| Interview with Penguin Airlines President Chris Stevens |
by DesktopLinux.com Staff (August 9, 2002)
DesktopLinux.com interviews Chris Stevens, President of Penguin Airlines about his young venture's business model that includes using Linux in all aspects from the ground up -- from desktops to the reservations system! 'Tux' is more than just a name for this new air taxi service which brings convenient, economical, time-saving air travel via the shortest route between home and destination. Penguin Airlines represents an emerging trend in air travel that could command 15% of the current demand for business travel according to published reports . . .
DesktopLinux.com: So just how did Penguin Airlines get its name?
Penguin Airlines: Sometimes finding the right name for your business is like thinking up a new userid for someplace like Slashdot. All the good names are taken. Fortunately, we didn't have that much trouble. We started off unofficially using TexasJet Direct and I liked it because we're all very proud of our state down here. We dropped it within a few months because it closely resembled a local aviation company that we respect very much. The airlines like to use majestic bird names like Eagle and Falcon that convey a powerful animal soaring gracefully through the air. Since one of our fundamental missions is to make private jet travel affordable for all travelers, we needed something that most people could relate to.
Now here's where my Linux, aviation, and engineering backgrounds all collide. The technology community's favorite bird is none other than the penguin -- Tux. Everybody loves the little tuxedo-clad animals and will line up at the zoos to watch them swim. To the technology folks out there, the penguin stands for Linux, open-source, and a powerful community of volunteers doing what is right to benefit everyone. Then I remembered an old fluid dynamics professor telling us once that air and water are nearly identical in terms of flow. They are both essentially liquid mediums through which objects 'fly', so a penguin swimming through the water conveys as much majesty and power and the Eagle in the sky. From that point, the choice was easy as we have worked for months building our business model around Linux from the ground up. To further seal our decision, we equate the competition we will face over the next few years with the airlines to the struggle that Linux is now winning against the folks from Redmond. The little guys will prevail!!
DesktopLinux.com: Why use Linux on the Desktop?
Penguin Airlines: If you read our Flightdeck essay from the wIndependence Day contest, you'll see that Linux crops up in literally every corner of our operation. I have used Linux for many years now and have not had any real problems with lockups or instability (unless I caused it by fiddling with a perfectly working machine). To use Linux exclusively on the desktop workstations and the laptops was an obvious step. Our staff will need that stability and reliability whether they are making reservations for a customer or checking the latest weather forecast.
I should also mention the nice folks over at Lycoris that are fielding a great-looking Linux distribution/desktop right now. I got to talk with Jason Spisak, Marketing Director for Lycoris, since they sponsored my prize for the contest. Their product can make what we're doing even easier for all of our remote reservations agents that connect to the customer and our company through their computer. The Desktop/LX system is designed to make any Windows user instantly productive on a high-performance Linux system. They have removed nearly all of the 'dirty' work of installing and operating a Linux system. A great product for all new members of our Community.
DesktopLinux.com: You mentioned that web services are critical to your business. How does Linux contribute to your web services operations?
Penguin Airlines: Web Services are the critical link to our staff, to our customers, and to all the information that our people need to do their jobs. Since we will operate out of the small, uncrowded general aviation airports found in almost any town in the U.S., our crews and reservations agents don't have gates or ticket counters to staff. They work from their homes since a majority of our interaction with customers will by phone or the Internet until they are picked up by the aircraft. Apache running on Linux provides real-time information remotely via any standard Internet connection anywhere our people might be located. Besides the great price and thousands of tech support experts, the advanced clustering methods native in the modern Linux system let us operate 24 hours a day.
DesktopLinux.com: What about groupware applications and CRM?
Penguin Airlines: Groupware suites rank right up there with the web services we just talked about. We are developing around PHPGroupWare right now because of the great progress the team has made over the last year. We especially liked the tight integration of email, accounting, and CRM features all for a grand total of zero dollars. Kudos on a job well done fellas!
Suites like these link the many pieces of information and a whole enterprise of people together like they were sitting in adjacent cubicles. We are even planning to use a Voice over IP phone system that is rumored to be a module within PHPGroupWare sometime in the future. Yes, it too runs on Linux. Our website backend is going to use Postnuke. Does anybody else see a pattern forming here??? :-)
DesktopLinux.com: Your service sounds really neat. How do people use it and how is it different than flying with the major commercial airlines?
Penguin Airlines: Ah yes, the big question! The first thing to note is that our aircraft, the Eclipse 500, is still being developed in Albuquerque by Eclipse Aviation. The company will not release how many orders they have for this revolutionary new jet, but an order placed today would not be delivered until late 2006. These aircraft are very popular and very exciting, even though first flight is still a few days away. An aviation analyst recently compared the level of electronics integration on this aircraft to the Boeing 777 or V-22 Osprey. Our job now and over the next 12 months is to get the traveling public ready for a drastic change in how they fly.
Penguin Airlines will operate an air taxi service that will cost about the same as a first-class or full-fare coach seat on an airline. This type of operation differs from an airline in that each flight we make is point-to-point and custom for each customer. We use only smaller general aviation airports that may be within minutes of your home and your final destination (not just the closest city with airline service!). Most often, you only need to arrive a few minutes before your departure and you can park for free within a few steps of the aircraft. Once everyone is on-board, the aircraft can be in the air within about 5 to 8 minutes and on the way to your destination.
The aircraft is a 6-seat, twin-engined business jet with luxurious leather seats, plenty of legroom, and ample room to work or just relax. We aim to make flying relaxing, enjoyable, and more productive. You spend much less time on either end of your trip and fly direct to the cities that you need.
The reservations process will be hassle-free and convenient. Travelers will simply log on to our site and type in their desired departure and destination information. The system will determine aircraft availability and reserve your flight. If you want to talk with an actual human being, you can call any of our Flight Directors and they can help you with almost any travel-related request. Once you're on your trip, our flight crews are available to assist you directly with any requests you may have.
DesktopLinux.com: You mentioned that private jets aren't just for CEOs anymore. Can you explain how Penguin Airlines approach to flying works and expand on your grass roots marketing efforts?
Penguin Airlines: I would, in fact, like to do a grass-roots marketing campaign as long as I can. This interview, for one, is a great way to get our message out about Linux, air taxi services, and the open-source movement. Our website offers a web seminar to explain the benefits of air taxi operations and I hope to add a few more before the end of the year. Our mission this year is education and awareness about our business because most people haven't considered private air travel before now. I've heard many times that only CEOs can afford to travel like that, and as things sit today, a few hours in a LearJet will cost you about $8,000. The Eclipse, however, is a small and efficient aircraft that makes flying only two or three people at a time economically feasible. When supported by efficient business processes, the price for a seat on this jet drops to a reasonable level for most travelers.
A grass-roots campaign like this one can materialize in many forms. Right now, I moderate a forum on iPilot.com where general aviation pilots share open seats with other pilots headed to the same destination. I hope to support local airport committees with seminars and presentations since at least one airport is closed each day in the United States. We try to show City managers that with a service like the one we provide, their airport provides a significant amount of value to the community. Without it, their citizens must bend to the airlines demands. I'm open for suggestions as well. How might Penguin Airlines benefit your community, company, sports team, or family vacation??
DesktopLinux.com: What are your current launch plans?
Penguin Airlines: We will likely operate our first
aircraft out of the Denton, Texas airport just north of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Denton has a nice little facility with the small-town atmosphere that my wife and I love. There's plenty of room to grow and the prices are reasonable, yet it's close enough to serve any customer in the metroplex within a few minutes. Texas has several large cities that we plan to operate from as we add aircraft: Austin, Houston, and even the east side of Dallas were the technology businesses reside. After that, we're going to try to pick the best cities for further expansion based on airport facilities and amounts of travel into and out of each region.
DesktopLinux.com: Are we going to see Tux up in the sky - perhaps Tux on the side of a Penguin Airlines plane?
Penguin Airlines: I'd love to put Tux on airplanes and that just might happen. We will fly Tux on the tail of our demonstration aircraft almost immediately. Also, I have one of those stuffed Tux penguins from ThinkGeek sitting on top of my monitor. A few months back, I thought about giving some of those away to kids that fly with us for the first time.
DesktopLinux.com: Thanks for your time Chris and we wish you luck in your new venture.
Penguin Airlines: Thanks very much for having us and for the opportunity to tell our story.
I have one last thing for everybody to think about: The next time you fly somewhere, set your watch to record the time it takes you to go from your doorstep to your actual destination. Divide the miles you traveled by that time on your watch and you will have your average speed during the trip. Scary thought, isn't it??
Mr. Stevens is an eight-year veteran of the Linux movement and founder of Penguin Airlines in Fort Worth, Texas. This revolutionary air taxi service, named in honor of everybody's favorite bird, is built from the ground up on Linux and open-source technology. You can reach Penguin Airlines via the web.
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