax are people who
don't drive their own car because they can't afford to travel by car.
Marketing to the bottom of the market is always more challending than
marketing to the top where you can compete with alternatives on service
not just on price.

-Robert

Jay, this is a joke, right? Greyhound is pulling out of these markets due
to lack of demand. I'm not even going to touch on the price sensitivity
issue...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20050826/ts_csm/aruralbus

With Greyhound abandoning hundreds of rural towns, perhaps there is an
opening for an affordable air taxi service? What percentage of people
who ride the bus would rather use an air taxi, if it were reasonably
priced?

Is it even possible to create an "affordable" air taxi, with all the
FAA crap on the books? History would seem to prove otherwise.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

With Greyhound abandoning hundreds of rural towns, perhaps there is an
opening for an affordable air taxi service?

That's one argument the VLJ (very light jet) people have been advancing.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

What percentage of people
who ride the bus would rather use an air taxi, if it were reasonably
priced?

The same percentage of bus passengers who would take a limo.

Jose
--
Quantum Mechanics is like this: God =does= play dice with the universe,
except there's no God, and there's no dice. And maybe there's no universe.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

HEE HEE,
You got that one right Jose!!!!

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

"Jose" wrote in message
m...
What percentage of people
who ride the bus would rather use an air taxi, if it were reasonably
priced?

The same percentage of bus passengers who would take a limo.

Jose
--
Quantum Mechanics is like this: God =does= play dice with the universe,
except there's no God, and there's no dice. And maybe there's no
universe.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Jay Honeck wrote:
With Greyhound abandoning hundreds of rural towns, perhaps there is an
opening for an affordable air taxi service?

George Patterson wrote:
That's one argument the VLJ (very light jet) people have been advancing.

Who is going to pay for all that TSA/HS/FAA mandated security,
background checks, etc at the small airports SATS is supposed to utilize?

Jay Honeck wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20050826/ts_csm/aruralbus

With Greyhound abandoning hundreds of rural towns, perhaps there is an
opening for an affordable air taxi service? What percentage of people
who ride the bus would rather use an air taxi, if it were reasonably
priced?

No. Perhaps something using passenger vans, though the regulatory costs
(safety inspections, insurance, driver hours) which would be
proportionally greater for the 8-seat van than a 50-seat bus, probably
conspire against it.

Is it even possible to create an "affordable" air taxi, with all the
FAA crap on the books? History would seem to prove otherwise.

Yes, it's called Southwest.

-cwk.

fort collins colorado would be excellent example. (FNL) modern airport,
long runway, huge growth in northern front range, and DEN is 40-60
mile drive for them.

alligent air already has charter service. i think a carrier like
southwest would do well there. (they don't serve DEN due to high fees)