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As traveling by scheduled air carriers becomes more expensive, more unpleasant, and more unlikely to get you where youre going at the scheduled time, the non-scheduled carriers providing air taxi/charter services are becoming more and more popular. In addition to often being a more pleasant means of travel than scheduled carriers, non-scheduled, on-demand service is available in far more locations than scheduled carriers. A customer could conceivably travel from virtually any public airport in the world to any other public airport via an on-demand service. Air taxi and charter services offer smaller aircraft that are capable of flying into any public airport no matter how small or remote. Conversely, plush and luxurious business class jets with speed and range rivaling or even surpassing that of large airliners are also available for on-demand service. The first recorded air taxi flight occurred in 1914, only 11 years after the flight of the first airplane. After World War II, air transportation in general exploded in popularity. Corporate flight departments and air taxi/charter operators benefited from the large number of surplus WWII aircraft that were available for remarkably low costs, many of which were purchased and converted for use as civilian transports. In the early 1960s, small business jets became available, giving small, on-demand services the ability to compete with the major airlines in terms of speed. Though on-demand charter and air taxi services have been available for decades, recent and ongoing developments may greatly expand the capabilities and market share of on-demand services. The development of the VLJ (Very Light Jet) is anticipated to have a major impact upon the industry. Also, implementation of GPS based technology is expected to enable poor weather approaches to thousands of small airports that are currently inaccessible in conditions of low visibilities or ceilings. On-demand operators provide much more than just transportation between two points. Whether landing on a glacier in Alaska, or taking a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, sightseeing flights are a popular way for tourists to view natures wonders. Charters are also available for taking sportsmen to remote locations that are only accessible by air for hunting or fishing expeditions. Considering the decline in popularity of major scheduled air carrier service, along with the evolving technologies that will expand the capabilities of smaller aircraft, its likely that on-demand services of air charters/taxis will become an even more important segment of the modern transportation system. |