On Indigo use of Teterboro Airport By Matthew G. Andersson, Chicago,
March 2 The Record’s recent coverage of Indigo ("Pressure on Teterboro," Page A-1, Feb. 25; "Turmoil at Teterboro," Editorial, Feb. 28), a new, innovative charter air service that has been serving Teterboro Airport since last August, does a disservice not only to Indigo but to The Record’s readers, to businesses, and to business travelers of northern New Jersey. What Indigo does, and what makes it truly revolutionary, is to make business jet service affordable – competitive with full-fare commercial coach – for companies and their executives by offering individual or small group service on eight-passenger corporate jets that take off at times designed to best meet our customers’ needs. The national press (including Time, The New York Times, and USA Today) has recognized our service as one of the few recent innovations to actually improve the sorry state of air travel in this country. Yet The Record seeks to turn our company into a stalking-horse for attacking the larger Boeing Business Jet and recasting Teterboro as another potential LaGuardia or Newark. Indigo is a charter service. We operate under charter-only authority, as do many other air carriers at Teterboro. Although we may market our service differently, our flights are charters, both legally and operationally. Our passengers are corporate executives, just like the clients of other charter carriers at Teterboro. It is true Indigo plans to expand its service nationally from its headquarters in Chicago. But we are and will remain very much a niche operator. Our operations at Teterboro are minuscule -- only two departures and two arrivals per weekday right now. And while Indigo has ambitious plans for growth, much of those in New Jersey involve airports other than Teterboro, such as Morristown and Trenton. Indigo’s flights at Teterboro will always be a very small fraction of the airport’s 500 daily operations, and will always be limited to smaller aircraft such as the eight-passenger Falcon Jets we operate currently. The reality is that Indigo’s operations fit precisely within the designated role and intended function of Teterboro Airport. The Port Authority’s own documents establish that service of the type provided by Indigo and others has been authorized at Teterboro since at least 1967. Instead of acknowledging these facts, The Record absurdly links us to unrelated issues such as the potential for Boeing Business Jets operating at Teterboro and to Teterboro somehow becoming a commercial airline mini-hub.
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