When any given trip reaches a critical mass of passenger agreed on times and airports, a jet can be provisioned for that flight. The minimum number of passengers required to achieve critical mass is three. Three passengers meets the 75% occupancy rule for a very light jet such as a Cessna Mustang can be provisioned.
Members will have the option of holding out for heavier jets, but that may decrease the odds that their flight will actually materialize. For Members that need to make sure they get where they are going, the four-seater may be exactly what they need.
Whether the jet is light or heavy, once Members agree on the flight manifest the specific aircraft will be provisioned. Under the direction of the Flight Director, SocialAir staff will contact an operator to arrange the specifics of the flight. This process should become quite routine, and indeed we will develop systems to automate the provisioning of aircraft as much as possible. If aircraft operator partners are capable, we can even set up APIs to completely automate the provisioning process.
Currently, any individual can charter a jet aircraft by filling out standard information on a web based form. As the following image shows, I received a quote for $9,333 for a round-trip flight trip from San Jose to Los Angeles and back.
The provisioning process for Social Air will be much more streamlined than this.
Aircraft Changes
No one likes cancellations, and aircraft operators are not going to want to cancellations on booked jets. SocialAir needs to be prepared to minimize these types of changes. Here’s a scenario to illustrate:
The Christensen’s are planning a family get together and three people are flying from Baker City to Lake Taho in one week. Suddenly, two more people decide they are in, so the Mustang they had just provisioned is now too small. There will need to be a lock-in date when an aircraft can’t be changed. After this date, we can do some research to see if a switch can be made, but there will be a penalty, probably in the form of Bonus Factor level.