Catch a ride on the ‘carpool in the sky’

By Dan Daly, Journal staff | Monday, January 28, 2008

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A new ride-sharing air charter business is set to begin service at Rapid City Regional Airport on Wednesday, Jan. 23.

VisionAir Share hopes to help business travelers coordinate their trips and share the cost of chartering flights to Watertown, Aberdeen, Sioux Falls, Casper, Wyo., and other hard-to-reach-by-air destinations.

“We call it a carpool in the sky,” said Toby Brusseau, VisionAir Share’s flight adviser.

That type of charter-sharing has been done informally in the past, but VisionAir Share hopes to create an organized system to match would-be travelers with each other.

Its parent company, Dale’s Aviation, was founded in 1984 by Jerry Dale. His son, Steve Dale, is the director of operations. In recent years, the company has done business as Medical Air Rescue, a flying service for medical patients, and VisionAir, a traditional charter service.

VisionAir will continue to offer traditional, point-to-point air charters for its customers. But the ride-sharing option will be available to travelers whose schedules coincide.

The new service stands halfway between traditional charters — expensive — and scheduled airline service — circuitous at best.

Michael Reynolds, a Rapid City attorney who travels frequently, said the idea for this type of service came to him about 12 years ago when he and other business travelers were waiting for a plane at Rapid City Regional Airport.

“We were all complaining about the lack of service to Sioux Falls,” he said.

For years, cross-state air service has been available only sporadically. To fly a commercial airline from Rapid City to Aberdeen, you have to fly first to Minneapolis. Even travel between Sioux Falls and Rapid City, the state’s two largest cities, requires a stop in Denver or Minneapolis.

Airlines and shuttle services have launched Rapid City-Sioux Falls routes at various times in the 1990s. The most recent attempt was Northwest Airlink service that ended in 2000.

Reynolds is serving as a VisionAir Share adviser. For attorneys, business owners and executives, time is money. And the 10 hours spent driving round trip to Sioux Falls is often wasted, especially for clients who are paying the tab.

“Besides the cost, you get to be home in time for your kid’s soccer game. That’s very important,” Reynolds said.

By flying, the executives can continue to work while

 

they travel. They also avoid the hassles of going through airport security and baggage handling.

VisionAir Share flights will primarily be made aboard the company’s newly refurbished five-passenger Cessna 414 for its new service. The company also has two King Air aircraft and another Cessna available for flights.

Depending on the number of other passengers who join you on the trip, you could save as much as 80 percent on the cost of a traditional air charter, according to chief pilot Mark Stites.

For instance, if you charter a plane to Aberdeen, the tab would run a hefty $2,050. But if the five-passenger plane is full, the cost could be as low as $350.

Stites said ride-sharers wouldn’t have to be headed to the same city. A plane could stop in Pierre, Aberdeen and Sioux Falls in the morning – and reverse the route at the end of the day.

VisionAir Share will host a launch party on Tuesday, Jan. 22, to explain its new service to the Black Hills business community. It’s at the Elks Theater, and it begins at 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 393-0000 or visit www.visionairsd.com.

Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjouurnal.com.