Penguin Airlines

An anonymous reader writes "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." They wrote an essay about their business plans, and their heavily computerized jets look nifty as well. CD:Those interested in the aviation side of things should check out James Fallows book "Free Flight" as well.

Re:This is a joke right?

[sphealey]

This doesn't sound like a real company. What on earth does Linux specifically have to do with any airline? It's just an OS. This is just really weird that someone would associate an OS with creating an airline. It would be like a McDonald's run off of Microsoft Windows.

Flying "butts" (technical airline term) from place to place is only about 1/3 of what an airline does. That task is also heavily regulated (not much room for creativity) and hard to differentiate from competitors (these guys have started down a somewhat unique path, but it can be duplicated).

So - operations and service are where airlines distinguish themselves, and make their money. Some years ago (when they were actually turning a profit) I was at a presentation concerning United Airlines' IS Dept. They had 40 guys with PhD's in Operations Research alone working on their scheduling and fare algorithms.

So, the efficiency of services and how they are presented to the customer can indeed make the difference.

Whether or not this is legit is another question!

sPh

How about inflight email?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if they'll offer inflight email?

Hopefully they'll use Tenzing's [tenzing.com] inflight system, since it uses Linux in the air to manage all the air-based proxying for email.

I've used the system, it's really user-friendly and works very well.

This is perfect

[Anonymous Coward]

This guy is trying to break into the CEO lear jet world. They're offering general aviation flights (which means they can pick you up and drop you off practically anywhere there's 200 yards of pavement) that are high-class. Now that's generally an expensive proposition, and they have a tough market to break into. A lear jet costs about $8000 (according to the article) for a flight. These guys are trying to do the same thing for much much less and linux is really helping them do it. Linux is allowing the little guys to break into the market and offer an affordable solution. That's supposed to be the beauty of it all, right?