This news is interesting if only it makes us think of the great divide that exists in people's minds as to what air taxi means. Founders and publishers of air charter publications and other charter guides, have gone on record trying to train the public that "air taxi" sullies what corporate aviation is all about. Many who are trapped in the status quo snobbishly avoid being grouped into this new beast called air taxi.

On the other hand one must really think: Where is the bigget market? Or, more importantly, what sounds easier to explain? Hence the birth of the words "air taxi." While we love the term air taxi, we remain, like Mr. Aboulafia, agnostic. It is simply hard to train the world of corporate aviation to suddenly re-invent itself to the efficiency level of Southwest Airlines.

This story shows that the public psyche is definitely embracing the term, air taxi. The question is, what they hell are they talking about when they also refer to $20MM ++ aircraft? It would be hard to get a cabbie to pay the car equivalent for their taxi.

As we enter the new paradigm of air taxi, it is important to realize that this phrase presently is a catch all for Cirrus Piston Singles, Old Navajo's, the coming VLJ's and at times (such as this article) perhaps even mistakenly when referring to large turbine aircraft.

The simplest way to think about it might be this: It is an air taxi if all the usual pandering and concierge like mentality is removed from the process. One of the reasons that air charter companies suffer so badly is that they don't own their equipment, and must placate demanding owners who place their own interests ahead of those of the poor souls who are trying to build a business around an asset they can't afford to own themselves. An air taxi would remove that from the process and it would make all air charter customers equal.

Equality, is perhaps the founding principle of what air taxi means, anyone can afford a cab, and someday anyone will be able to afford an air taxi. The hard working Navajo's and even Cessna Singles may be yet mocked by the Jet-A crowd, but what is important to note is that their model, utilization and overall growth can be, might be, probably is (in some cases) modular enough that slipping a Caravan, PC12 or VLJ into the mix will not be a big or difficult transition.