keady - of interest is that Hawthorne Airport is the L.A base for SurfAir
airlines. If you can untangle this history, good on you: If you can figure out
where the money comes from, please let me know
Factually, this airport is about the best site for air taxis. Connections to
LAX flights are under about 20 minutes away
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Surf Air| |
|
| IATA | ICAO | Call sign |
| — | URF | SURFAIR |
|
| Commenced operations | June 13, 2013 |
| Fleet size | 52 |
| Destinations | 42 |
| Parent company | Surf Air Mobility |
| Headquarters | Hawthorne, California, United States |
| Key people |
- Deanna White (CEOÂ of Surf Air Mobility)
|
| Employees | 700 |
| Website | surfair.com |
Surf Air is a Los Angeles-based aviation marketplace offering regional flight
services and a strong focus on developing electric aircraft solutions.[1]Â Surf
Air is a subsidiary of Surf Air Mobility.
History
The company was founded by David Eyerly, Wade Eyerly, Peter Bi, Scott Porter,
Cory Cozzens, and Reed Farnsworth. Surf Air emerged in 2012 from MuckerLab, a
Los Angeles-based business incubator. Angel investors included Paige Craig,
Aviv Grill, and Bill Woodward. The Series A round of venture capital was
completed in June 2013 with investment from Anthem Venture Partners, NEA,
TriplePoint Capital, Siemer Ventures, Baroda Ventures, Gilad Elbaz, Eytan
Elbaz, Rick Caruso, Jeffrey Stibel, Mike Walsh, and actor Jared Leto. The
company raised at least $9 million from investors, including $500,000 from
VegasTechFund (a venture capital fund launched by Tony Hsieh), Velos Partners,
and Base Ventures.[2]
In June 2017, Surf Air expanded its service into Texas with its acquisition of
RISE, a Texas-based air travel provider. They service flights to and from
Austin Bergstrom, San Antonio International, Dallas Love Field, Houston Hobby,
and David Wayne Hooks in Northwest Houston. Dallas entrepreneur Nick Kennedy,
who founded RISE, was expected to serve as president of the Texas and southeast
region for Surf Air.[3]Â The former RISE routes have since been transitioned to
be operated by Tradewind Aviation instead of in-house.[4]
In July 2017, Surf Air started operations in Europe, debuting its maiden trip
from London to Ibiza.[5]Â Surf Air Europe operated under the same subscription
model where customers pay a monthly fee starting from ÂŁ1,750 ($2,180) for
unlimited travel.[6]Â Surf Air would start with flights from London to Zurich
during the week and to Ibiza in Spain at weekends.[7]Â It had plans to add
routes to Cannes, Munich, Luxembourg, and Milan.[6]Â Surf Air Europe had oneÂ
Embraer Phenom 300Â private jet in its fleet. In October 2017, Surf Air began
offering a membership that provides all-you-can-fly in both the European and US
networks for ÂŁ3,150.[8]Â The company planned to feature dozens more aircraft
within the next three to five years.[5]
In February 2018, Surf Air launched an on-demand charter, enabling customers to
charter the entire aircraft, including airplanes not in the Surf Air
fleet.[citation needed]Â In March 2018, Surf Air Europe went into liquidation in
December 2018.[9]Â In October 2018, Surf Air announced Surf Air Express, a new
membership program targeting less frequent travelers with an annual membership
fee and payments for each flight.[10]
On May 16, 2017, Surf Air flight operations were transitioned to Encompass
Aviation. Sudhin Shahani took over as Chief Executive of Surf Air in 2017 after
Jeff Potter exited.[11]Â When Encompass took over all Surf Air operations, it
retained all Surf Air's pilots and aircraft. Encompass is based in Hawthorne,
California and is an FAA Part 135 operator.[12]Â In June 2018, it was reported
the IRS had put liens totaling nearly $2.5 million against Surf Air for unpaid
federal excise tax. At the same time, Surf Air said it was changing operators
for California flights to Advanced Air Charter from Encompass.[13]Â Encompass
stated the Surf Air was behind on payments due for operating flights for Surf
Air.[14]
Surf Air Europe, established in 2017 as the European branch, went into
liquidation in December 2018.[9]Â In February 2020, it announced the acquisition
of Blackbird. CEO Shahani hopes that BlackBird’s digital platform will allow
Surf Air to expand its reach without buying more planes.[15]
In February 2021, Surf Air announced the acquisition of Ampaire which has been
developing a hybrid-electric power train for Cessna aircraft.[16]Â In 2021, Surf
Air plans to continue to expand its roster of destinations. For the last year
prior to August 2021, Surf Air has expanded from seven to 23 destinations with
several more on the way.[17]Â In 2022, Surf Air continued to see month-to-month
increases in flights and passenger count.[18] In April 2022, Surf Air MobilityÂ
abandoned its $100 million acquisition of Ampaire.[19]
In July 2023, Surf Air Mobility, the parent company of Surf Air, went public on
the stock market through a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange (under
the ticker symbol "SRFM").
Destinations
Main article:Â List of Southern Airways Express destinations
Surf Air offers On Demand charter flights that can take customers anywhere
around the world on their aircraft of choice, but with a focus on regional
flight operations.[20]
Fleet
A Pilatus PC-12 of Surf Air at San Carlos Airport (December 2014)
The Surf Air fleet is located under the Southern Airways Express operating
certificate. All flights are operated by Southern.
Certification
Surf Air acts as a sales agent. Surf Air does not own or operate any aircraft.
All flights arranged by Surf Air for its members are performed by independent,
third party FAA-licensed and DOT-registered air carriers.[21]
References
On Sunday, November 9, 2025 at 12:02:10 PM PST, Michael Rurik Halaby
<[email protected]> wrote:
I dont know if I am joking that if they swindled investors for $2b+, then they
should just buy Vertical for USD400m...
Michael Rurik Halaby, FRAeSUK mobile/WhatsApp:
[email protected]: halabyaerowww.halaby.aero
On 9 Nov 2025, at 19:15, Jack Keady via Mifnet <[email protected]> wrote:
keady -Â
Archer Aviation has acquired Hawthorne Airport in Los Angeles for $126 million,
intending to use it as the operational hub for its air taxi network and a
testbed for AI-powered aviation technologies. This acquisition is part of
Archer's strategy to support air taxi operations ahead of the 2028 Olympics in
Los Angeles. avweb.com commercialobserver.com
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