MAHONING VALLEY Need a lift to the airport? Soon, you can hail a SkyTaxi

The new airline's owner says he can save travelers time.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
Oregon entrepreneur Ray Morrow's plan for air travelers is a simple one: a friendly, convenient, hassle-free airline that allows the traveler to choose departure and arrival times and locations.
That's the idea behind SkyTaxi, which Morrow started on the West Coast 18 months ago. A crew of two flies four- and six-passenger planes to and from small airports, taking travelers close to their destinations.
Morrow said the West Coast operation is the prototype for airline service he plans to offer across the United States and Canada.
Now SkyTaxi Northeast is about to get off the ground in the Mahoning Valley.
Morrow said with Federal Aviation Administration approval of a 1,500-page plan he will submit Friday, SkyTaxi service will begin by mid-November.
"We have to educate the public on a new way to travel," Morrow said. "The trick is the convenience, but to do that you have to fly small planes. Our planes are small, but they are super comfortable."
About the service
Morrow has established the business in the Mahoning Valley with an office at the Columbiana County Airport in Madison Township just off the state Route 11/U.S. Route 30 highway. He said the base of operations won't matter to SkyTaxi's customers, however, because flights can originate from any airport in the area.
Flights will be from Columbiana County Airport or the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna Township or any of the small airports in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys.
A traveler in Beaver or Sharon or New Castle, Pa., with a commercial flight out of Cleveland, for example, could schedule a SkyTaxi flight from a local airport to Cleveland rather than driving to Cleveland or taking a commercial flight from Pittsburgh to Cleveland.
Morrow said many times with the travel required to and from major airports and the processing time at the airport, a business traveler will spend more time on the ground than in the air.
He said travelers will only have to drive to a small airport near their home or business and arrive about 20 minutes before their scheduled departure time. There are 110 airports in Ohio, around 100 in Indiana and about 90 in Pennsylvania, according to Morrow.
He said he and the local crew he has assembled have been touting SkyTaxi by word of mouth, giving presentations at area civic clubs like Kiwanis, Rotary and Lions.
Chief executive officer
Jim Pusateri, a member of the Columbiana County Airport Authority, is the SkyTaxi Northeast CEO. Morrow also has hired a director of maintenance, and pilots and mechanics.
Pusateri said since he was a member of the airport authority, Tracy Drake, executive director of the Columbiana County Port Authority, asked him to meet Morrow and give him a tour of the county airport's facilities. Pusateri said he never dreamed he'd eventually become the local CEO.
"It's a great concept and there is a lot of interest," Pusateri said. "We're excited to begin flying."
Pusateri said the original plan was to start with three planes, but the purchase of a fourth already is in the works.
He said several businesses in the East Liverpool area are interested in the service because their company officials have been driving back and forth to Chicago to avoid dealing with all the security checks and other processing at major airports.
Prices, scheduling
SkyTaxi officials will use a software program Morrow developed that matches travelers to airports and flight times to coordinate the requested flight to the same area.
Prices will be based on scheduling by travelers either 14 days, more than 14 days or less than three days before their desired departure.
Morrow said SkyTaxi can fly one person if necessary but will try to book at least three passengers per flight.
For the Mahoning Valley, SkyTaxi will use Piper Navajo or Aerostar planes. Each will have a pilot and a first officer and seating for either four or six passengers.
Travelers will have room to relax in comfortable seating and have work areas where they can write or use laptop computers, he said.
Morrow said because of the restructuring going on at USAirways in Pittsburgh, he had little difficulty recruiting commercial pilots. He said he has recruited some top pilots with 6,000 to 10,000 hours of flight time.
SkyTaxi flight crews can fly during the day and return home in the evening to their families, he said. Many commercial pilots are away from home for up to 15 days, he said.
Distance
Morrow said the farthest SkyTaxi will fly at first is Detroit, but he will soon expand operations to the east. Morrow said before starting SkyTaxi on the West Coast, he was already a successful entrepreneur, having started avionics and marine electronics companies, a blimp company with a fleet of 17 blimps, and a snowboard manufacturing company.
Morrow said he found the Mahoning Valley attractive because the Youngstown area is the center of a large population area. He said he also plans to expand SkyTaxi with regional service based in Alabama, Texas and then North and South Dakota.