With all the controversy surrounding uberX, Lyft and sharing rides on the ground, there's a similar story unfolding in the air. Last week the Federal Aviation Administration nixed ridesharing in airplanes, striking a blow to companies like Cambridge-based Airpooler that allow pilots to offer seats on their planes in exchange for gas money.
A Chicago startup had a watchful eye on last week's ruling, but luckily for Rod Rakic, the co-founder of OpenAirplane, the FAA's decision will not impact his business. OpenAirplane works by connecting licensed pilots with planes across the U.S., allowing them to find, book and pay for a plane right from their mobile device or computer. The company launched in June 2013 and has been steadily growing. After starting with just six partnering airports, pilots now have access to nearly 70 airports in 34 states through the OpenAirport platform.
Rakic took some time for a Q&A with Chicago Inno to tell us more about his company, the challenges he faced in earning the trust of the aviation insurance industry, and what's in store for the future of OpenAirplane.
Q: How is OpenAirplane changing how pilots get access to planes?
A: OpenAirplane makes renting an airplane as easy as renting a car. Pilots used to have to spend half a day and hundreds of dollars at each new place they wanted to fly. Imagine taking a driver's test every time you wanted to rent a car from Hertz. It would be like driving the kid from behind the counter around the parking lot 3 times, and maybe demonstrating you can safely parallel park each time you were handed the keys. It would be ridiculous. But pilots had simply put up with this, and if you got checked out in Chicago, you used to have to do the same thing all over again in Cincinnati.
We've turned 45 minutes of frustration in googling and phone calls just to find airplanes you can rent into 45 seconds using our app. OpenAirplane helps pilots find, book, and pay for aircraft rental on their smartphone, tablet or desktop computer. Our Universal Pilot Checkout resets the clock on FAA mandated recurrency training, earns them a discount on aviation renter's insurance, and access to the same make/model airplane across our country. They even rate and review the plane and the operator each time they fly.
Q: How has the company grown since its launch in 2013?
A: We founded the company in 2012, and we launched the beta in June of 2013 with 6 locations. OpenAirplane is now available in 67 cities, (including airports in Alaska and Hawaii) with over 240 airplanes available in the network, and over 7,800 pilots have signed up to fly with us. Utilization is climbing as we build toward critical mass, with flight hours and revenue growing 20% month over month.
Q: What's the biggest challenge you've run into when starting OpenAirplane?
A: Pilots who we talked to about the concept all agreed that it would be a useful service, but were quick to guess the insurance industry would never let this happen. If there is any real innovation here, it all started with talking with the folks everyone told us would hate the idea. We went to the insurance industry with a specific plan to reduce the accident rate and make everyone's pilot certificate more useful. To almost everyone's surprise, the insurance industry saw the value in what we proposed and gave it a shot. Today we have nearly universal alignment from aviation underwriters in the U.S.
Not to say it was always easy. You know you're on to something when Lloyd's of London tells you to go pound sand... it took us 6 months to insure ourselves, but we figured it out. Like any business, it comes down to relationships. The first time I attended an Aviation Insurance Association meeting in 2011, I had to crash their cocktail party because they wouldn't sell me a ticket. We've come a long way. I've been invited to speak at their 2015 annual conference.
Q: What's in store for the immediate and long-term future of OpenAirplane?
A: We're focused on continuing to grow our network and continue to enhance the experience. We're adding a new location each week. We just announced a referral program for out pilots. Our customers are our best advocates and we want to reward that. We're working toward enabling helicopter rentals next. Four operators around the country have already raised their hands to start renting their rotorcraft with OpenAirplane.
Q: What are your thoughts on the FAA ruling last week?
A: PLANEsharing really should be called FLIGHTsharing. As RIDEsharing is different than CARsharing, as Lyft or is different from Getaround.
What the FAA ruled on was more like Lyft or UberX... our business model is more like Airbnb or GetAround. None of this adversely affects OpenAirplane, our operators, or our pilots. We designed OpenAirplane to color within the lines from the beginning. Our business model never assumed that the FAA would ignore decades of precedent, data, and the law.
I posted a short response about this here. But the long form think piece I posted to Medium here.
This interview was edited for clarity. Screengrab via OpenAirplane.
