There is a small airport in Bedford, MA which is about 15 minutes from where I live and I often travel to Edison, NJ on business, which is also by a small airport about 15 minutes away. It normally takes me close to five hours to drive there and I have to deal with NYC traffic.
These two points are 210 miles apart as the crow flies. At 56 cents a mile, the cost of the trip is $117. Divide that by six passengers and the cost drops under $20 per person. Not bad for what used to be a four or five hour drive! Not to mention the fact that I can now get from my house to my company's office in Edison, NJ in just over an hour (assuming a 40 minute flight time at about 400mph)!
Expect to see thousands of these aircraft flooding our skies and a lot less 737s. Hopefully these planes are quietier!
There is a small airport in Bedford, MA which is about 15 minutes from where I live and I often travel to Edison, NJ on business, which is also by a small airport about 15 minutes away. It normally takes me close to five hours to drive there and I have to deal with NYC traffic.
These two points are 210 miles apart as the crow flies. At 56 cents a mile, the cost of the trip is $117. Divide that by six passengers and the cost drops under $20 per person. Not bad for what used to be a four or five hour drive! Not to mention the fact that I can now get from my house to my company's office in Edison, NJ in just over an hour (assuming a 40 minute flight time at about 400mph)!
Expect to see thousands of these aircraft flooding our skies and a lot less 737s. Hopefully these planes are quietier!
Everyone seems to have forgotten something: where are we going to get all the pilots to fly the "thousands" of new Eclipses? Even Eclipse hasn't figured that out yet.
Also, while we're at it, is the 56 cent per mile figure figuring in the overhead cost of keeping a couple of full time pilots on staff and having a dedicated corporate flight department? Also, has maintenance, and the inevitable ADs, been figured into the cost?
Make no mistake about it, I think Eclipse, and SATS, are the future, but let's not forget that flying is still an unnatural act in a hostile environment for homo sapien.