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Called Open Air, the 10-employee company is the only one of its kind based in Maryland, said Klein, the COO and one of four partners.

‘‘It took me two hours just to get here from Northern Virginia,” Klein, 36, said this week in the pilot’s lounge of the airpark’s main offices. ‘‘I think there is a real need for this kind of service in this area.”

Open Air differs from private charter companies in that customers don’t pay for the aircraft to be flown to meet them or to fly back to the starting point, thus cutting prices, he said. Fares range from $440 to $595 per flight hour, depending on whether hours are purchased in blocks. That can include up to three people who can split the fare.

‘‘That’s a lot better than what is charged by charters,” Klein said.

For example, a roughly one-hour flight from Gaithersburg to Ocean City for three passengers in a Turboprop aircraft reserved through Salem, N.H., charter company Air Planning would cost from $4,354 to $5,950, according to its online reservation system.

The four-seat $480,000 Cirrus SR22 single-engine aircraft that Open Air uses is as comfortable as most any charter craft with leather seats, satellite radio and headsets, he said. There are also safety features such as a parachute system that deploys a 55-foot parachute to land the plane in an emergency, Klein said.

The company has transported some 20 clients in its first month to destinations such as Ocean City, Ithaca, N.Y., and Huntsville, Ala. The service area extends from Boston to South Carolina and as far west as Cincinnati.

SATSair, a Greenville, S.C., air-taxi company that began in 2004 and operates in a service area that includes Maryland, was the first one to get into the air taxi industry, said David Whitmore, publisher of the Air Taxi World Internet site, which tracks the business. A few companies have followed and seem to be doing well, he said.

‘‘I expect more companies to get in this business as the idea catches on,” said Whitmore, president of DRW, a computer programming services firm in Trenton, N.J. ‘‘The question is: Will they be profitable?”

SATSair has grown from eight employees to 75 in about two years, said Wendi Hill, a SATSair spokeswoman. The company transports between 1,200 and 1,500 passengers a month with 26 Cirrus SR22s and recently ordered 40 more planes, she said.

Point2Point Airways of Bismarck, N.D., partnered with NASA and other federal agencies in developing a ‘‘next-generation air service” that began service more than a year ago, according to company information.

Capable of reaching airports and destinations such as airstrips in suburban subdivisions closed to scheduled airlines, the potential for Open Air is enormous, said James Cooper, a partner who oversees sales and dispatch operations.

‘‘There are some 600 regional airports within about 400 miles of the D.C. area,” said Cooper, 37, a Fallston resident who was a yacht captain before an accident in a Middle Eastern elevator severely injured his leg two years ago. ‘‘We eliminate waiting in long security lines” — although passengers are screened — ‘‘and waiting to take off. Clients can park free at the [Gaithersburg] airpark and within minutes be flying to a meeting or wherever they need to go. ... We’re really more of an air limousine company.”

Open Air’s six pilots are commercial-rated veterans, said Klein, who has a commercial license himself. General Counsel Gregory S. Winton is a former FAA and U.S. Department of Justice attorney, as well as a pilot and certified flight instructor.

The company owns one SR22 and leases another, with plans to add more.

‘‘We see this as the beginning of a new way of travel,” Klein said. ‘‘Our goal is to make the corporate jet and charter air travel affordable for the average business person.”