Bush Pilot

Aviation startup looks to cash in on TSA backlash

In June, Forbes reported that startup aviation company PlaneRed was looking to cash in on the considerable public backlash against the Transportation Security Administration this year by offering a subscription-based air travel service that carries only nine passengers at a time, allowing them to bypass the requisite TSA airport procedures.

After full-body scanners and "enhanced patdowns" became standard operating procedure at airports across the nation as a way to combat possible terrorist threats, the public outcry came fast and furious, as stories emerged of searches being performed on children, the mentally disabled and even a June incident involving a 95-year-old woman who eventually had to remove her adult diaper in order to make her flight.

As enhanced security procedures have become the name of the game in large scale, commercial air travel, security for those traveling on smaller planes has been much more lax, with many unscheduled, on-demand air charter or air taxi services performing hundreds, if not thousands of flights every day, with few or no security checks for their passengers.

Bush Pilot reported on this strange double standard in April, and while some reporters advocate for tighter security for private jets and small planes, a more measured approach to commercial airline security seems on its face a better solution than bringing general aviation "up to par" with the TSA's mass-transit regulations.

On the one hand, heightened security for commercial aircraft and looser security for small planes makes sense. As one Bush Pilot reader correctly pointed out in April, the damage that a small plane can do -- and the amount of explosive fuel it can carry -- is small when compared to a commercial airliner.

But PlaneRed could shift the TSA's attention toward small planes and their potential security threats, due to its model. That model is simple, and it takes the concept of the air taxi to the next level -- more like that of a city bus. For $150 each month, subscribers would get something of a bus pass, the ability to hop on any PlaneRed aircraft traveling (initially) between New York, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and Washington, D.C., anytime they like.

And perhaps the best part? PlaneRed aircraft would only carry nine passengers, allowing them to slip in under the TSA radar -- and the minimum requirement of 10 passengers before a flight is required to undergo security examination.

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There are a lot of reasons for PlaneRed to bypass the typical airport procedures. As CEO Wade Eyerly told Forbes, "Parking, the huge time sink at the airport, the uncomfortable seats, the bad food, the TSA's aggressiveness and unnecessary prodding. Flying sucks. You don't charge tickets for an experience that sucks."

It should be mentioned that PlaneRed has yet to make a flight. Eyerly reported that the operation hopes to be up and running by Sept. 1 of this year, but is still gauging interest in the idea and looking for investors.

The idea is an interesting one. PlaneRed hopes to get 10,000 initial subscribers between the four East Coast cities, which would mean an initial income per month of $1.5 million.

But would enough people pay a monthly fee for the opportunity to possibly hop on a plane anytime they want, to a limited service area? The idea would seem tailor-made for those who travel a lot already, but crunching the high cost of tickets on a commercial airline makes it look pretty lucrative: a quick search on popular ticket-booking site Expedia reveals that a single, overnight round-trip ticket from New York to Philadelphia in early August would set you back $463 (tax included) -- with a stop in Boston first. That's a travel time of four and a half hours. A nonstop, 55-minute flight will run you at least $100 more than that.

So for anyone who travels between those cities even a few times a year, the $150 subscription would quickly start to look appealing, especially when the ease that comes with such small aircraft comes into play.

PlaneRed would take the facets of air taxi services that appeal to regular travelers -- namely, the ability to walk out to the tarmac and get on a plane without having to arrive to the airport two hours early, sit in line at security, and vie for space in the overhead bins -- without the high costs of those services (typically more than your average commercial airline ticket).

Could the PlaneRed model apply to Alaska flight?

The downside is that such a model would likely only support large markets, like those that PlaneRed intends to initially provide services to. While there are more than 5,000 general aviation airports in the U.S., far fewer of those are found in major cities. So one of the benefits of air taxis -- the ability to land at any one of those 5,000 airports -- is lost.

Barring a breakaway success of the PlaneRed model, that leaves little incentive for the idea in Alaska, where many airstrips are nothing more than compacted gravel, serving villages of fewer than 100 people.

More important than the financials, however, is how the possible success of PlaneRed might attract the attention of the TSA to small planes, something that most (if not all) small-plane owners would oppose. While PlaneRed ostensibly looks to bypass the whole airport experience, the startup admits in its Twitter profile that it "lets you skip TSA," making clear what its primary marketing point is.

If enough people sign up for a service purposely intended to skip TSA, it may draw the attention of an organization that is constantly filling in perceived holes in security.

The Libertarian magazine Reason ran a recent blog post by Katherine Mangu-Ward that showed some vague support of the idea -- especially with its frequent criticisms of the TSA -- but worried, in the end, that the idea could draw unwanted TSA attention to a relatively under-regulated entity. "… When the TSA gets wind of the plan, expect the Leviathan to awake and lumber in (PlaneRed's) general direction," Mangu-Ward wrote.

So in the end, PlaneRed may end up having the opposite of its desired effect. In an attempt to escape the over-regulation of the TSA, it could bring the over-regulation along for the ride.

And at a bargain price, no less.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch. Contact Ben Anderson at ben(at)alaskadispatch.com.

Ben Anderson

Ben Anderson is a former writer and editor for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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