Prior to Indigo the only business-jet service available to consumers consisted of jet ownership or charter, both expensive alternatives to regular airline travel.
Indigo's initial fleet consisted of four French-built Dassault Falcon 20 jets, fitted with leather seats, a galley, private bathroom and laptop power outlets.
Indigo was the first business jet commercial operator to receive an additional DOT fitness approval and was granted a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity.
[citation needed] Other parties including Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) proposed to Department of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta that Indigo's public charter flights required certain security services of the Teterboro Airport, part of a group of New York City metro airports operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which it was not equipped to provide.
In 2005 the Netjets company, backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, announced its intention to begin scheduled business jet service between Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.
Other companies entering the market include Geneva, Switzerland based Club Airways, started by World Economic Forum founders the Schwab family.
Several North Atlantic services also directly applied the concept of a commercial corporate jet but in larger traditional airline aircraft and included MAXjet, Fly First Class, Eos and Silverjet.
The original Indigo White Paper was titled "Redesigning the Traditional Airline Model" and published in the Spring 2000 edition of Institutional Investor's Journal of Private Equity.