By TIM RAUSCH
Augusta Chronicle
Published on: 04/11/07

It is not as simple as hailing a cab from the runway, but officials with a startup air taxi service are selling its convenience as a way to lure business travelers away from the major air carriers.

ImagineAir's first paying flight was Tuesday, a jaunt by former Augusta Mayor Bob Young from a government conference in Knoxville, Tenn., to see visiting presidential contender Rudy Giuliani in Augusta.

Mr. Young, now a regional director with the federal Housing and Urban Development Department, said it was a Google search that led him to ImagineAir. He said the 90-minute flight from Tennessee to Daniel Field was something Delta Air could not have done.

Mr. Young said he had to get back to Augusta in a short window of time in order to take his wife to dinner with the former New York City mayor.

ImagineAir is based in Atlanta but co-founded by Augusta physician Paul Fischer. The company had operating approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in February but couldn't fly until this week because it needed regulatory approval of the aircraft, explained Evans native Haroon Qureshi, ImagineAir's marketing director.

"We had to get the planes certified. There are strict regulations, and it is great that the FAA does that, otherwise you'd have everybody with a plane trying to run a service," Mr. Qureshi said.

ImagineAir has two three-passenger, propeller-driven planes, and nine others are on order. Mr. Qureshi said the fleet will eventually be a mixture of the single-engine Cirrus SR-22s and five-passenger Eclipse 500 jets.

"We're looking to add two every month or so. We want to grow this to be a large service," Mr. Qureshi said. "Eventually, within the next five to eight years, move over into Texas and out to California."

Where the on-demand air service differentiates itself from the major carriers is the ability to serve people through small airports, about 600 of them in the Southeast, allowing for a shorter drive to an airport.

Until the jets arrive, Mr. Qureshi said the outer boundaries of the service are New Orleans; St. Louis; Washington, D.C.; and Miami.

Travelers can book a flight through the company's Web-based reservation system. Company officials claim to be the first on-demand air taxi service to do so.

Prices are per plane, not per seat. The company also quotes travel time. Since the service lands in small airports, there's little time wasted getting on the plane by waiting in lines at security, ticketing and baggage claim.

Mr. Qureshi said the company can get a plane to a client within short notice, about two hours.

"It was the ideal form of transportation for me to be where I needed to be," Mr. Young said. "When you look at small market service, the airlines charge you so much more for these small commuter flights. If I had flown Delta, I would have had to fly to Atlanta, wait for a plane change and then go on to Augusta. All of that has value to it, so when you look at price (air taxi) is very competitive."

Mr. Young said he paid for the flight personally but is looking into whether it can be an option for federal travel.

ImagineAir and Let your Imagination Fly are trademarks of Imagine Air Jet Services, LLC. All other trademarks are registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.