Want to go to the beach today and be back in time for supper?
It could be possible with a new Web site that allows people to easily book air taxi flights from Virginia Highlands Airport – or any of the other municipal airports in Southwest Virginia – to the destination of their choice.
“The VirginiaAirTaxi.com Web site is intended to allow travelers to book an air charter or air taxi with the same ease and simplicity as they would book an airline flight,” said Keith McCrea, executive director of the Virginia SATSLab, a public-private partnership that worked with the Air Taxi Association to launch the site. “We have nine commercial air service airports in Virginia … but we have 64 public use airports.”
Mickey Hines, manager of Virginia Highlands Airport, said the site, which is used to schedule chartered flights, is part of a new air transportation system.
“It’s going to be obviously more expensive than commercial air flight, but the convenience of it and the time savings, it’s kind of like calling a taxi,” Hines said. “You can say exactly where you want to go as opposed to the airlines taking you where they want to go.”
He said users of the site can go online, look up where they want to go and when, and air taxi services that have flights available will quote a price. A typical flight across Virginia might take about an hour – and might cost $1,000 for three people.
He said air taxi flights allow convenient point-to-point service without the hassle of security and luggage restrictions or large, crowded planes.
“I think it’s going to be good for the local economy, the fact that you can use this airport or any airport,” Hines said, adding that the next generation of small aircraft is quieter than in the past.
“This day and time, with people’s time being so valuable and the expense of gasoline as expensive as it is, we think it’s a good program that’s coming out at a good time.”
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