A New Airline is coming… Announcing Aura
There are disruptors in almost every industry in the world. Uber disrupted the taxi industry. Zillow and Trulia disrupted the Real Estate industry. Amazon disrupted the almost-everything-else industry. But the airline industry has largely gone undisrupted for decades.
UPDATE: Signup extended until July 31st!
Southwest could be considered a disruptor, offering free bags and (sometimes) cheap tickets. Spirit could be considered a disruptor, but that’s mostly because crazy people disrupt the flights by yelling and getting into fights.
One airline is trying to change that. It’s an airline that’s fed up with mediocrity and boring, mundane planes. Targeting a very select niche of premium travlerers, they want to shake up the airline’s chokehold on some popular routes, and I think they might have a chance. Introducing, Aura.
Aura Airplane
What is Aura?
As you know here at No Mas Coach, we firmly believe that life is too short to fly in coach! Aura agrees. In the words of the company itself, AURA is America’s first five-star flight experience. At an affordable price point, guests will experience the best of in-flight design, technology, and service all incorporated into gorgeous Swiss-designed aircraft.
In a letter from Zander Futernick, the founder of ZED Aerospace and Aura:
“I want you to love flying as much as I do. AURA is the vision of an aviation geek who wants you to reimagine what air travel can be. AURA is all about you. You can’t wait for your next flight, and I can’t wait to welcome you aboard.
I founded ZED Aerospace in 2016 to create flying experiences yet unknown to the traveling public. The airlines of the United States had succeeded in their race to the bottom and I wasn’t going to let them strip away my passion.
Sounds good, right? So, what’s so special about this new airline disruptor coming to the scene next year?
The Planes
No more feeling cramped in small airplanes full of people packed to the brim. Aura’s planes are CRJ-700’s but instead of having 75 seats they only have put 29, spread in two cabins, First and Wave.
Wave Seating
First Class is much like today’s first class, but with more leg room. The true game changer is the “Wave” product. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
Wave seating comes with zero gravity seats, OLED displays on the windows, and a Book the Cook feature where you can get almost anything that you want cooked for you in the plane. Grass fed beef perfectly prepared onboard, not beforehand!
Planes will come with ridiculously fast WiFi so you can actually stream movies and work without the usual message appearing of “many users are connected and you may see a slowdown in your data stream.”
Wave Seating
Seriously – just look at the rendering of this cabin! It’s absolutely gorgeous. It makes me think that I’m flying on a spaceship.
The Airport Experience
No more showing up 2 hours before your flight and dealing with TSA lines and silly people returning from cruises to their the middle of their landlocked nightmare. You get to travel straight through from parking lot to plane in under 20 minutes flat.
If you want to get some work done before hand, they’ll have a full business suite available for you including meeting rooms, wifi on the ground, conference space and more.
So what’s it cost and where do they fly?
Aura is coming in 2019 and isn’t quite available for booking yet, but they do have their routes and pricing. The first round of cities will be in 2019 and then in 2020 round two comes along
Round One, 2019: Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Miami, New York, Atlanta
Round Two, 2020: Seattle, San Francisco, Vegas, Dallas, Houston, Orlando, DC, and Boston
Pricing won’t be outrageous either. Routes start from $330 one way, which is a fantastic deal, especially considering the pricing is similar to the major carriers without all the stress involved.
What’s this key holder thing?
If you’ll notice in the pricing picture above, there’s public pricing and Keyholder pricing.
Keyholders are the early adopters for Aura. Think of it as the kickstarter’s of this new endeavor. For only $100 you secure your place as a Keyholder and get all the best fares. Apart from the intro fares you’ll be invited to the launch party for the airline, discounts from all their partners, and avoid the initiation fee.
INCLUDES:
Access All Routes at Fixed Keyholder Fares
(Guaranteed Lowest Fares – save 50% on flights compared to public pricing)Secure Your $100/month AURA Key for Life
(vs. Standard: $250/month) *Monthly payments begin after your first flightWaived $700 KeyHolder Initiation Fee
Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Updates
Discounts from AURA Brand Partners
Launch Soirée Invitation with our Founder
Receive the AURA Metallic Series Collection
A curated collection of 10″x15″ AURA prints
As an AURA KeyHolder you can enjoy peace of mind with fixed fares on every route – guaranteed to be our lowest price available. With one simple monthly due, you will find preferred availability, seating, and an extremely generous cancellation policy for those times when plans change. In search of ease and elegance while traveling, and fly more than three times per year? The AURA Key is right for you. Take advantage of our limited-time Founders Key and lock-in your low monthly rate today. Reserve a FoundingKey today for a limited time. StandardKey sales begin July 2nd, 2018
As you read there, the introductory pricing ends on July 1st. If you want to take advantage of this special and you live in a 2019 (or even a 2020 city) then I’d jump on the $100 deposit right away.
Thoughts
I would love to take advantage of this when it comes to Seattle. Being able to jump over to Denver to see family or San Fran/Los Angeles for a long weekend in comfort would be idea. $330 is a fantastic price to pay for a little bit of luxury, and we’d happily do so. Being that these might fly out of secondary airports in your cities, the ability to avoid the main airport hustle and bustle is a huge win for us. But, what do you think?
Visit Aura’s website here for more information and to sign up!
June 30, 2018
I’d really love it if this turns out to be real. They don’t have aircraft yet. There’s no LOPA, it’s unclear where this galley space is going to come from for the tapas and the sushi and the cooked to order meals.
If they can offer an angled business (‘wave’) seat for $330 one-way New York – Chicago, and by the way they say they’ll even offer private flights out of LaGuardia, that will be amazing. Not sure how much cash that’ll burn through
doing that and they don’t say how much they’ve raised either.
I love anyone that tries to provide a better product. Even if their founder has no airline experience. Is it just me though that this feels a bit more like someone spending a lot of time on airliners.net?
Please Aura I want to be wrong!
June 30, 2018
I’m hoping you’re wrong too. I know that when and if it makes it to Seattle, it’s going to be something that we’d take advantage of. I really hate lining up at 6pm for the evening rush out of SEATAC.
June 30, 2018
Wow the prices are amazing for the service! Awesome to finally see disruption. This space has a lot of movement with JetSuiteX being invested by Qatar, OneJet buying Ultimate, JetSmarter on the down and out, and AURA comes in with the strongest presence. Each have different business models…let’s see whose will work. Hat’s off to AURA interior design team.
June 30, 2018
I love the website and the concept, but Aura seems more like a cross between a Kickstarter campaign and vaporware than a real airline. This reminds me of the old joke, “Q: How do you make a small fortune in the airline business? A: Start with a large fortune.” I’m with Gary on this one, Aura just doesn’t pass the reality test.
A new airline that I *would* bet on (as having a good chance to succeed), is David Neeleman’s efforts to launch Moxy with Bombardier CS300 airliners. His skins on the wall include JetBlue, WestJet, and Azul, so that’s a guy you wouldn’t want to bet against.
June 30, 2018
$100/month is a lot different than $100 straight up. $1200/year for vapor ware sound much more like a ponzu scheme than a legitimate business.
July 1, 2018
It’s only $100/month after you take your first flight. The $100 is the entry fee. Look at places like Jetsmarter and what they charge and it’s much higher.
July 1, 2018
a plan to bilk investors out of big bux ?
July 1, 2018
Huh?
July 1, 2018
Aura seems like a cross between a Kickstarter campaign and vaporware. They do have a slick website, but I’m with Gary on this one, Aura looks too good to be true.
The potential startup airline with a much greater chance of success is Moxy by David Neeleman. He has plenty of skins on the wall with jetBlue, Azul, WestJet and TAP.
July 2, 2018
Comparing Neeleman to a newbie airline guy is not apples-to-apples. Moxy and AURA dont look to be competitive. AURA looks amazing! praying it takes off