SURF AIR Express

Private aviation membership firm Surf Air has both broken its target in an Indiegogo fundraising campaign, and announced that it will be accepting bitcoin and Litecoin from backers.

Surf Air is one of the latest in a series of so-called “semi-private airlines” which takes the Uber model and tries to apply it to private aviation.

Essentially, you book spaces on private jets operated by third parties, on which you can find yourself sharing the jet with up to seven other ‘members.’ However, unlike pure commercial aviation, Surf Air flies according to published schedules much like an airline, currently mainly between and within California and Texas.

Surf Air Express is Surf Air’s latest iteration. It will open the Surf Air network beyond the existing membership base, by making seats available on travel booking websites.

At time of writing, Surf Air raised almost $100,000 from participants interested in funding the Surf Air Express concept, double the original $50,000 target.

Trade title CryptoGlobe says that Surf Air will be accepting bitcoin and Litecoin for its crowd-funding campaign, a move which probably makes sense when you consider the Silicon Valley demographic likely to become Surf Air members. ■