In the New York Times today, workhorse Joe Sharkey stirs up the effluent by pitting coy newcomer Magnum Jet against the often-quoted, never-flown DayJet. Both air taxi outfits focus on a single very light jet (VLJ) model. For DayJet, it’s the heralded Eclipse 500; for Magnum, it’s the lesser-known Adam A700. Accordingly, the jockeying tends to be more about the planes than the air taxi service. Sharkey calls this “the battle of the bathrooms:” the Adam A700 has ‘em, DayJet’s Eclipses don’t. (Eclipse Aviation does offer a lavatory as an option). Neither plane has shipped yet. Eclipse celebrated it’s “provisional certification” last month, but we’ve since learned that the term means “not yet certified,” as far as being allowed to deliver planes goes.

Regarding the bathroom squabble, Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn points out that most flights are only 40 to 80 minutes. “Lots of people commute by car that long and don’t have to stop.” Given the cramped quarters of VLJs, those few passengers who need to go might prefer to hold it in rather than share the drama with their cabin-mates. Still, we all know of critical times when it’s nice to have that option…

The second differentiator is business model. DayJet sells true air taxi service in per-seat, per-flight pricing. Magnum prefers the term “air limousine” for itself, as it rents out the entire plane to a single customer along select city-pair routes. It’s not quite air taxi; not quite charter. Tarter? Chaxi?

The final differentiator is rollout style. In the Times article, Magnum Air CEO Jim Burns explains why we’ve not heard of them yet, despite their ambition. His response could be taken as a swipe at DayJet’s press-releases-issued-to-planes-flown ratio: “We wanted to make sure the planes were available before we started talking.”

It’s not so much Cinderalla vs the evil stepsisters -- the companies are more similar than they are different. It’s more Nikki Hilton vs Paris Hilton. Both companies are lowering the bar to private aviation with exciting new jets. Both are expected to introduce countless companies and individuals to private aviation, many of whom will upgrade to jet cards and fractional ownership. And both are aggressively subsidizing the birth of the VLJ industry. But until someone actually gets a plane in the air, it’s merely a spectator sport.