The benefit of getting Richard's monthly PDF bombardment is to read writing which is good enough to wonder what such a talent is doing in aerospace. While his domain is more the big people in aerospace, such as Boeing et al, the fact is that Richard's occupation at the Teal Group gives him something many of us air charter people lack - data. He slices and dices all day to analyze and assist in making strategic decisions for governments, manufacturers and others so that their aerospace dollars are maximized. Which brings us to the subject of air taxi.

This monthly article delves into something we have been very mindful to speak about in a critical fashion yet, like a good parent, impress upon all that this is meant to be constructive criticism. Nor is it our intent to be "party poopers" we simply wish the industry to be realistic about where the air taxi revolution is going to come from. The reality is that only a complete dolt would fail to connect the fact that media hype, chest thumping and other characteristics usually don't precede disruptive technology. Technology that causes sweeping change usually comes out of left field, is made in a garage, starts "underground" first, or at the very least with the genres of folks that are called "geeks" (we like to use the more PC term - "early adopters" or as Darwin would call them, "survivors.")

Many air charter veterans will tell you the basics: People want a comfortable cabin, a potty if it is a long trip (over one hour), and a peice of equipment that they can look at and say "hey, it looks at least as well built (and big) as my Escalade." The challenge that Eclipse faces is not that the machine does not have any inherent value, it is simply that the air charter market will not be fixed by an airplane, rather it will take culturual genocide from the existing culture of low utilization, the big poobah's chariot, inefficient (and crazy) quoting, billing and sales mechanisms. If you read these posts with any regularity you'll note that a) I have not done a damn thing in several months and b) I am like a broken record when it comes to talking about how 80% of the industry today is really good at babysitting aircraft and then using them under Part 135, but not quite enough to cover their actual costs of ownership. Never mind the fact that pricing and quoting resembles negotiations for buying a Persian rug in Tehran.