Membership Airline Surf Air To Open European Service

Surf Air, the membership-based airline launched in Santa Monica in 2013, is bringing its shared private jet service to Europe. Starting in October, members, who are mostly business flyers can fly between London, Zurich, Geneva, Cannes and Dublin, with future expansion expected to include Paris, Ibiza and Berlin.

For a cost of $3,200, Europeans can enjoy as many flights per month as they need, along with additional benefits including 30-second booking, no-hassle checking in, and, most importantly, the convenience of being able to arrive only 15 minutes before departure. (All members are pre-screened when they purchase memberships.)  Europeans will finally be able to buy into the Surf Air exclusive frequent flyer model, which already has a devoted following in California.

Surf Air Mobile Dashboard | Credit: surfair.com/us

Surf Air began by connecting Southern California and Silicon Valley, but it quickly grew to serve 13 West Coast locations, including Burbank, Hawthorne, San Carlos, Napa Valley, Truckee/Lake Tahoe, San Jose and Las Vegas. With 3,000 members to date, Surf Air operates 90 back-to-back flight schedules per day using its fleet of twelve Pilatus PC-12s — eight-seat, single-engine turboprop passenger airplanes that are bespoke designed with spacious leather seats.

Surf Air’s California users pay $1,950 per month, along with a $1,000 sign-up fee. Members can fly as many times per month as they choose and seats are usually available. Unlike many other small jet services, Surf Air actually owns its own airplanes, which gives the airline complete control over both scheduling and membership rules.

For people who travel constantly, the airline provides members with brief, much-needed moments of civility at the end of long workdays. Surf Air also offers its clientele an inside line to other high-profile frequent flyers. In fact, flying with Surf Air can be incredibly time-efficient: The average California flyer saves roughly five hours per round trip by avoiding airport parking, lines and TSA requirements. It can make regular traveling from one end of the state to the other like a daily commute.

Jeff Potter, former president of Frontier Airlines, is currently Surf Air’s CEO. According to Crunchbase, the company has raised $18.5M to date from five financing rounds, including investments from actor Jared Leto and billionaire real estate tycoon Rick Caruso.