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MEN BEHIND THE PILOT are James R. Bair, left, and William D. Parkhurst, owners of Direct Airway, new charter service.Direct Airway offers complete charter net[ A straight line is the shortest* distance between two points -“as the crow flies,” they say.1 People who want to emulatethe crow, however, find that | commercial planes are poor* substitutes. Chartering your 1 own is the way to obviate ! check-in lines, security in-1 spections, and long ground ’ runs to far away airports.1 Direct Airway wants to beyour charter company, and r their services don’t cost you a ■ cent, since they operate as 1 advertising and travel 1 agencies do, getting their fee 1 from the charter companies rather than the client.Partners William D. Parkhurst and James R. Bair 1 have pooled their expertise to . offer a service which takes the j guesswork out of chartering.Out of some 4,000 companies 1 they’ve investigated, they’ve j signed up 40.5 “They’re the cream,” saysBill Parkhurst. “They’re head » and shoulders above the rest in ' terms .of safety standards, \ equipment and pilot qualifications.”[ As for the planes, 350 are on3 call, available in sizes fromtwo-seater to 747, from piston twin to turbo-prop to jet. Cost per mile depends upon the kind of plane to some extent, but generally it figures out to about what it costs to take a taxi ride in New York City.Direct Airway is bound to be cheaper than other charters, thanks to its unique service of tracking flight movements to eliminate “deadheaders,” a term coined in railroad circles to designate the freight cars that return to the point of origin empty, thus cutting into profits. By matching up clients and flight plans, the firm can make sizable savings for customers, who pay only one way.Speaking of savings, since the typical businessman travels in a covey of from two to eight, the cost of chartering an aircraft may actually be cheaper than buying tickets for the group on a commercial lines. To say nothing of the advantages of being able to land at a smaller airport more convenient to the client’s destination.Common carriers serve some G00 airports; 6,000 areavailable for landing air charter flights, even the large executive jets.“In the past decade, service by commercial lines has diminished steadily as airlines try to cut unprofitable routes,” says Mr. Bair, who has piloted Pan Am jets around the world for nine years and knows whereof he speaks. “Traffic into and out of all but the largest cities is decreasing. Air charter has been growing at 10 to 12 per cent per years at the same time.” Obviously there is a cause and effect situation here.Business travelers spend great chunks of the day doing nothing but waiting around, Bill Parkhurst points out. For those leaving Princeton, the problem of deiay-linger-and-wait for connecting flights is multiplied. There’s an hour and a half to Newark, up to three hours to Kennedy to add to the two hour stopover in Atlanta, Chicago or St. Louis on the way to smaller cities.“Time can be better spent,” we think, concludes Mr. Parkhurst.Call Direct Airway at 799-3030.
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Franklin News Record
Franklin, New Jersey, US
Thu, Sep 01, 1977
Page 2
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NJ, USA 23 Jun 2024
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