Relief is in sight for harried travelers who hate the hassles of commercial airline flights. Several companies are gearing up to provide inexpensive personal jet flights, or "air taxi" services.

The arrival of "very light jets," or "mircrojets," is expected to revolutionize the aviation industry by making air charter affordable for the average business or leisure traveler. Utilizing smaller airports, like Spirit of St. Louis, these 4 to 6-seater planes will take passengers straight to their destination. No more crowds or long waits for scheduled flights at big airports.

One company, Pogo Jet, plans to roll out service as early as next fall. Headed by People Express founder Donald Burr, Pogo's aim is to provide "cheap private-jet travel," according to the CEO. Speaking recently at Flight School 05, a "first annual" conference of aviation leaders, experts and entrepreneurs in Scottsdale, AZ, Burr predicted, "We will steal traffic from cars...Lots and lots."

The advantages for the traveler are obvious: flexible "on demand" scheduling, parking right next to the airstrip, and fewer problems with security. The expected reduction of red tape and fewer delays at small airports would significantly cut the amount of time wasted on a typical commercial airline trip.

Other start-up companies like Jetson Systems and Corporate Clipper plan to compete with Pogo Jet for the air taxi market. According to Edward Iacobucci, president of Jetson Systems and another attendee of Flight School 05, the success of the air taxi concept hinges on matching supply and demand in real time and providing inexpensive, reliable service.

The debut of "very light jets" from manufacturers like Eclipse Aviation and Adam Aircraft is crucial for making this business model feasible. These planes weigh 10,000 pounds or less and have a flying distance of about 500 miles. This makes them ideal for short "commuter" hops. It also means a substantially lower cost for the passenger over current "upscale" air charter or fractional jet ownership.

According to Eclipse, their company is "applying revolutionary propulsion, manufacturing, and electronics systems to produce aircraft that cost less than a third of today's small jet aircraft, [and] will be significantly safer and easier to operate than those of today."

Certification is still pending for these aircraft, but is expected in the near future. The FAA is currently debating what sorts of regulations should apply to microjets. Several important issues including airport safety, flight control and maintenance still need to be addressed before these new planes can take to the skies. All "very light jets" are designed for a single pilot, which creates another regulatory hurdle to overcome. Current regulations for commercial jets prohibit single-pilot operation.

Despite these obstacles, proponents are still optimistic about an upcoming personal jet revolution. Companies like Eclipse and Pogo Jet are counting on customer dissatisfaction with the current state of commercial aviation. Or, as Donald Burr put it, "People have demonstrated that they don't like to get screwed at the last minute."

Whether the air taxi model succeeds is, in the end, dependent on just that: customer satisfaction. Creating a market niche and actually making a profit will be quite a challenge for these new companies. As Vern Raburn, CEO of Eclipse pointed out, "History is littered with dead aircraft manufacturers."