Future of Air Taxis on Expo Agenda
Posted on: Wednesday, 16 May 2007, 15:00 CDT
By Ryan Lengerich, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.
May 16--The "air taxi" is a simple aviation premise that still feels a little futuristic, but those backing the fledgling industry say it could have major implications for economic development in the region.
The state and a local college are seeing economic development potential in the taxis and the manufacturing opportunities around them. A free conference about the industry will be Thursday at the 20th annual Business/Industry Expo and Conferences at Memorial Coliseum.
Air taxis allow business or personal travelers to pay by the hour to fly on a small jet with a Lexus-like interior from one small airport to another small airport within about 500 miles. Travelers avoid traditional flight hassles and can reach their destination and be back in time for dinner.
Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana/Northeast is sponsoring the "Highway in the Sky" seminar that features a speaker from NASA and the country's first and largest air taxi company, SATS-air in Greenville, S.C., which covers the southeast.
"This could become a center for either the manufacturing of the "very-light-jet" (VLJ) or the supply chain that goes with it," said Mark Keen, Ivy Tech chancellor.
Ivy Tech will begin its two-year aircraft maintenance program in August at Smith Field. The small airport, spared from closure by the Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority in 2005, could be a potential taxi-service airport in the future.
At the conference, SATSair President Steve Hanvey is expected to discuss locating an aircraft maintenance facility in the area by 2008. Investor and board member Steve Hatch of Fort Wayne said the company could bring up to 50 VLJs to the Midwest within five years.
Hatch, who owns Smith Field Air Service, said each region needs a maintenance facility. Fifty planes would call for about 65 pilots, 35 mechanics and an administrative staff, Hatch said.
Bob Wearley, president of Indiana Strategic Air Transportation Services, an advocacy group for the air-taxi and very-light-jet industries, said he has promoted the economic development potential to leaders across the state. Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman will attend the conference.
"This is the future, point-to-point air service is the future," Wearley said.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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Source: The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
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