SwiftJet, a new Canadian on-demand airline offering service “anywhere and anytime to destinations around the world,” has purchased five Diamond D-JET aircraft with options for 10 more. The complete order (options included) would make SwiftJet Canada’s largest D-JET operator and its first charter customer. SwiftJet hopes to “re-define chartered travel and turn it into a hassle-free low cost, private class option.” Diamond expects to achieve certification of its D-JET in 2009 with aircraft deliveries to begin that year. SwiftJet hopes to offer Canadian businesspeople the option of air travel and time savings where previously ground travel was the only realistic option. In the U.S., emerging air taxi service DayJet had hoped to accomplish much the same, hoping to use the Eclipse 500 to offer a compelling alternative to the hub-and-spoke system offered by larger carriers. DayJet began with 12 aircraft operating from five cities in Florida and ended late last month with a cessation of service blamed in part on the inability to arrange financing during the current credit crunch. Other operators, including SATSair and ImagineAir, hope to step up to fill DayJet’s void and may be leaving lessons for neighbors and peers to the north.
