Innovation is ready for take-off in the air travel industry
New methods of identifying the best flight deals aren’t the only changes taking place within the air travel industry. A fresh crop of services and airlines is making flying the friendly skies increasingly more agreeable, whether it’s by making private planes more accessible, offering new seasonal routes, or infusing air travel with good design.
Social Flights: In this era of pervasive environmentalism, using private planes may be even more un-P.C. than not recycling. Regardless, given the excruciating state of commercial air travel, some travelers still choose their sanity over the earth’s wellbeing. Social Flights is a collective buying startup and charter broker that facilitates private jet bookings at affordable prices. Members form shared interest groups, called Travel Tribes, through which they can request and reserve private charter flights. The per passenger cost for such flights reportedly runs as low as $150. However, the carbon offsets that some passengers will likely buy to assuage their guilt may add up.
Peach Aviation: It may not be as affordable as European budget airlines like EasyJet or Ryanair, but new airline Peach is poised to become Japan’s answer to JetBlue. The country’s first low-cost air carrier, Peach may prove to be one of the most stylish airlines in the world as well as its most gently priced. With branding designed by starchitect Neil Denari (of HL23 fame), the airline’s color scheme is defined by brightly hued shades of pink and purple. Similarly modern, the cabin crew’s uniforms evoke a casual aesthetic akin to that of Uniqlo—a look that should appeal to the Gen Y demo the airline is hoping to woo.
StndAIR: For many New Yorkers, the payoff for braving an East Coast winter is a summer calendar packed with beach getaways. However, five months of blizzards and downpours isn’t the only thing that Northeasterners must endure before they can lay their weary heads on a sun soaked beach. Weekend traffic can be just as brutal. Enter StndAIR, a service from The Standard Hotels, in partnership with Shoreline Aviation, which allows the waterfront-bound to bypass gridlock. Consisting of one Cessna 208 Caravan Amphibian aircraft that seats eight passengers, the “airline” is essentially a private seaplane that is open to the public for booking. The airfare isn’t cheap…but neither are the destinations.
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