A startup private business-class airline is planning to begin service this spring between Westchester County Airport and Chicago Executive Airport.
AirChicago will operate as a members-only service, with membership tiers ranging from $99,000 a year for travelers making at least three domestic round-trip business trips per month to $1,000 a year for those traveling no more than once a month.
The airline is planning to fly with Gulfstream G-IV jets that have been reconfigured from 50 seats to 14 business seats. Flights will include meal service and drinks, and offer space for passengers to hold mini-conference meetings.
In addition to flying into the White Plains-based airport, AirChicago is planning routes to nine other markets including Boston, Los Angeles and the Washington, D.C. metro area. David Koch, the company”™s founder and a former United Airlines pilot, told Crain”™s Chicago Business that he”™s already received 200 deposits of $2,500 each for membership in his air service, adding that AirChicago will save travelers an average of three hours per trip.
“Airlines experience about 20,000 delayed flights a day out of approximately 100,000,” Koch said. “That makes it an unreliable transport system for someone who has to get to New York for a $50 million deal. Our planes will be parked in the hangar overnight from the departure airport. We fly to the destination city and the plane and crew stays there all day and flies it back in the evening.”
