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Aircraft - Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Jets On Demand's DayJet Raises $50M For "Tivo of Travel"

DayJet is yet another aviation company founded by a Silicon Valley star. The startup was founded by Ed Iacobucci in 2002. He was founder and chairman of publicly traded Citrix Systems. Iacobucci had purchased a Bombardier Learjet 60 aircraft and got the jet bug. After retiring from Citrix Systems in 2000, he got going with DayJet by teaming up with Vern Raburn, a former Microsoft executive and founder of Eclipse Aviation Corporation, a maker of low-cost jets.

Delray Beach, FL-based DayJet has now raised $50M in Series C and we expect they will need more cash soon. They are not saying who are the investors but says investors are eight institutions and private = equity funds, plus numerous individuals. Directors include the likes of Microsoft alum Greg Maffei who has plenty of cash on hand.

Dayjet sells a membership package, plus costs of flights.

+ Per-Seat. A shared ride service sold by the individual seat, with advance reservations. Passengers pay only for the seat(s) they use, rather than the whole plane.

+ On-Demand. Individually negotiated, non-scheduled service. DayJet does not publish a schedule.

+ Direct. DayJet flies point-to-point to/from small community airports and does not fly into major hub airports or require passengers to switch planes.

+ Affordable. DayJet claims prices are slightly higher than full-fare coachh

+ Launch territory: Short-haul flights in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee,

Read - DayJet air taxi lands new investors