With the collapse of several airlines recently, including transatlantic business-class carriers such as US companies, MaxJet and Eos – and with the UK’s Silverjet in takeover talks at the time of press – it might seem incredible to suggest that a new type of private jet service is being touted by several companies. Yet Europe’s business travellers are now being promised a new class of light jet aircraft that will, enthuse their operators, represent a revolution in personal mobility.

Blink, one such UK-based operator claims to offer “the efficiency and convenience of private air travel at a price that is competitive with commercial business-class fares”. Blink promises no lengthy check-in procedures, security queues and baggage reclaim dead time and compares arriving at a Blink airport 10 minutes before the flight takes off with hailing a cab at a taxi rank.

Although some observers are skeptical, this business model would have never even taxied onto the runway without Vern Raburn, a charismatic former software designer who 11 years ago announced that, on account of revolutions in manufacturing techniques, engine technologies and avionics, he could build a smaller, easier-to-fly, twin-engined jet, priced at $1m (€630,000). The world could hardly fail to pay attention.

But there is no industry tougher on newcomers than aviation, and even today with 2,500 orders for Eclipse Aviation’s iconic Eclipse 500 ‘very light jet’, (jets with a takeoff weight of less than 4,500kg, capable of single-pilot operation and with sophisticated, integrated instrumentation and navigation systems) it is too early to call Eclipse’s long-term success, let alone that of the taxi model.

Cessna’s Citation Mustang was the first in the very light jet (VLJ) class to win certification from US regulators, in September 2006 – although the Kansas-based company refers to it not as a VLJ but as an entry-level business jet. At €1.6m, the six-seat Mustang – two seats in the cockpit and four in the cabin – is far cheaper than its next brother up, the €3m Citation CJ1+.

Comparing the Eclipse and the Cessna is David Savile, chief executive of the world’s largest charter broker, Air Partner. “The Eclipse has just three seats and that limits its attractiveness compared to the larger Mustang,” he says, adding that he dislikes the ‘taxi’ comparison as having more to do with marketing than reality. Yet on the subject of the economic outlook for the whole private aviation sector, Savile is bullish. “It’s crazy,” he observes. “The world’s in recession but everyone’s flying private jets.” Air Partner’s half-year results for the period ending 31 January, showed a 20% increase in new clients and record profits.

“If these new, lighter jets bring down the entry price for private aviation then private aviation will grow as a result,” says Savile. It’s simply a case of which jet emerges as the favourite and which operating model. In-flight, there will certainly be bankruptcies, such as Adam Aircraft, the Colorado-based maker of the A700 VLJ that collapsed with unpaid debts of €32.4m in February. Eclipse has also been hit by numerous delays, and even now the New Mexico company is resolving some of the bugs in its sophisticated avionics and other systems, limiting the use of the 155 aircraft already flying.

Eclipse received a shot in the arm recently when investor European Technology and Investment Research Center (ETIRC) put in more than €65m, with ETIRC founder Roel Pieper taking a 51% stake and becoming non-executive chairman. This also gave ETIRC the rights to assemble the Eclipse 500 in its territory – Europe, Turkey, and Russia. In February, an assembly plant was announced for Ulyanovsk, next to Russia’s biggest and most underutilised aircraft factory.

Meanwhile, Adam Aircraft, founded by former Goldman Sachs banker George “Rick” Adam in 1998, is now under the management of Industrial Investors, a Moscow-based private equity player which paid €6.5m for the company in April.

Russian-assembled Eclipse 500s, which are scheduled to start flying out of the plant next year, could help meet a fast-growing demand for business jets in the former Soviet Union. They will also help redress a drastic transatlantic imbalance. Among VLJ manufacturers, Europe’s side is held up only by Austria-based Diamond Aircraft – and its small, single-engine aircraft is being made in Canada. Deliveries of Diamond’s five-seat, €870,000 D-Jet should start next year, beating Piper, and Cirrus single-engine aircraft, dubbed personal jets, to the market.