AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 1958 - (Page 80)

Ptanea-for-hire f3S. t ~ w w p w k goy at many aitywrta Take A Taxi by C. C THOMPSON . AOPA'a Airport Spudal1st "Hey, tnxi1 LaGuardia Airport, pledge." This could be you grabbing a cab on New York's 42nd Street. And it could be you i Ithaca, Dallas or n Ocho Rio~, Jamaica Practically anywhenÑhoppin aboard an air taxi and heading for Manhattan. So many busineamen do it, that CAA's 1967 StottSMcal Handbook could report that 21 per cent of general aviation flying i s "for hire" by air taxi services or charter cargo carrier@. Although these taxis -will take you anywhere, air taxi service i specially s - Typical of the many ener %ticair taxi o ators is Walter R. Blaha (AOPA 831341, president of East Aviation, Inc. Ready for light is one &t fleet of Piper Apaches. Coat suited for the short runs between the big tenninala served by scheduled airlines and smaller communities off the airlinessrontaa. One patron of air taxi service gave t i effusive testimonial: "I frequently h s travel by air between Cleveland and oar plant i Patarson, N. J.," he said, n "bat on this trip, scheduled airlines t&ke me only as far as LaGuardia Airport in New York City, From there it used to take me shout an hoar and a half +^i drive to Patermn. 'NOWI use Air Taxi . gets me from LaGuardia to Teterboro Field, near Paterson, in just 20 minutes. From there, it's just 10 minutea by car to our plant. These days I'm saving time and money by using scheduled airlines plus Air Taxi to fly all the way." All air taxi operators mask have an operating certificate from CAA. They are governed by CAB Economic Regulation 29S which aUowa them to engage in the direct air transportation of passenirera and/or property regardless of the frequency of service, provided, they do not utilize any aircraft having a certificated take-off weight of more than 12,600 pounds. As commercial aircraft operators they nay airport use fees. The National Air Taxi Codefence includes about 136 flight service companies that b v e entered into an agreement with the airlines to interchange paasensera and provide service to and from cowmunitiea not served directly by scheduled air carriers. The potential membershio of the conference is believed ta be about 1,000. The airlines promote the National Air Taxi Service, accept deposits and make arrangements for air taxi connections. In return, the taxi operators handle reservations for airline flights and pick up or deliver passengers at any airpod to connect with a scbedu1ed flight .. airlines face an economic problem in trying to provide frequent service between cities where passenger loads are is &n effort by trunk-line air &era interest in large payloads and fast aircraft to operate between large cities, making few enroute stops. While there i an effort by trunk-line air carriers s to increase penetration of the travel market at distances of 500 to 1,000 miles, less interest i shown in the pos tential traffic far distances under 250 milts. It ia in this area where the air taxi business may be generated in large volume. The air taxi rates cover the entire aircraft, enabling several people to ride for the same cost as one. The average cost is 26 cente s mile per person. Clean, well maintained executive-type aircraft are used and NATO members protect; each pasmger carried with at least $40,060 insurance. The airlines serve 664 airports, leavto air taxi operators the service to about 6,800 OW landing places which make important medium and small communities air accessible. The ing Certain operators have suggested that the larger airports could facilitate the operations of the air taxi service. W. C. Adams (AOPA 1282871, Flemington, N.J., anggested to thfe Port of New York Authority, the expedient of constructing a taxi plane landing strip of perhaps 3,000 by SO feet an approprithe main runway. T h i s would be, Adams feels, a "plain inexpensive way to eliminate the difficulty with small plane traffic and permit more efficient air-taxi delivery of p q for the airlines." The fast growing ail taxi services, which greatly increase airline utility by providing a reliable combination air transport service to cover every airport in the United States, require convenient facilities fur akrival and departure at terminal type airports. With the slogan, "There is no .delay, when you fly all the way," the organized air taxi operators have plans for providing the public with fast air trailsportation service in and out of about 6,300 airports or landing strips without scheduled air-carrier service. END ate diatance from MAKES CONVENTIONAL HANGARS OBSOLETE J-2G ' in a minimum area. H A B & ~For~Cemp,eb dehds, wrik: DepL PI, Box C-81 Grand Rapids, Michigan 0 I

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 1958

AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 1958
Contents
Calendar
Legally Speaking
Editorial
What About Airspace Use, Mr. Pyle?
10,000 Seconds Under the Hood
Flying Weather One Month Ahead
AOPA Weathercast
AOPA 185579
Air-Age Teenagers Give City a Lift
Your Radio and You
Operation Cost Cut
Put Your Fabric to the Test
Are You "Compasss Punchy?
Yankee Duster in Latin America
South American Challenge
I Lived Through a Graveyard Spiral
Safety Corner and Accident Report
On the Airways
Travel
What's New?
Classified Department

AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 1958

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