Spanish charter operator Jet Ready reports a successful launch of what is billed as Europe's first air taxi operation based on the Eclipse 500. Ignacio Garcia, ceo, says: "We just received our AOC on 7 June but the market response has been very good. The company has already carried out a number of successful commercial operations and is receiving ongoing bookings."

Jet Ready's launch Eclipse 500 is being joined by a second that has completed an EASA-approved upgrade at the manufacturer's plant in Albuquerque. "A third aircraft will join the fleet in September," Garcia says. "Our clients are mostly businessmen travelling around Europe and northern Africa. We have our own FBO in Valencia and the opening of our base in Madrid will be followed by another in Barcelona. After that we will start opening bases outside Spain."

Garcia says the operator will appeal to the time-pressed and cost-conscious executive by offering competitive prices.

The Eclipse 500 has a range of 1,125 nm and a maximum cruising speed of 370 knots. "The interior is configured as a sedan with three offset seats," says Garcia.

Eclipse Aviation spent more than US$1 billion in development and production of 260 EA500s but had to cease production and operation through shortage of funding. However, Mason Holland and Michael Press, who were both EA500 customers, revived the company as Eclipse Aerospace.