Spain's Taxijet is planning to build a fleet of 30 Eclipse 500s as it finalises simultaneous plans to work with European partners to offer a Europe-wide network fleet of 150 aircraft. "We expect European certification of the Eclipse 500 to come this year and plan to begin commercial operations in April 2009," says ceo Conor Neill.

He adds: "The world faces an uncertain next six to 18 months. The sub-prime banking crisis will have flow-through effects to all parts of the global economy as loans become harder and harder to get."

But Neill, a professor at IESE business school, a leading MBA institution, adds: "We believe that governments are taking the appropriate action to bring liquidity back to world economies and allow good businesses the access to credit which they require to invest and grow. We will work hard on developing strong, safe, robust operational processes and will be building a solid team over the next year, while positioning ourselves for strong growth as economic confidence returns during 2010."

Taxijet's target is to operate its own fleet of 30 aircraft in Spain by 2013. "We expect to fly each aircraft between 500 and 800 hours per year, two to three hours a day. We will have five pilots per aircraft so there will be 150 pilots by 2013," Neill adds. The company, which also acts as commercial agent for a Citation II and two Citation Is based in Madrid, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, currently operates an Eclipse 500 and a Maule. "We have always bought new aircraft direct from Eclipse Aviation. However this may change in future as we need to bring new aircraft onstream faster than the factory is able to provide delivery slots."

Neill says: "We will initially establish bases in Barcelona, further developing our maintenance base at Sabadell airport, and Madrid, establishing operational bases at Cuatro Vientos and preparing at Getafe, if necessary, to move from Cuatro Vientos. We see the Balearic Islands, and Andorra, operating from the new airport at Seu D'Urgell, as locations with high demand for easy connections to European destinations. We target companies with a20M to a200M turnover with multiple locations and within 30km of a regional airport especially when there is a regular requirement for teams to travel together."

Taxijet looked at the full range of VLJs that were being promoted back in 2002. "There were three key factors that led us to choose the Eclipse 500 - operational characteristics, operating costs and environment," says Neill. He points out that the Eclipse 500 will allow Taxijet to fly in and out of 2,000 European airports compared to the 800 that are accessible to larger jets. "Runway lengths are the main restrictor but noise levels are another factor," he says.

Neill says no other aircraft can offer the performance and operational cost of the Eclipse 500 for journeys of 300 km to 1,400 km carrying one to four passengers. "The aircraft is comfortable for one to two hour flights which will be the main bulk of our planned operations. Our initial focus is on day trips to difficult to reach locations, or multiple-stop trips that would be impossible in commercial aviation. As we grow our fleet we can become more flexible in terms of one-way trips and other services for our clients."

The Eclipse 500 has the lowest direct operating costs of any jet - primarily because it uses so little fuel compared to other aircraft, Neill adds. "So far we are seeing an average of 50 gallons per hour of flight. At a distance of 150 metres it is as noisy as a vacuum cleaner at three metres."

Taxijet, he says, employs people with a "passion for aviation and a passion for people." The director of marketing, Franc Sanmarti, is involved with the Aeroclub at Sabadell which has a museum of old aircraft that are lovingly restored and flown once a year in the Festa de Cel - an airshow that has become a key part of Barcelona city celebrations every September.

Neill sees 2008 as an "inflexion point" in the world of commercial aviation - the demand curve has dramatically changed. "Ryanair, Easyjet, Vueling - the arrival of these low cost operators have forced the national flag carriers to reduce their service levels to compete on price," says Neill. "This results in one level of customer service - the same for the stag party from Ireland spending a weekend in Valencia, or the business traveller making a day trip to hold several meetings in Madrid. We believe that business class no longer exists on European short-haul commercial flights - and the new business class will be the air taxi. We look for aviators, not pilots - for people who want to be part of changing aviation for the better, for people who see a challenge and rise to the occasion. We hold regular open days."

Taxijet initially started as a service to manage Eclipse 500s on behalf of businessmen in the Catalunya region and initial orders were made in January 2002 for four of the aircraft. Taxijet established maintenance facilities and offices at Sabadell during 2006 and took delivery of its first Eclipse 500 in December 2007. "Demand is such that we have since expanded our 'club' of owners to other business people who see the need for 100 to 200 hours of air taxi services per year and look to Taxijet to sell the spare capacity of their aircraft to our network of clients," Neill adds.