The core concept around which Social Air is formed is that of semi-private air travel—a market that is currently barely being serviced. There are currently two very distinct business models:
- Commercial – which crams large numbers of people—including First class, Business class and Coach alike—onto large jets that fly into major airports, and
- Private – which allows individuals and their party to utilize a smaller jet for their exclusive use, typically flying in and out of the exact airport they want within a much larger network of smaller regional airports
Social Air introduces the concept of semi-private jet flight, in which two to five separate parties coordinate to share a jet.
Such an arrangement has the obvious effect of spreading the cost out over several users, thereby reducing the cost from approximately $5 – $20 per hour per passenger as private jet charter costs to less than $2 per hour per passenger.
Of course, the cost savings associated with semi-private jet travel does come with trade-offs.
Flexibility and Convenience
With private jet travel, the term ‘flexibility’ refers to the fact that the jet operators and all other parties flex to the travelers’ needs. With semi-private jet travel, Members need to be more flexible in order to coordinate with each other. Rather than just picking a time and place and having the plane meet them there, Social Air members might need to travel a few hours or even a day or two later than they would have preferred, or they might need to leave from an airport several miles away from the one they prefer—all in order to accommodate other Members who have similar travel plans. And Members will not have quite the same level of convenience as the private travelers in that they have to wait for other Members to arrive, board and disembark. Members may even need to make their trips in two or even three legs in order to pick up and drop off other Members.
Of course, the difference in Flexibility and Convenience over commercial travel is vast. While Members might need to travel a few minutes more to get to the airport and wait a few extra minutes for the other parties on their flight in order to save thousands of dollars from the cost of a private flight, they are saving hours to deal with the ordeal of commercial travel, for a cost that is just incrementally higher than a First Class ticket.
Privacy
Members will not have the same kind of privacy they would have on a private flight, as other Members will be traveling along with them in a confined space.
Of course, there is much more personal space than on commercial flights, including First Class, and far fewer people to share the ride with. Again, they are trading a relatively small amount of privacy (travelling with a handful of other people) for a massive cost reduction. While on the other side, they are getting a huge gain in privacy—trading 100 fellow passengers for 5 fellow passengers—for a marginally higher price.
Prestige
Semi-private travel is certainly not as prestigious as private travel or partial jet ownership. But again, the trade-off relative to the cost savings is disproportionate. The idea of flying in a private jet is still very exclusive and prestigious, whether the flight is shared or not. The image of boarding a sleek private jet and relaxing in a comfortable chair are far more tangible that the subtle concept that you are sharing the ride with others. Meanwhile, the vast difference in perception between flying a private jet vs. boarding a large commercial jet far outweighs the incremental price difference between First class and semi-private.
So while there are trade-offs in traveling semi-private rather than private, the relative cost/benefit ratio between private, semi-private (Social Air), and first-class are clearly skewed in favor of semi-private travel for those in the target market who are able to afford it.
And this is before even accounting for the Unique Selling Proposition of semi-private travel with Social Air.