DayJet, one of the newer air taxi services has announced that they are planning to scale back their growth plan. Aero-News Network reports that the company, which operates a fleet of 28 Eclipse 500 very light jets, has cut back on jobs. The company has cited trouble with getting new investment capital due to the troubled economy as a reason for the revised business plan.

DayJet CEO Ed Iacobucci told ANN that overall DayJet's operations are strong and that the business model is sound but that the external factor of the general economic malaise has led to the scaleback. The Florida-based company has over 1,500 members with more than 550 active DayJet users. The company only officially launched in October 2007 but now needs more money to grow the business. The plan was to have a network of 30-50 aircraft serving 20-30 markets but this would have required $40 million in new operating capital in the first quarter of 2008. Unfortunately for many businesses needing cash no one is in a lending mood lately. Therefore the employees hired and trained with an eye toward expansion had to be let go.

DayJet isn't planning to curtail existing service region and plans to resume expansion plans once the money is available. But this news comes on the heels of the announcements of shuttering of Eos and MaxJet and it makes me wonder about the long-term viability of small jet businesses in general.

We've mentioned fractional options for the Eclipse 500 Jet before but Jet-Alliance offers a cheaper way to get your piece of a new Eclipse. They offer something called a “fractional alliance” where the owners share in the costs of ownership and operations of the aircraft plus an administrative fee to Jet-Alliance. For a 1/16th slice of the plane, the cost is $81,000 plus ownership fees starting at $15,000 per year and usage fees of $650 per occupied hour to cover fuel and engine reserves.

[via Very Light Jets Blog]