Oh. My. GOD. This has been a long time coming.
What would you say if I told you that you could have an unlimited number of flights on a private jet between a handful of airports in your state for just $1,000 per month? Before you answer, what if I told you that you'd never have to deal with a ticket line or getting felt up by some TSA fuckwit after waiting an hour in a security line? What if I told you that you could tool right up to the plane in your limo like a rock star?
That's exactly what Surf Air is offering. And make no mistake: this is an absolute GAME CHANGER in the world of air travel. The company just completed a Series A round with some very big names and plans to open service to California this summer.
As always, the beauty and elegance of the idea lies in its simplicity. By charging for memberships instead of individual tickets the airline falls into charter service, which means it can operate out of any airport or airfield. In other words, you can forget about crowds of peasants when you fly Surf Air because they're flying out of the local airfields that are often 10 times cheaper to fly from. No more crowded airports.
And they picked the right equipment as well. They plan to build a fleet of Pilatus PC-12NG turboprops. This aircraft is probably the most cost effective jet you can put in the sky. Is it a little slower than a straight ram-air jet? Yeah, but the maximum flight time is only 84 minutes, so who cares? The beauty is that it only costs $330 per flight hour to run one of these things (exclusive of pilot - but those poor bastards are so plentiful these days they're basically working for minimum wage).
Here's a look at the interior for their planned fleet:
Looks pretty sweet to me.
The inaugural routes are between Palo Alto (natch), and Los Angeles, with service to Pebble Beach and Santa Barbara. Early expansion routes are planned to Las Vegas, Palm Springs, San Diego, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe and Napa. They know their target audience.
And in case you're wondering what to do with with the wife/mistress? As a member, you're allowed free buddy passes up to three times per year for the same person. So if you've got four ladies in your rotation, you can put one of them in a seat beside you each month.
So what do you think? Is this the future of upper-middle class air travel? As someone who has given serious thought to laying out $120,000 for a Marquis Jet card, this definitely sounds like a better option. Would you pay $1,000 a month for unlimited air travel within, say, 500 miles of your home?
So, how do they deal with the safety concerns then? I know the plane is relatively small and probably can't do 9/11-esque damages, but its still a plane in the air with passengers who haven't been screened. Is it normal for other private jets to fly without any safety check in at all?
You can't fly if you're not a member, and all members are pre-screened to TSA standards. If you're flying someone on a buddy pass, they have to get screened before the flight.
And to answer your other question, yes it's completely normal for private air traffic to operate without any screening. That's how that dickhead flew his Cessna into the IRS building in Austin a couple years ago.
If by dickhead you mean American hero.
Yes, it's normal. In private aviation it's basically considered that if you're spending the large sum of money to own the plain then you don't want to do anything with it either. However, some european airports (particularly France) still make you go through TSA-like security to take private flights. Never seen security scans for private flights anywhere in the US though.
Regarding the company -- I like this a lot. Will have to see how it expands and if they hit regulation snags in different states. I'm interested in Midwest/Eastcoast
This is definetly an awesome concept, especially in larger states like California. This would KILL in Florida though. What I would give to be able to hop on one of these from Miami to Palm beach or even Orlando and back. Or say across the state so I would never ever have to drive through the everglades again... That'd be awesome. This is far more attractive, in my opinion, than jumping on a train or something of that sort. Even if I only used it a few times a month (probably what they are betting on I'd guess) it would still be worth it just because I don't have to deal with lines or any of that crap. Hell, even in my area i'd kill for this as there are multiple small airports around and DC and NY would be right in the cross hairs. Sign me up.
This would never work in DC NY area, the air traffic here is some of the worst in the world. And this would only add to the congestion. You are much better off taking the train anywhere. But in FL or CA this could most certainly thrive.
Yeah, that's probably true. I was more dreaming because i'm in a pretty rural area and it'd be awesome to have it. But then again if trains barely come here why would this. Haha.
1.) Eddie, this also means that you are driving off to Middleton or Stewart to take your flights rather than LGA.
2.) On $330/hour, you're leaving out maintenance, which tends to be the biggest expense on airplanes. The rental cost on a Cessna alone is ~ $150/hour. I'm pretty sure a private jet costs $1000/hour to operate. But if you fly 7x/month inside of California, this sounds like a decent deal.
For me, upper-middle class travel means you travel three times per year, check your bags with the skycap, fly economy plus, are part of TSA's vetted traveller program, and grab a glass or two of wine during the flight while listening to ITunes.
From the Manual -
Maintenance Labor – Based on 0.68 man-hours per flight hour at labor rate of $84.00 per manhour. Includes routine scheduled, unscheduled and on-condition maintenance labor for airframe and avionics: $57.46/flight hr. hh Maintenance Parts – Includes airframe, avionics and minor engine consumable parts required for routine scheduled, unscheduled and on-condition maintenance: $67.25/flight hr. hh Propeller Overhaul – Includes both parts and labor required for overhaul, including the cost of any life-limited parts: $2.99/flight hr. hh Engine Restoration – Based on 2008 Jet Support Services Incorporated Complete: $122.99/flight hr. hh Total of maintenance labor, parts, propeller and engine accrual is $250.69/flight hr.
$250 per flight hour plus fuel. $330/ hour may be slightly aggressive, but not totally unreasonable.
Oh and to depart from this exact topic if any of you are looking for a little more fun up in the air check this out. I got to see them when a friends firm invested in Icon.
ICON a5 Sport Plane that can store in your garage -
http://www.iconaircraft.com/
http://www.iconaircraft.com/icon-a5-video.html
I like this idea more than high speed rail. But, if it is in-state, where does the demand come from?
Who makes frequent trips from SF to LA/OC/San Diego? Although there are few trips I hate more than driving down I-5 in the central valley, I don't know anybody who makes that trip frequently. I guess you could live in southern CA, then commute once a week to SF for work?
oops
@WCR I knew a chick who lived in Fremont but worked in Calabasas, so she'd probably be first in line. I imagine there is a good deal of frequent travel between Silicon Valley and L.A. You throw Vegas and Napa and Tahoe into the mix and you've got yourself a viable little airline.
Yeah, I know a few people in this position too. I imagine with this, every employee at CALPERS iooking at property in southern CA. The Vegas thing is a good idea. I know a lot of guys in LA would go to Vegas every weekend if it didn't mean deciding between a 3 hour drive or a 45 minute flight and 2 hours of waiting.
doubleposted
Could see big potential for this in the UK, we have the perfect storm of shite trains and a small country with incredibly busy airlines!!
take my money now. just take it.
so sick. wish distance was a little longer.
Cool idea, whenever I see something about small airlines I struggle to not make a Wall Street joke, ha.
I actually thought about a VERY similar idea. I've been interested in Aviation for a little while now, but when I saw Tropic Air in Belize I realized that they were just an air shuttle to and from 4-5 landing strips. Their business is helped tremendously by tourists, but it's just an air taxi for the locals.
I just don't think this would work in the Chicago area though. What 5-6 places would they fly within the midwest that there would be enough demand for this? Also, which private airport would they fly out of?
Eddie, what is their minimum subscription length? I'd love to take a summer and buy a 3 month membership, but I'm sure that the monthly fee would need to increase in order for them to be profitable or at least a 12 month minimum membership/
And to whoever asked about screening - that doesn't really happen at the small airports. I took a flight lesson and we just walked out to the plane and took off. That's probably common at 70% of the airports in this country (obviously the smaller, non commercial airports). One of the biggest pluses for me in considering a pilots license is that I can go from couch to airplane in ~10 minutes.
I think in the long-run, regional travel (
How is orange county left out of this initial run / expansion test?
IP, for California that could be 20 years down the road. But oh how I wish they could do so.
7 minute cab ride to Penn Station->2.5 hours to Union Station in DC. Less brain damage than heading out to Newark, let alone Teterboro, Westchester, or Caldwell.
It appeals to a market that doesn't really exist. Most people wealthy enough to timeshare or own a private plane would not fall into this market because these people don't want to ride around the skies with some middle manager from XYZ company. If an FBO knew that they were going to see hordes of middle-class people coming through their terminal, then they would just refuse to service this new company. Then the new company would have to build their own facilities.
There are two very specific people who work out of FBOs: wealthy people who can afford or need a private plane, and not-so-wealthy people who are there to learn how to fly.
You can't change the world with a plane that can fly for 5 hours at a speed 3 times what you do on the highway.
If I were paying 1K a month, I would make sure I fly somewhere at least twice a month, whether or not I need to go anywhere. Sounds like a dumb business model.
^^^Apparently they're still losing money: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/chicago-million-miler-united-airlines-im…
I think AirTran or a similar carrier sold all you can fly 30 day passes a year or two ago. They were pretty pricey and only made financial sense if you were flying 10+ times within a month.
Nvm. It was JetBlue
http://www.mainstreet.com/article/lifestyle/travel/jetblues-all-you-can…
F*cking awesome. Michigan needs this
"This aircraft is probably the most cost effective jet you can put in the sky. Is it a little slower than a straight ram-air jet?"
Not to be an aviation nerd, but this airfraft is not a "jet", it is most likely a turboprop.
And when you refer to "ram air jet" you probably mean a turbofan/fanjet.
Save the "ram air" term for pontiac trans ams!
I actually am an aviation nerd, with an A&P license and a turbojet flight engineer ticket. I wrote it the way I did because I realize most people aren't and I tried to make it as understandable as possible.
The Pilatus is a turbo-prop, powered by a PT-6 (probably the most reliable jet engine in the world), so it's a jet in my book.
I fly almost every week between Singapore and Jakarta (560 miles of distance) on Singapore Airlines business class, with each round trip costing about US$1,250-US$1,500 (i think). So, if i made 3 round trips to Jakarta every month, it would certainly be worth spending US$1,000 a month for this.
The distance from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur is only 190 miles, so that would be a nice target as well.
This is the next concorde.... May not be commercial but just think exclusive destination and such.
Just like everything else, this won't last because of rising fuel cost, increased demand, and the most important reason.
Mark Zuckerberg is creating teleportation capabilities.
You heard it first here!
So you're assertion is that it won't work because: - increasing fuel costs - Right now that is not true. Oil has dropped over 20% in the last 2 months and depending on certain factors is likely to stay off the all-time lows - increasing demand - I'm not sure how this would be a bad thing
When everyone does it...won't be exclusive so its not special. So the big$$$ will find the next thing.
You didn't hit on the Zuckerberg Transportation part though
Dude, could you imagine that Friday night leg from L.A. to Vegas every week? That'd be one rockin' flight. You know at least one passenger each week would have a hot stripper on a buddy pass.
It wouldn't work without some sort of limit on # of flights or cancellation policy. What's to stop someone from bookings flights every day of the year and only showing up to ones he/she feels like?
That said, $1000 a month seems cheap but ~$250 a week doesn't. The company could be profitable on the sole basis that it reduces the times spent waiting in line at security.
You are limited to 6 reservations at a time.
I think it's a great idea for businesses, consultants, VCs and anyone that travels at least twice a month. One of my friends is a consultant that travels from SF to LA every week sometimes multiple times a week.
Too bad by the time they launch I would've relocated to Asia.
american still does this and sells passes. but air travel is not profitable and on the east coast cape air and the like are the same thing with an a la carte pricing model and using commercial infrastructure
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