Surf Air

Surf Air
IATA
None		 ICAO
URF		 Callsign
SURFAIR
Founded 2013
Commenced operations June 13, 2013
Focus cities
Fleet size 4
Destinations 5
Headquarters Santa Monica, California, USA
Key people
  • Jeff Potter (CEO)
  • Sudhin Shahani (executive chairman)
  • Jim Sullivan (senior VP of operations)
  • Wade Eyerly (Founder)
  • David Eyerly (Founder)
  • Reed Farnsworth (Founder)
  • Scott Porter (Founder)
  • Cory Cozzens (Founder)
Website surfair.com
Previous logo

Surf Air is a California-based airline that offers unlimited flights (billed as "all-you-can-fly") for a fixed monthly fee.[1] It charges $1,750 per month plus a $1000 signup fee.[2] The company uses single-engine turboprop Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.[3] Jeff Potter is the CEO.[4]

The airline's inaugural service in early 2013 offered West Coast flights between Silicon Valley (San Carlos Airport) and the Los Angeles area (Burbank Airport). In July 2013, it added L.A.-area service to Santa Barbara Airport as well.[5][6]

In December 2013, Surf Air added service to a second Los Angeles stop, Hawthorne Municipal Airport, which is adjacent to LAX.[7] In May 2014, Truckee Airport, near Lake Tahoe, was added as a destination.[8] The airline also offers weekend flights to Las Vegas (McCarran International Airport) from its Los Angeles destinations[9] through a partnership with other airlines.[10]

Flights to Carlsbad, California and Oakland, California are slated to begin, respectively, on November 18 and December 15, 2014, upon receipt of three new airplanes.[11] This will push Surf Air's capacity up from 28 to 48 flights per day as of November 2014.[2] The company says it plans to expand service to the California cities of Santa Ana, Sacramento, San Diego, Monterey, Palm Springs, Sonoma, Mammoth Lakes, San Jose, Bakersfield, San Luis Obispo and Scottsdale.[3]

History

The company was founded by David Eyerly, Wade Eyerly, Scott Porter, Cory Cozzens and Reed Farnsworth. Surf Air emerged in 2012 from MuckerLab,[12] a Los Angeles-based business incubator.[6] Angel investors included Paige Craig, Aviv Grill and Bill Woodward. A Series A round of venture capital was completed in June of 2013 with investment from Anthem Venture Partners, NEA, TriplePoint Capital, Siemer Ventures, Baroda Ventures, Gilad Elbaz, Eytan Elbaz, Rick Caruso, Jeffrey Stibel, Mike Walsh, and actor Jared Leto.[13][4] The company has raised at least $9 million from investors, including $500,000 from VegasTechFund (a venture capital fund launched by Tony Hsieh), Velos Partners, and Base Ventures.[14]

In August 2014, Surf Air raised $8 million in new equity funding and secured a $65 million loan to place a five-year order for 15 new Pilatus PC-12 planes, with an option to buy 50 more over that timespan. Three are slated for delivery in late 2014 with nine more in 2015.[11][15]

In February 2014, Wade Eyerly stepped down as CEO and was replaced by former Frontier Airlines CEO Jeff Potter. At the time, the company had about 430 members.[4] According to Barron's, "thousands" are on a waiting list to join Surf Air, but membership "has been limited to avoid system overload".[16]

The city of Atherton, California has complained to the Federal Aviation Administration about noise from the planes flying at low altitude near San Carlos Airport. Pending regulatory approval, Surf Air has reportedly agreed to a different flight path at higher altitude over populated areas near Atherton, Menlo Park, and North Fair Oaks, and has agreed to deploy landing gear closer to the airport.[17]

Fleet

A Pilatus PC-12 of Surf Air at San Carlos Airport (December 2014)

As of February 2015, the Surf Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Surf Air fleet
Aircraft Active Orders Passengers Notes
Pilatus PC-12 7 12+50[18] 7 N805SA, N806SA, N807SA, N809SA, N816SA, N817SA, N819SA

Orders are NG version, 15 orders and 50 options.

References

  1. ↑ Zabala, Liberty. "All-You-Can-Fly Private Air Service Launches From Central Coast - KCOY Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo - News". Kcoy.com. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Surf Air How It Works". Surf Air. Retrieved Nov 6, 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Surf Air:In-Flight Experience". Surf Air. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Ryan Lawler (February 27, 2014). "Surf Air Founder Wade Eyerly Steps Down, Replaced By Former Frontier Airlines CEO Jeff Potter". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  5. ↑ Samantha Grossman (June 17, 2013). "Flat-Rate Flying: Introducing Surf Air, the All-You-Can-Fly Airline". Time.com. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Natalie Jarvey (2013-07-10). "Surf Air Takes Off for Santa Barbara | Los Angeles Business Journal". Labusinessjournal.com. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  7. ↑ Brian Sumers (December 3, 2013). "Surf Air, the 'all you can fly' airline, comes to Hawthorne Airport near LAX". Inside SoCal. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Surf Air Schedule". Surf Air. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  9. ↑ Eli Segall (February 26, 2014). "Tony Hsieh-backed startup airline adding Las Vegas flights". Vegas Inc. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Surf Air Destinations:Las Vegas". Surf Air. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Surf Air expands service to Carlsbad and Oakland with delivery of new Pilatus PC-12NG aircraft". Surf Air. October 4, 2014. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  12. ↑ Billy Witz (August 5, 2013). "All-You-Can-Fly Airline Plies the California Coast". New York Times. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  13. ↑ Sarah Perez (June 6, 2013). "Members-Only Airline Surf Air Raises Series A From Anthem, NEA & Others (Including Jared Leto)". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
  14. ↑ Dean Takahashi (November 12, 2013). "Surf Air aims to disrupt the big airlines with an executive membership service". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Surf Air places order for largest Pilatus PC-12 fleet with 64 new aircraft, raises $73 million in new funding". Surf Air. August 7, 2014. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  16. ↑ James Wynbrandt (May 17, 2014). "Private Jet Travel: Flight Clubs". Barron's. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  17. ↑ Barbara Wood (May 27, 2014). "Atherton urges Surf Air to fly at higher altitudes". The Almanac. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  18. ↑ "California's Surf Air orders 15+50 Pilatus PC-12NGs". ch-aviation.com. Retrieved 2014-08-12.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Surf Air.