Washington-headquartered software company KinectAir has launched pre-payment corporate accounts for customers wishing to book flights from its growing network of aircraft. Six months since launching operations across the Pacific Northwest with Oregon-based Direct2 Air's DA62 aircraft, the company is now seeing demand from businesses operating more widely over the West Coast.

Before launching commercial operations in May 2022, a preview app allowed people to understand local airport accessibility and price points for on demand journeys. The company claims there were tens of thousands of app entries, cementing demand and signalling desired route patterns across the US. It attributes search volumes to changing business and leisure travel needs and a lack of options due to commercial route cancellations.

Since the start of services with the live app more than 1,000 quotes have been generated and more than 800 flight hours booked for over 200 flights. To meet demand it added a second aircraft in June 2022 and a third in November, another Diamond DA62 and a Pilatus PC-12. There are plans to add a fourth aircraft imminently.

“We are rapidly approaching an inflection point whereby the benefits of sub-regional private air travel are converging with the decreasing cost of operating those flights," says CEO Jonathan Evans. "For businesses, KinectAir is increasingly able to beat commercial air travel when you consider cost and billable hours spent travelling inefficiently. By offering businesses bonus value on their pre-payments and access to our network of aircraft, we're improving their outcomes and enabling our own growth. Travellers need to trust their transportation partners, and at KinectAir we're leveraging our software to provide a guaranteed service and consistent private air travel experience at an accessible price point that is lacking today. Our passengers get to their destination faster and more reliably than with any other form of travel, and we're excited to see so many repeat customers.”

Routes to date booked throughout the West Coast include Napa, Bend, Seattle, Sun Valley and other destinations throughout Washington state, Oregon, Idaho and California. The average route length in a four seat aircraft ranges from 300-450 miles and in an eight seat aircraft is around 650-850 miles. KinectAir is seeing an average time from inquiry to flight of 48 hours at an average cost of $1.50 per passenger seat mile.

Business customers can purchase flights in $20,000-$100,000 increments and receive a bonus value of 5-15 per cent of their total commitment to use towards future flights. In some cases that can account for up to five free flights.