Surf Air

Surf Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
None URF SURFAIR
Founded 2013 (2013)
Commenced operations June 13, 2013 (2013-06-13)
Focus cities
Fleet size 12
Destinations 12
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)
  • Peter Bi (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. It charges $1,950 per month plus a $1,000 signup fee.[1] The company uses single-engine turboprop Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.[2] Jeff Potter is the CEO.[3]

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). It added Los Angeles area service to Santa Barbara Airport in July 2013[4][5] and Hawthorne Municipal Airport in December 2013. Truckee Airport, near Lake Tahoe, was added as a destination in May 2014[6] and flights to Carlsbad and Oakland, California began in late 2014.[7] Service to San Jose International Airport was added in April 2016.[8]

According to its website, as of April 2016, the company services the California cities of Burbank, Carlsbad, Hawthorne, Monterey, Oakland, Napa, Palm Springs, Sacramento, San Carlos, San Jose, Santa Barbara, and Truckee. Surf Air does not operate outside California, but arranges flights to Las Vegas (McCarran International Airport) from Hawthorne Municipal Airport through a FAA/DOT certificated air carrier.[9]

History

The company was founded by David Eyerly, Wade Eyerly, Peter Bi, Scott Porter, Cory Cozzens and Reed Farnsworth. Surf Air emerged in 2012 from MuckerLab,[10] a Los Angeles-based business incubator.[5] Angel investors included Paige Craig, Aviv Grill and Bill Woodward. A Series A round of venture capital was completed in June 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.[11][3] 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.[12]

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.[13]

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.[3] Wade Eyerly, Cory Cozzens and Reed Farnsworth formed Beacon Air in 2015[14] but shut it down in 2016.[15]

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.[16]

Surf Air announced the sale of its 2,000th membership in September 2015 and 2,500th in December 2015.[17] [18]

In May 2016, Surf Air received 2 additional aircraft phasing out their older legacy PC-12s. [19]

Fleet

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

As of June 2016, the Surf Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Surf Air fleet
Aircraft Active Orders Passengers Notes
Pilatus PC-12 NG 12 15+50[20] 8 N809SA, N816SA, N817SA, N819SA, N821SA, N824SA, N828SA, N829SA, N849SA, N850SA, N853SA, N874SA

Orders are NG version, 15 orders and 50 options.

References

  1. ↑ "Surf Air How It Works". Surf Air. Retrieved Jan 12, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Surf Air:In-Flight Experience". Surf Air. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 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.
  4. ↑ Samantha Grossman (June 17, 2013). "Flat-Rate Flying: Introducing Surf Air, the All-You-Can-Fly Airline". Time.com. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  5. 1 2 Natalie Jarvey (2013-07-10). "Surf Air Takes Off for Santa Barbara | Los Angeles Business Journal". Labusinessjournal.com. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  6. ↑ "Surf Air expands flight service to Truckee | TahoeDailyTribune.com". Tahoe Daily Tribune. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  7. ↑ "Surf Air Expands Service to Carlsbad and Oakland with Delivery of New Pilatus PC-12NG Aircraft | Business Wire". www.businesswire.com. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  8. ↑ "Surf Air expands flight service to San Jose | SurfAir.com". Surf Air Blog. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  9. ↑ "Surf Air Destinations:Las Vegas". Surf Air. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  10. ↑ Billy Witz (August 5, 2013). "All-You-Can-Fly Airline Plies the California Coast". New York Times. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ Dean Takahashi (November 12, 2013). "Surf Air aims to disrupt the big airlines with an executive membership service". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  13. ↑ "'All-You-Can-Fly' Surf Air gets $73 million for more planes & destinations". Built In Los Angeles. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  14. ↑ Sarah Buhr (Feb 10, 2015). "Surf Air Founders Jet To The East Coast With New Private Flight Service Beacon". TechCrunch. Retrieved Oct 29, 2015.
  15. ↑ Lora Kolodny (Apr 14, 2016). "Beacon, the all-you-can-fly travel startup, closes shop". TechCrunch. Retrieved Apr 18, 2016.
  16. ↑ Barbara Wood (May 27, 2014). "Atherton urges Surf Air to fly at higher altitudes". The Almanac. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  17. ↑ http://www.socaltech.com/surf_air_____members_8_daily_flights/s-0063353.html
  18. ↑ "Surf Air reaches 2,000 member milestone". BusinessWire. September 10, 2015.
  19. ↑ "A Prop(er) Goodbye". Surf Air. May 20, 2016.
  20. ↑ "California's Surf Air orders 15+50 Pilatus PC-12NGs". ch-aviation.com. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
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