Aims To Bring Increased Service To Old Dominion
The Virginia SATSLab, Inc., (VSATS),
along with the Air Taxi Association (ATXA), recently announced a
partnership that will bring next-generation air taxi focus to
Virginia.
Backed by the emerging group of 10 leading next-generation air
taxi companies in the United States, this partnership will begin
with a target of 12 "focus" airports across Virginia and continue
to expand throughout the region. VSATS is a public-private
non-profit corporation, that has the backing of the Commonwealth of
Virginia.
In the partnership, the Air Taxi Association's standards-based,
inclusive, and platform independent Connect-IT air taxi
reservations system is being demonstrated at the National
Business Aviation Association (NBAA) 60th Annual Meeting and
Convention held in Atlanta from September 25-27 in the Georgia
World Congress Center in Hall C, Booth 1312.
Virginia supports next-generation aviation technologies and
on-demand, point-to-point air travel. Research conducted by VSATS
partners at Virginia Tech links very light jet (VLJ) business
travel and industry growth to an increased rate of local economic
development.
"By venturing into this partnership with the Air Taxi
Association, VSATS continues to advance the vision of on-demand
small aircraft travel on a widely distributed basis in the
Commonwealth," said Keith McCrea, Executive Director of VSATS.
"This evolving partnership with the Air Taxi Association will
provide communities in Virginia with a wonderful opportunity to
enjoy the benefits enabled by a new travel choice, allowing access
and convenience not previously available. Research clearly
indicates that this new travel choice equates to an increase in the
opportunities for trade and economic development, especially for
our rural destinations."
With this partnership, 12 target community airports will be able
to utilize the Air Taxi Association's standards-based and platform
independent Connect-IT system designed to allow customers to find
air taxi operators quickly and easily by typing in the destination
address. The system will then show the nearest airports, flight
distance, flight time by aircraft type, price estimates and time
savings compared to commercial airports.
"We are proud to step forward as one of the first communities in
Virginia to embrace the next generation air taxi concept," said
Culpeper County Administrator Frank Bossio. "The Air Taxi
Association provides such an incredible value to communities like
Culpeper whose citizens and communities deserve direct, on-demand
flight access at reasonable prices for business travelers. By
incorporating the Air Taxi Association reservation system,
passengers will have a much easier time finding the flights they
want at the prices they need."
Two air taxi companies, SATSair and
Linear Air, have already spread their wings across Virginia.
SATSair is the number one air taxi provider in Virginia and is
continuing expansion throughout the state to provide business and
personal travelers on-demand flights. Linear Air, with a base in
Manassas, has also taken steps to expand their service throughout
Virginia, and has added the Eclipse 500 to its expanding air taxi
fleet.
"We're honored to have such incredible support from VSATS and
the Commonwealth of Virginia," said Air Taxi Association President
Joe Leader. "We'll be demonstrating the air taxi demand creation
system with Virginia at NBAA in Atlanta."
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