tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35464542819795281292009-10-14T06:43:17.332-04:00A discussion of air taxi and charter law, operations, news, and insights.©Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-55027745425724654682009-05-08T16:49:00.008-04:002009-05-10T15:57:34.866-04:00

I'm back and wanted to comment on a few things as I wait to get home from a business trip to New York. First, no surprise that Crandall's Pogo is a no go. There was a lot of over promising related to Pogo from the start combined with a criticism of operating air taxi platforms, a change in their proposed aircraft and a little arrogance, so I was not surprised about the announcement. However,

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-76714862642219631532009-03-18T23:16:00.000-04:002009-03-18T23:16:56.709-04:00

Over a year ago when I started this blog, I declared last year would be the Year of the Air Taxi. Ok, I was wrong in some respects. I admit that I fell into the trap of excited exuberance about vljs and the air taxi concept. However, I have been correct in repeatedly saying we have a long way to go, that we are simply crawling now and have yet to walk and run and that it will take years to

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-61910157202030450722009-03-13T07:00:00.001-04:002009-03-13T07:54:26.890-04:00

Here is a good post for Friday the 13th. The FAA has instituted a large number of "emergency" suspensions and revocations of Part 135 certificate holders and other certificate holders (repair stations, pilots and mechanics) in the past year. Having just finished a four and a half month defense of an "emergency" suspension of the operating certificate of one of nation's largest Part 135

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-78480084494234323272009-03-07T02:18:00.005-05:002009-03-07T02:34:30.679-05:00

The Bankruptcy Court has approved the conversion of the Eclipse case to a Chapter 7 case. While many groups are trying to determine how to save the product, Kate Sarsfield of Flight International has published a great entitled "Eclipse Owners Aim for Rescue Act." The article shows just how far reaching the demise of Eclipse could be and the impact of the financial loss on a number of European

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-2796361914016441452009-03-01T22:38:00.006-05:002009-03-01T23:46:05.051-05:00

Friday afternoon when I was returning from the SMU Air Law Symposium (a great conference!), the FAA issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin ("SAIB") and a set of Frequently Asked Questions for existing Eclipse owners that can be found here. I really do not know what is next for Eclipse, but the FAA summary page for SAIB CE-09-14 states as follows:This Special Airworthiness Information

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-86949136998195030102009-02-27T10:40:00.012-05:002009-02-28T09:26:48.741-05:00

There has been a significant amount of discussion in the general aviation world with respect to the new TSA Large Aircraft Security Program ("LASP"). There are number of great resources to review summaries of the proposed new regulations including the NBAA's website. There have also been a large number of comments posted on proposed rule on the federal docket. In fact, as of today, over 3800

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-35018026303357599832009-02-22T14:07:00.011-05:002009-02-23T08:03:43.496-05:00

I was in Atlanta on business most of last week and noticed that SATSair had announced a new business travelers program out of one of my favorite general aviation airports, Peachtree Dekalb or "PDK." The SATSair program allows for a great hourly rate out of PDK for business travelers who want to make a quick and highly efficient day trip from Atlanta and return within 12 hours - much more

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-75139589824426857982009-02-21T22:00:00.000-05:002009-02-21T22:00:36.606-05:00

I got an email from Andrew Schmertz, President and CEO of Hopskotch Air, letting me know that they are indeed up and running and have their Part 135 certificate. Congratulations! Hopskotch is another full plane air taxi service using the Cirrus SR-22 aircraft. Hopskotch is claiming the Northeast as its territory for operations. Andrew has assembled a fine team and is an avid aviator, veteran of

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-13007045321357136172009-02-11T07:43:00.006-05:002009-02-21T22:06:59.249-05:00

Here's the Aviation Week web story on the indictments. It's well written by Fred George and Benet Wilson and entitled "Indictments on Willful Violations." I met Fred at the last Aviation Week VLJ Forum last year, which was always one of my favorite high energy conferences. He's a passionate and well informed aviation enthusiast. I have told both him and Editor-in-Chief Bill Garvey that I truly

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-67020858272331785152009-02-07T21:22:00.020-05:002009-02-21T22:08:12.303-05:00

As an aviation lawyer who provides advice to a lot of folks who run or want to run charter operations, I continue to be fascinated by the Teterboro Indictment of Platinum Jet Management that I discussed in Part 1 a few days ago. I have before advised some inquirers and potential clients what it takes to do so legally and they say they just don't want to do that. Not my rules, but the federal

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-74902913801864160002009-02-05T04:15:00.007-05:002009-02-21T21:09:44.707-05:00

I have repeatedly discussed the fact that you have to have a Part 135 certificate to run a charter operation. And, the certificate owner of the Part 135 has to have operational control over its aircraft. On the four year anniversary of the February 2, 2005 Teterboro crash, the New Jersey U.S. Attorney indicted five of the members of the Platinum Jet Management organization and one of the pilots

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-21329127069377766702008-12-20T01:50:00.012-05:002009-02-08T03:51:02.612-05:00

I have been on the road quite a bit lately and just in time for the Christmas comes some good news. Aero-News Network has a nice article and a great photo (to the right) of yet another Cirrus CAPS save this week. It also mentions that there was another successful CAPS deployment in Europe recently. The photo is indeed a welcome sight compared to those that many of us have seen involving the

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-46025006848321871592008-11-27T03:19:00.006-05:002009-02-08T03:52:04.965-05:00

Buried in the bad news about the economy and bankruptcies at Eclipse and DayJet (can it get much worse?), there is a new air taxi entry out on the West Coast call IndigoFlyer. The interesting thing about IndigoFlyer is that its website states that it does have its own Part 135 certificate (see my last post), but most interesting is that it is one of the first Cirrrus SR-22 air taxi operators that

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-29653218426701861972008-11-18T03:18:00.003-05:002009-02-08T03:44:51.216-05:00

I am frequently confronted with the business plan of a new company who wants to sell air taxi flights and in so doing call itself an "air taxi" or an "airline" or an "airways," but yet has no Part 135 operating certificate or has an agreement to "use someone elses." This was part of the topic on which I spoke at the Aviation Week VLJ Forum last week. Quite frankly, there are a number of FAA and

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-43627527303291277702008-11-15T18:12:00.003-05:002008-11-18T03:56:26.363-05:00

Aviation Week's VLJ Management Forum wrapped up last week in West Palm. A lot of good discussion occurred. Probably the most interesting was the talk at the end of Tuesday by Vern Rayburn in his post-Eclipse stage. Sporting a beard, he shared with the crowd his thoughts about a multitude of things. I will try to summarize a few related to the development of the Eclipse, VLJs and air taxis and

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-87086264732675608672008-11-11T23:38:00.005-05:002008-11-12T00:21:17.318-05:00

We had a highly informative and interesting day here at day one of the Aviation Week VLJ Conference in Fort Lauderdale. The attendance is about half of what it was two years ago, but still a very good group of attendees and a great program. It started with a panel discussion that included Ed Iacobucci discussing DayJet with a good recap here. The day ended with some very pointed remarks from

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-43658467419984079662008-11-06T22:03:00.005-05:002008-11-07T19:33:04.008-05:00

It's been quite a while since I posted, but I have been rather busy working on a number of aviation regulatory and litigation matters including defending an emergency suspension of a Part 135 certificate holder. I am now putting the finishing touches on my presentation for next week's discussion of Regulatory and Compliance issues at Aviation Week's VLJ Management Forum in West Palm Beach. I went

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-494394202091633782008-10-12T19:40:00.009-04:002008-10-13T11:00:13.625-04:00

Admittedly, NBAA was a little less exciting this year for the aviation enthusiast and the official attendance numbers demonstrate that it was less attended than last year. From an air taxi perspective, the buzz and excitement of the past two years was missing. No significant announcements, no exciting new air taxi entrant and no new aircraft on display. However, it was still a great show with

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-34006165816301636542008-10-09T10:03:00.006-04:002008-10-09T10:14:23.558-04:00

I just got back from NBAA in Orlando and will provide some thoughts later, but wanted to share a few photos of some of the displays including the Cirrus Jet, the Eclipse 400 and the HondaJet. There was an informative air taxi session attended by SATSAir, Linear Air and Open Air and a few interesting comments made there by the attendees. More to follow. . .

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-39373123228415796832008-10-01T06:15:00.006-04:002008-10-13T11:02:01.449-04:00

Forecast International, Inc., has released its projections for the future of business jet production. The company is a leading provider of market intelligence and analysis in the areas of aerospace, defense, power systems and military electronics and works in conjunction with Aviation Week. While acknowledging that the business jet market is still growing, it predicts that it is nearing its peak

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-40758783167433080062008-09-30T17:54:00.004-04:002008-09-30T18:11:58.716-04:00

Flight International has posted one of the most comprehensive articles yet on the current state of air taxis in the US. Written by Murdo Morrison and entitled "Turbulent Take-off for Taxis," you can find a great discussion of DayJet's ultimate challenges and the current operations and future plans of several successful operators including Imagine Air, SATSAir, BlueSky, and Linear Air. The article

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-59338556863827001342008-09-28T03:40:00.003-04:002008-09-28T03:44:38.496-04:00

As was reported on Aero News Network on September 11, a Cirrus flying for BlueSky Taxi was involved in a fatal accident in Wisconsin. The accident occurred at night as the aircraft was on approach to Lakeland Airport. The names of the passengers have been released as well as that of the pilot who according to press reports had received his commercial license about three months prior to the

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-50449218508402771722008-09-27T20:14:00.026-04:002008-09-28T20:28:50.138-04:00

Linear Air, which has operated an air taxi model with upscale Caravans and Eclipse 500s - is mixing it up a little. It has previously offered a seasonal per seat service from New York or Boston to Nantucket. Now, it has begun offering a per seat Eclipse service during mid week between Boston and New York. Most interestingly, the pricing model is similar to what DayJet utilized by offering a

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-71986584197958791972008-09-19T19:13:00.010-04:002008-09-27T22:19:59.023-04:00

I am on my way back from a legal conference in beautiful Montreal on a layover in Philadelphia. As has been widely reported on aviation news sites and on DayJet's own website, DayJet ceased operations today after being unable to secure additional and necessary financing. Since it's inception, I have been a big fan of Dayjet - the technology, the people, the vision, the concept, the aircraft and

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546454281979528129.post-74654221019068553192008-09-11T06:00:00.005-04:002008-09-27T22:20:47.093-04:00

I was in a conference room at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel in Atlanta preparing to assist my boss with a legal brief to a large contingent of corporate security directors and managers assembled from across the country at our quarterly corporate security conference. Absolutely one of my favorite hotels primarily because of its location right off the runaway of one of the busiest airports in the

Mark Favahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161090576121265349noreply@blogger.com