Story ID: 
Surf Air European Operation Launches in London
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: Initial operations involves flights between London Luton and Ibiza and Cannes.
Word Count: 227
Surf Air formally rolled out its all-you-can-fly membership-based operation in Europe with its initial flight from London Luton Airport to Ibiza, Spain, on Friday. Surf Air operates flights to 17 destinations from hubs in California and Texas in the U.S., and initially has scheduled flights between London and Ibiza, as well as London and Cannes, France, for its European operation. The Surf Air Europe service is offered for monthly subscriptions starting from £1,750 ($2,229).

Plans call for Surf Air Europe to expand those flights by year-end to more destinations, including Zurich, Munich, Luxembourg and Milan. Next year, several other cities are on the list for Surf Air Europe’s expansion, including Geneva, Dublin, Paris, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels and Barcelona.

The company in May announced it had reached an agreement with UK-management company FlairJet to manage the Surf Air European operation’s first Embraer Phenom 300. FlairJet, a Flexjet sister company, manages more than a dozen Phenoms and has managed the acquisition, acceptance and delivery of more than 25 Embraer business jets. Simon Talling-Smith, CEO of Surf Air in Europe, called the deal with Flairjet “an important move as we work to expand our footprint globally and bring our successful product from the U.S.”

The European expansion follows within a few weeks of Surf Air’s acquisition of its Dallas-based competitor Rise.