Prince Air, India's 1st subscription-based airline, promises economical chartered flights

From news to music to online cabs, subscription is the buzzword these days. In the current world, it is not unusual to fancy a subscription service that provides unlimited travel on private jets. Taking cue, Prince Air, a Delhi-based company, is all set to launch first subscription-based chartered flight services in India.

Sanket Raj Singh, the founder of Prince Air, looks to revolutionise private jet flying that is currently time-consuming and expensive. Currently, a chartered flight service on an average costs about Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh in India. However, members of Prince Air would be able to travel on as many flights as they want across the three destinations of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru for a monthly fee.

Singh promises that with Prince Air, the amount would be just a “fraction”—80 per cent to 90 per cent less than the actual cost. In fact, for what most charter companies charge these days for per hour to fly on a private jet, Prince Air promises to fly unlimited, monthly across multiple cities in India.

Prince Air proves to be an attractive option for business travellers, including entrepreneurs, politicians and businessmen, for whom time is money. Singh plans to launch Prince Air services in the next eight to 10 months in India. To begin with, the services will be launched in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru for which pre-booking membership has been opened. “We will be starting with six Bombardier or Embraer aircrafts and just want 2,500 members across Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The moment we close on 2,500 members, our membership would be closed,” says Singh. He adds that he has already received a few hundred requests and will have celebrities, politicians, entrepreneurs, businessmen and first-time jet fliers in the clientele.

In addition to being economical, the company comes with the added attraction of reduced travel time for most customers. Subscribers will have the luxury of booking flights minutes before departure, skip the hassles of check-in and take off without wasting time in unnecessary lines and traffic, claims Singh. He adds that from booking to boarding, the service will be customised through an app.

Prior to setting up Prince Air, Singh was involved in his family business of fashion. “However, I wanted to get into something which has never been done in India and aviation was one industry which has never been touched. So I planned to get into aviation where I could change the way people fly in India,” says Singh. He declines to divulge investor details, but clarifies that they are venture capitalists, and hedge funds based in the US. Prince Air plans to raise $15 million and targets to break even in two to three years.

Though the aviation industry in India is going through turbulent times, Singh is optimistic about the future. “Airlines have been in India for years, but with our unique business model, we plan to change the dynamics of Indian aviation. India can be one of the biggest players in aviation but seeing the industry at present, I feel it’s getting tough for the big players as well. There is a certain price to the subscription where we do not need the entire country to become our member but with a few thousands, we could be changing the way general aviation is in India,” Singh says.

While there are several teething issues such as acquiring parking space, operating hours, fuel prices and maintenance of aircraft, Singh says that the civil aviation ministry and regulator DGCA have been encouraging to the subscription business as it significantly brings down travel cost.

Globally, all-you-can-fly services are gaining prominence, albeit slowly. But these are not quite common in Asia. California-based Surf Air, founded in 2013, claims to be the world’s first airline that started offering such services. After its initial success in the US, Surf Air extended its services to London, Cannes, Ibiza and Zurich. US-based JetBlue is another airline that has started offering similar services from early this year.

Aided by the three Cs of convenience, customisation and cost-effectiveness, subscription economy has grown more than 350 per cent over the last seven years, says the biannual Subscription Economy Index from Zuora, a leading cloud-based subscription management provider. With the launch of Prince Air, the aviation industry would be the latest to enter subscription economy that have been thriving over the past few years ever since the advent of Netflix, Spotify, Uber and Ola in India.