Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber

Wade and Dave Eyerly, the founders of Surf Air–an all-you-can-fly Part 135 membership service that operates Pilatus PC-12s on West Coast routes–left the company earlier this month. The brothers started Surf Air in 2011 and launched flight operations in June last year. Last month the company hired former Frontier Airlines chief Jeff Potter as the new CEO.


“They contacted me,” Potter told AIN. “I wasn’t particularly looking and was keeping myself busy in other areas when the board reached out.” He was attracted to Surf Air’s membership model, he said, “and having that as an umbrella over the aviation component. For me it’s the perfect place to find myself.”


While he wouldn’t comment about what prompted the Eyerly brothers to leave the firm they founded (Wade remains an owner), Potter explained that their departure was just part of a company’s “natural progression and evolution.”


The Surf Air business model remains the same: a monthly fee–starting at $1,599–allows members to fly as much as they want on Surf Air’s scheduled flights between the San Francisco Bay Area (San Carlos Airport), Santa Barbara, Burbank and Hawthorne. There are no cancellation fees, and members can book a flight at short notice, as few as 15 minutes before scheduled departure.


Surf Air currently has 434 members, three PC-12s and 65 employees.

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