Originally published on Aviation International News Online on August 12, 2010
by Chad Trautvetter
Despite the littered road of failed very light jet air-taxi firms, Linear Air said it has been able to make the model work and has even eked out a profit during one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression. The Concord, Mass.-based company said its revenues in the first half increased to nearly $1 million with its four Eclipse 500s, doubling the results from the first half of last year. These revenues raised EBITDA from a loss of about $225,000 in the first half of last year to a profit of about $50,000 in the first half of this year, company president and CEO William Herp told AIN. “To put this into the context of our own history, this puts us back on track with the first half of 2008, our period of fastest growth,” he said. “Moreover, while we aren’t ready to release third-quarter figures just yet, July and August so far have continued the upward trend, and we are expecting our best year ever, with a goal of having more than 10 Eclipse jets in the fleet during 2011.”
