here`s in essence an article I was referring to in a previous message on this board. No mention of PN but the size of PN`s tech potential market can nevertheless be inferred as well as some of the shift in policy at the FAA. Not withstanding the effect of increased travel volumes due to a great economy in the US, the air traffic system needs updating, and as the airline industry has stated (partly in response for calls for a bill of rights for airline passengers ) the aggravation delays cause, the cost in lost revenue and increased expenses certainly warrant the investment.
Related as well (sorry no link) is the report in Aviation Week that European airlines have reported their worst year ever in on time performance. Delays running amok...
regards
stephan
EDIT: In case it is not clear what I was trying to do by posting this article, look towards the end where they mention that there are 22 hubs in the US, airlines fly to 600 airports with sked flts however 14,000 airports remain largely unused. The reason they are unused (at least with regular commercial sked service ) is because they don`t have IFR capabilities and all weather landing systems. THe cost of equipping a small airport with an ILS is prohibitive (in the millions just for one runway end) and therefore this infracstruture remains underexploited. PN claims they can equip all runway ends for 300,000 . Opportunity?
FWIW
Tech Exec Sees Limousines for the Air
siliconinvestor.com
By Simon Hirschfeld Mar 6 12:09am ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Veteran technology executive Vern Raburn wants you to order an airplane
flight the way you might arrange for a ride in a limousine.
The ``air limo' wouldn't pick you up at your house, of course -- unless you have a 2,400 foot landing
strip in your backyard. But it could carry just one or two people and fly out of a small local airport, to
any destination you choose, when you choose, at a cost close to current airline fares.
Raburn, one of the first Microsoft Corp. executives, has formed Eclipse Aviation Corp. to make aircraft
small, cheap and efficient enough to foster such a system.
In case you think he has been watching too many television reruns of ``The Jetsons,' the space-age
cartoon family, Raburn's vision fits with that of U.S. space agency NASA.
NASA is looking to spend almost $70 million over the next five ears to develop the Small Aircraft
Transportation System (SATS), a concept of aircraft operating from thousands of regional airports as
an alternative both to cars and to commercial airlines' current ``hub-and-spoke' system.
Raburn says Eclipse is working closely with NASA to realize the SATS vision, with the goal of cutting
public travel time by half in 10 years.
``We're not about putting the airlines out of business,' Raburn told Reuters in a recent interview.
``We're about complementing a system that is approaching capacity.'
Four-fifths of U.S. airline passengers pass through 22 'hub' airports, while about 14,000 small
regional airports throughout the United States remain largely unused. About 600 airports have
scheduled airline service.
Eclipse is backed by $60 million from a group of individual investors from the technology, aerospace
and automotive industries. The company is mostly withholding their names, but the group includes
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, as well as Eclipse director Red Poling, chairman of Eclipse and former
chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Co.
Kent Kresa, CEO of Northrop Grumman Corp., is a director but has not personally invested in Eclipse. |
