Friday, October 26, 2012

Surf Air Gets (Slight) Competition From BlackJet

A new, Silicon Valley-based airline--backed by Ashton Kutcher--emerged today, with its eyes on the Silicon Valley to Los Angeles route being targeted by Los Angeles-based Surf Air. The new startup, BlackJet, is apparently looking to run passengers from San Francisco to L.A. on private jets, at a cost of around $1,000 for a flight; the company also is starting with flying from New York to LA flights, along with a New York to Florida route. The startup is headed by Garrett Camp, one of the co-founders of StumbleUpon and Uber. Surf Air, which is headed by Wade Eyerly and came out of the MuckerLab accelerator, also is looking to run passengers between LA and Silicon Valley, albeit via a subscription membership and with a slightly different twist--via unlimited, membership-only flights. Surf Air has said its plans will run as low as $790 a month, which will include unlimited flights back and forth between Palo Alto and Los Angeles; the firm looks to be targeting business travelers with that service.