Flight-sharing could bring Uber to the skies

How lawmakers and FAA can help rural citizens

Next-generation aviation technologies are poised to radically reshape the American airspace. But what if the next major leap forward is a safe, existing mode of transport that we can open up to more passengers at low costs?

Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization discussions, and a bill introduced by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, could reopen the skies for flight-sharing platforms and turn back the FAA’s continued efforts to shut them down.

Flight-sharing — think Uber for private aircraft — has already taken off in Europe. Wingly recently secured 2 million euros to expand its network across the continent. Its online platform enables 150,000 users to hop aboard small private aircraft operated by 10,000 licensed pilots in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Unlike the headline-grabbing transportation innovations that focus on America’s urban centers, flight-sharing could bring immediate benefits to Americans in lower-income and rural regions.

Unfortunately, the FAA grounded similar flight-sharing start-ups in America. The domestic commercial air travel industry is massive — with 6,871 commercial aircraft serving hundreds of millions of passengers at 551 national and regional airports — but these aircraft predominantly fly routes to and from the coasts and other major population centers. Fly-over country is also difficult-to-fly-to country.

Flight-sharing unlocks 200,000 licensed general aviation aircraft and opens routes to and from the 1,904 local and basic airports that serve all states and regions.

Before the FAA shut it down, an American company called Flytenow estimated that an average round-trip listing on the platform cost only $60 to $70. By allowing pilots to defray some costs of flying by filling an empty seat, Flytenow made an extremely expensive hobby into one that aviators across the income spectrum could enjoy. Here’s how it works:

For decades, passengers would look at flight plans posted on corkboards at airports to find a ride — as technologically backward and inefficient as trying to find dates in the personal ads. In 2013, Flytenow recreated these corkboards in a digital app, creating a far more usable flight-sharing platform. Within two years, the platform hosted 25,000 pilots and passengers.

Uncertain about how to handle this growing community, the FAA relied on ambiguous statutes to declare pilots using the platform to be “common carriers,” meaning pilots without commercial certification were operating illegally. Though FAA guidance already prohibits private pilots from profiting from flight-sharing, the FAA has now given any private pilot attempting to use a service like Flytenow the same legal designation as America’s largest, forprofit, commercial airlines. Due to this questionable interpretation, the platform shut down in 2015.

Bringing back similar platforms wouldn’t be difficult. As our recent research explains, all we need is a clearer definition of common carrier. Sen. Lee’s bill, by drawing a bright line between who is and is not considered a common carrier, would remove the FAA’s authority to prohibit platforms from bringing flight-sharing practices into the 21st century.

To understand the transformative effects of flight-sharing, look to Europe’s experience. Instead of shutting it down, the European Aviation Safety Agency took steps to work with the budding industry to inform consumers and promote pilot safety. This led to a user rating system, which shares safety information that the corkboard system could never provide.

Our public policies will shape the coming transportation revolution as much as our innovators will. However, failing to embrace this innovation sends a clear message to rural America: You’ll just have to wait until federal regulators decide to include you.

Christopher Koopman, senior director of strategy and research at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University, is author of the Mercatus Center study Defining Common Carriers: Flight Sharing, the FAA, and the Future of Aviation. Michael Kotrous is a Mercatus program associate.