Cool new ‘air shuttle’ may soon fly you around the Jersey Shore (Opinion)

When you think of where great advances in aviation are born, Atlantic City is probably not one of the first places that come to mind. In fact you may not even think of it at all. But you should.

According to an article on NJ.com, about the time that Atlantic City was at one of its lowest points, when casinos were dropping like flies, Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson dreamed up the idea of the Aviation Innovation Hub — a nearly 8-square-mile area that includes the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration’s William J. Hughes Tech Center and the National Aviation Research and Tech Park. The idea was to encourage the aviation industry to bring its technology to south Jersey. And it worked.

Today, the hub is bustling and has already attracted many companies in the aviation sector, including Elevate Jet, a prominent charter airline service, Thunderbolt Software and General Dynamics Information Technology. The buzz that the aviation hub has created has also spurred some creative and truly forward-thinking concepts.

The FAA is now conducting a study on the feasibility of an “air jitney,” a Jetsons-like electric propelled vehicle that could potentially replace taxis, Uber and good old road-driven automobiles for short hops around the shore. The article goes on to explain that the jitney, or UAM (urban air mobility) vehicle, could potentially utilize the adjacent Atlantic City Airport as its home base, and then drop passengers at different points of interest around the area.

Imagine a night out in Atlantic City, flitting from place to place through the air. Sounds like a magical night out, not to mention a much-needed boost for Atlantic City tourism. The rebirth of the town is well underway, and the air-jitney could legitimately turn Atlantic City and the surrounding area back into a world-class destination.

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