Entrepreneur brings popular sharing economy to airlines
The collapse in crude prices has meant less demand for the charter airlines that ferry workers back and forth from the oilpatch, but a Calgary entrepreneur has come up with an unusual way to make the most of the idle planes: share them.
In much the same way that Uber transformed the taxi industry or Airbnb shook up the hotel industry, Roger Jewett hopes to change the way Canadians think about flying with his airplane- sharing service, Jump On Flyaways.
Jewett came up with the model for Jump On in 2011, when he was chief financial officer of Enerjet Ltd., a charter airline with three Boeing 737s that it primarily uses to shuttle oil workers between Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray. Enerjet’s aircraft were often idle on weekends, and the company was trying to think up ways to maximize their use.
“We looked at doing commercial flights, but there was a huge amount of risk because you could lose your shirt pretty quickly if you don’t fill the plane up,” Jewett said in an interview. “Literally over a couple of beers one night, the idea came to me: What if we only go if we fill up the plane?”
Enerjet wasn’t interested in taking on the idea directly, but it was willing to offer up its planes, so Jewett left to form Jump On Flyaways.
Here’s how it works: Jump On charters a plane from an airline — it has worked with five carriers so far — that would otherwise be sitting idle. It offers a flight at fares 30 to 65 per cent below those of the incumbents and then sets a “jumping point” that shows how many seats need to be filled before the flight is confirmed.
Interested customers reserve a seat and are encouraged to share the flight with their social network to help fill it up. When the jumping point is reached, customers are notified that the flight is a go. If the jumping point isn’t reached, it will be cancelled a week before the departure date.
Currently, Jump On is offering one- way flights between Calgary and Vancouver for $ 124.
“You have to be flexible,” Jewett said. “The flights might not go and you have to be ready for that.”
It’s still early days — Jump On has successfully filled only 10 flights since its launch about two years ago — but its airline partners are enamoured with the concept, especially because the recent slowdown in the oilpatch has left their aircraft with more downtime.
“We are witnessing the most important shift in consumer economics of all time, and that is where virtually anything can be mass customized and driven directly by the requests of consumers,” said Darcy Morgan, chief commercial officer at Enerjet.
“We think the innovative part of ( Jump On) is that it’s like airplane sharing. We’re encouraged by the success of Airbnb, by the success of VRBO, by the success of Car2Go. These are all models for optimizing unused assets and that’s what we’re trying to do here.”
Morgan wouldn’t disclose the commercial terms of Enerjet’s relationship with Jump On except to say that “Enerjet’s stakeholders will benefit” if Jump On is successful.
Jewett said he’s been able to negotiate “super low rates” with Enerjet and other carriers. If Jump On isn’t able to fill up the flight and it doesn’t go, there is no financial penalty.
To date, Jewett has funded Jump On out of his own pocket, with a $ 100,000 boost from crowdfunding. The company is currently attempting to raise another $ 250,000 through an offering memorandum that will be used to hire additional staff, offer a more predictable schedule and launch new software that will allow customers to initiate their own flights.
“Our goal is to get very quickly to the point where we’re offering monthly flights and then move quickly to weekly flights.”