Accelerating the velocity of goods, a continuing series

Uber for private jets, sort of:

To make travel easier, and to avoid the headache of commercial flying, he [Aaron Smart] often uses JetSmarter, a start-up service that, for an annual membership fee [7k], allows him to fly on so-called empty legs, or private jets flying without passengers on their way to pick someone up.

…In some cases, the flights end up costing the same or less than first-class tickets on a commercial airliner.

Among the start-ups is Magellan Jets, which offers a subscription-based model where passengers can buy blocks of flight time and then get matched to planes through an iPhone app. Magellan users are not tied to a specific plane, which allows more flexibility.

Magellan Jets guarantees an aircraft — including turboprops and helicopters — within 10 hours of a customer’s request in the United States, or within 24 hours in Europe. The company, which is based in Quincy, Mass., and works with about 95 aircraft providers, conducts background checks on flight crews before every trip, said Magellan’s president, Anthony Tivnan.

The full story is here.