Plane Conversations

If improving the aviation system is disruptive, then call us revolutionaries.

We could say that Social Flights is disruptive to the commercial aviation system, except that we serve markets that the commercial aviation industry has rejected.

We could say that we compete with the airlines, except we provide services that would be impossible for the commercial aviation system to deliver efficiently.

We could say that we found a way to exploit an inefficient market, except that we actually make that market more efficient.

Social Flights is not an airline.

In simplest terms, Social Flights is a data platform for private aviation.  The Social Flights platform will “systemize” the operations of up to 15,000 private aircraft across up to 5000 North American Airports.  The beneficiaries will be travelers, aircraft operators, and the communities they support. We’ll even help the airlines do what they do better.

Where is the pain?

•  Airlines are pulling out of smaller markets effectively isolating millions of people
•  Smaller communities are cut off from the global economy
•  The “Real Cost” to travelers flying into and out of smaller communities is stifling.
•  The Private Aviation industry is manipulated by brokers; 40% of private flights are empty.
•  The Hub and Spoke system serves large airplanes, not people
•  Travelers have few other travel options; driving is difficult and trains are sparse.
•  Very low utilization of private jet assets vs. commercial jet assets

Where is the opportunity?

• Next Generation air traffic management/control will open thousands of airports to ATC
• A huge inventory of efficient short haul aircraft is available.
• Empty legs on existing private flights are available
• Favorable FAA and DOT regulatory environment in “Public Charter” classification
• Millions of people travel to their “Social Networks” not their hubs and spokes
• Communities are willing to participate in their own air-service destiny

What is the solution?

CASP: Community Air Service Program

Social Flights deploys turbine powered commuter aircraft to small communities to provide frequent direct service to the nearest major hub allowing access to the world.

Uniform Booking Platform

The Social Flights provides operators with a free online scheduling and automating quoting system that will save them thousands of dollars per actual flight.

Systemized inventory listing

Operators effectively list their inventory and the system matches the right aircraft with the right mission thereby improving yields.

Ride Sharing

National itinerary allows for the sale of private jet service on a “per seat” basis instead of a customer chartering a whole jet.

Corporate Travel Programs

Corporate and VIP owners can increase Yield and utilization of aircraft for greater profits without sacrificing benefits of ownership.

Community Organization

Social Flights helps communities to determine where they want to fly.  We provide aircraft, training, operations, consulting, and regulatory authority to operate community charter operations.  Then we integrate the system into our Nationwide platform.

How do we do it?

Social Flights provides a single platform that acts as a clearinghouse for community information about REAL ASSETS – not just demographics for sale to marketers.

The social flights data can be used to create opportunities with a new class of business methods and applications from scheduling air service, to organizing a group of friends for Spring Break.

Social Flights allows smaller communities to access hub airport quickly, directly, frequently and inexpensively so that they can have economic access to the world.

Social Flights allows corporations and VIP aircraft owners to maximize the return on their aircraft investment while retaining the flexibility of ownership.

Social Flights liberates millions of people from the weaknesses of the increasingly fragile and segmented commercial aviation system while retaining the strengths of the hub airport efficiency.

Social Flights improves aviation.

25% of Airline Delays Due to Volume

Have you wondered recently why air travel seems to have gotten worse but you can’t exactly understand why?  Are more people traveling?  Is the economy going gangbusters?  Is Social Media bringing the world together?

A quick stroll through the transportation department bureau of statistics is truly revealing.  The airline industry is methodologically reducing capacity AND increasing profits.  This does not make sense – how can any product sell less and make more?

For example:

The number of domestic flights has reduced from just over 10 million in 2005 to only 7 million in 2011.  This is the same number of flights as 2000

Revenue passenger miles have fallen from 570,854,623 to 473,968,295 over the same time period. That is roughly 100,000,000 less seat miles flown.

That makes sense because available capacity has dropped – seat miles have diminished from 739,841,385 to 571,129,091

Meanwhile load factors  (passenger-miles as a proportion of available seat-miles) have jumped from 77% to 83%.  Yup, that means that airplanes are a lot more crowded.

So then it should not be surprising that 25% of all delays are from overloading as airlines pull away from smaller airports and work the hubs harder.

Well, we know that aviation is a difficult business and that the industry racked up major losses but things are better now right?  The industry profits are well over 5 billion dollars.

But where is this money coming from? Well, first the reservation change/cancellation fees collected are 2.3 billion dollars in 2010 – this is the money that we pay the airlines for delivering ZERO service, seriously.  The baggage fees collected are also over 3 billion dollars. So there are $5B in fees and $5B profit…do the math.

Does anyone see what’s happening?  Can anyone see what direction these trends are headed in?  Does anyone see the alternative?  We do – the future opportunity is to build an alternate system of non-stop service using public charter certification on private jets.  If you are a traveler, set yourself free.  If you are an investor, Social Flights is a magnificent opportunity getting better every day…

I often feel “Lost” as I continuously review what is happening in the air transportation industry. So many people are stranded in time and place by the anxieties, harassment, and limitation the air transportation system.  It is only getting worse as airlines push in and pull out of markets with abandon disrupting the dreams and aspirations of millions of people with the stroke of keyboard.

Or, perhaps it is the holiday season now upon us that leads me along the nostalgic trail of family and friends who I miss so dearly. Or, it could be the recession that forces me to look outside my own community to achieve economic security in these difficult times. Meanwhile; social media technology increases my exposure to like minded people, new ideas, and a bewildering array of events and opportunities – many of which I can no longer access efficiently.

The easy thing to do would be to accomodate the situation and limit my goals and aspirations to that which others serve up to me on the platter of their choice.  I could simply give up and be content with my lot in life as determined by others.  I could dedicate my talent, education, and experience to lesser parochial tasks that happen along the jungle trail.

Or, I can seek the vulnerabilities of the forces that control my ability to travel.  I can exploit weaknesses in their business model and I can find others willing to join forces to bypass those externalities altogether.

I have chosen the latter and in the process, I have met some of the smartest, engaging, and interesting people that I could have imagined.  I no longer flash back to the past – I flash forward to the future.  That is the secret ingredient to never being stranded in the choices of others.

2012 will be the tipping point for many people. I believe that communities will begin to organize around the assets that government and corporations can no longer provide.  Communities will make the choices that determine their own future, sanctity, and preservation.  Self-organization will become the fabric of the social landscape.

My job it to show people that there is no reason why they cannot run their own airline; any where and any time they choose.