Imagine traveling anywhere in the world without the hassles of long delays, flight cancellations or inconvenient layovers. George Khairallah and Michael Thomas, seasoned technology and travel service experts, have created a revolutionary way to fly that taps into thousands of underused airports in the U.S.

The result? JetCombo.com, a concept that allows travelers to combine both commercial and private jet services and land within miles of their final destination. Each year, over 450 million passengers fly through 30 airports in the United States. JetCombo redistributes air traffic to the other 5,400 public airports in the country  - so that travellers can fly to all rural areas.

Today, we speak with co-founder George Khairallah to learn more about his brainchild.

E.J: I must say, JetCombo is a terrific concept - being able to fly the long hauls non-stop with an airline, before booking a private plane for the remaining distance to reach your final destination. When and how did you come up with the idea?

G.K: My love for aviation and affinity for technology inspired me to start BusinessJet Class in 2004 and its subsequent retail website, JetCombo.com in 2008. My business partner Michael Thomas and I combined our expertise in a shared vision that opens air travel to all rural areas, providing the convenience of virtual door-to-door service. JetCombo.com, the first and only web site that allows travelers to combine a private flight and an airline flight in a single itinerary, is the first building block towards realizing this vision.

E.J: How has the response been so far?

G.K: We have seen a tremendous response thus far. Over the past three months, web traffic has grown by approximately 470%. Our call volume has also increased by a similar ratio.

E.J: Where are your costumers based?

G.K: Our customers are based throughout the US and internationally.

E.J: What are the advantages of joining JetCombo’s membership program?

G.K: This is a comprehensive program designed for the next generation traveler whose focus is on a triple bottom line:

• The economic focus is in the significant savings even on economy fares; savings that will be difficult to find anywhere else.
• The social focus is on saving precious time to spend with your family and your community instead of airport lounges and airline delays. Executives who fly exclusively private save up to 1 month a year on time otherwise lost. Passengers who combine airline flights with private flights frequently cut their travel time by half, even when they fly the less expensive piston aircraft.
• The environmental focus is our unique strategy to calculate the carbon emissions for every flight you book on JetCombo.com and give you the option to fund existing technologies that soak up or compensate for your flight’s unavoidable emissions.

E.J: If a traveler would like to fly internationally, from Europe to the U.S., can you explain how he or she would make the booking with JetCombo?

G.K: Users simply enter their search criteria - the city name of their true departure and destination points, arrival and departure times, etc. - and Jetcombo.com delivers the most efficient route. Mining a database of aircrafts and operators, including thousands of small jets and hundreds of small props capable of serving rural areas with small airports, JetCombo.com combines private and first-class commercial jet service in a single itinerary.

E.J: What are your views on the environmental concerns many people have when flying?

G.K: With a nod to environmental efficiency, JetCombo.com is the only online booking service to display the carbon emissions for Business and First Class options. Customers also have the unique option to purchase carbon credits to make their flight “carbon neutral.” JetCombo.com also offers users the option to offset the unavoidable emissions caused by their flights by contributing to projects that reduce an equivalent amount of pollution. At http://nextgen.jetcombo.com, JetCombo.com provides an open platform for users to discuss and debate current issues in the aviation community, as well as access the most recent aviation news and statistics.

E.J: With such a great concept, do you believe other companies will follow in your footsteps?

G.K: Similar to cell phones, which originally were a luxury option priced at thousands of dollars, this new concept in travel is following a trajectory from the exclusive to the commonplace. The fact is that 98 percent of the population lives within twenty miles of an airport.

Editor’s Note: For more information, visit JetCombo.com.