Business & GA

Pogo Jet, the US air taxi start-up headed by former American Airlines chairman Robert Crandall, has filed for an initial public offering and plans to begin operations in early 2009 using Eclipse 500 very light jets.

Formed in 2001, and at one time a customer for the Adam A700 VLJ, Pogo plans to offer private on-demand jet charter, initially focused on major eastern US metropolitan markets such as New York, Washington and Boston.

The planned initial service area will reach north to Montreal in Canada, south to Charlotte, North Carolina and inland to Cincinatti, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan.

In a filing with the US Securities Exchange Commission, Pogo Jet says it plans to use a fleet of Eclipse 500s, inaugurating service in the first quarter of 2009 and operating 25 aircraft by the end of 2009. Its fleet is planned to grow to around 100 VLJs by the end of 2011.

Massachusetts-based Linear Air and Florida-based DayJet plans to launch the first air-taxi operations using Eclipses later in September.

Pogo's SEC filing makes clear the company will not finalise aircraft purchase and support agreements with Eclipse Aviation until after the IPO.