Skift Take
Are subscription airline services such as those from Surf Air, Rise and the soon-to-be-launched Beacon ripe for consolidation given the close ties among co-founders? OK, we're kidding. First we'll have to see if there is even a market for the membership model in aviation.
Surf Air's former CEO, who was edged out a year ago, is launching a rival subscription-based airline service, Beacon, on the East Coast.
Wade Eyerly will reprise his CEO role, this time at Beacon, which hopes to start a subscription-based airline service between New York and Boston, as well as vacation-destinations Nantucket and the Hamptons, beginning this summer.
Unlike members-only Surf Air, which operates Pilatus PC-12 turboprops on the West Coast and was founded in 2011, Beacon intends to license Pilatus PC-12s and King Air 350s from operating partners.
"The customer-facing portion of the business is very similar, but the operating model is
