Mustangs – of which more than 500 have been ordered and more than 60 delivered – and Eclipses are currently the only VLJs that buyers can get their hands on; but customers have to be patient. “If you order one now, you can expect delivery in the second half of 2010,” says Raburn. “Our order book worldwide is about 2,600 aircraft – worth more than $4bn [€2.5m].”

The other high-flier in the field is long-established Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer, whose Phenom 100 had its first flight last July. First deliveries of the €1.8m jet are expected later this year.

The relatively low cost of joining the jet set certainly marks out these aircraft as heralding a new era in aviation, but it is in their use that the real revolution lays. As cheap to buy and operate as some turboprops, VLJs stand to benefit hugely from high fuel prices. Even greater, however, is the demand for alternatives to large, generally inefficient airports that have come to define Europe’s ‘hub and spoke’ system. Take the recent, admittedly extreme example of Heathrow’s disastrous Terminal 5 opening in London, or the longer-term pressure of anti-terrorist security measures. “It all boils down to preciousness of time,” says Savile. “There is only one alternative to the Heathrow scenario: private aviation.” Although Savile remains bullish about all types of private jet, VLJs will have a sizeable advantage; they will able to utilise the hundreds of tiny air strips denied to the bigger aircraft.

As usual in aviation, the US is leading the way. Boca Raton, Florida-based DayJet, an air-taxi fleet founded by Ed Iacobucci, aims to have 100 Eclipse 500s in the skies by the year-end in five southern states. Although the first revenue flight was only last October, Iacobucci says interest is high from those who want to pay for a seat, not a whole plane, and want to travel up to 1,000km.

DayJet has two pilots on board, despite the Eclipse being certified for single-pilot operation, for fare-payers’ peace of mind. It also takes no more than three passengers, to maximise comfort and fuel, which means greater range for a small aircraft.

Blink, is offering a limo-style service as opposed to DayJet’s shared taxis, renting out the whole aircraft rather than single seats.

“We are able to offer a boardroom in the sky,” says Peter Leiman, co-founder and managing director of Blink. “It’s a functional environment. Our passengers will be able to use the time really productively.”

Blink, which has partnered with UK-based TAG Aviation, offers companies rates that, on a per-seat basis, are within plus or minus 25% of the price of scheduled business-class tickets in Europe. Last year it raised €18.9m to fund its initial aircraft, and has recently taken delivery of its first Mustang – with at least another 45 on order. Leiman says the Cessna’s capacity for steep approaches and short landing distance will enable it to get into airports some rivals cannot use, such as London City and Cannes.

It is also fuel-efficient, says Leiman: “From London to Montpellier, say, the Mustang will burn less fuel than a Boeing 747 does taxiing from Heathrow’s Terminal 4 to the runway.”

Other companies are also circling. Dublin-based JetBird, for example, intends to buy up to 100 Phenom 100s and its larger light jet sibling, the €4.2m Phenom 300, offering them on a whole-plane basis. Like Blink, it aims to distribute them around a network of European hubs to minimise empty flights.

Rotterdam-based Bikkair is also vying for the title of the Continent’s first air-taxi operation. There are many others, too; Raburn says Eclipse alone has a “couple of hundred” orders from air-taxi operators in Europe.

All operators will have to be careful in balancing payload, fuel load and range – as DayJet is finding out. But such calculations are the constant companion of aviation.

As the number of VLJs arriving in Europe grows, the shift in transportation underway in the US could start to have an effect here. “In many ways,” says Raburn, “Europe is with VLJs where the US was two years ago.”

Blink’s Leiman is unsurprisingly bullish: “This is the next frontier. This is the forefront of the revolution.” Only time and market economics will show if he’s right.