Company Seeks to Go Public Sans Underwriter

Founded in 2020, Hawthorne, California’s Surf Air Mobility is an American electric aviation company and the parent entity of Surf Air, a Los Angeles-based charter operator of Pilatus PC-12 single-engine turboprops, and BlackBird Air, a Denmark-based air-charter and aircraft management concern.

On 05 June 2023, Surf Air Mobility Inc. filed plans to list its stock for trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SRFM and make an initial public offering thereof. The company aspires to specialize in proprietary hybrid-electric and fully electric propulsion technology for extant and as-of-yet undeveloped aircraft.

Surf Air Mobility reported a 2023 first-quarter net loss of $20.6-million on revenues of $5.51-million. Over the same time-period in 2022, the company posted a net loss of $10.7 million against revenues of $4.82 million.

Surf Air Mobility set forth it is listing its common stock on the NYSE without a traditional underwritten initial public offering in what the company described as a “novel method for commencing public trading.” Surf Air Mobility further stated the trading volume and price per-share of its common stock may be more volatile than a scenario in which shares of its common stock were initially listed in connection with an underwritten initial public offering.

In September 2020, Surf Air Mobility secured a commitment for $200-million in funding from Global Emerging Markets Group (GEM).

In February 2021, the company entered into an agreement to acquire Ampaire, the Los Angeles-based designer and manufacturer of hybrid-electric aircraft propulsion systems and purveyor of the promising Eco Caravan, a hybrid-electric-powered iteration of Cessna’s 208B Grand Caravan. The reportedly $100-million acquisition was abandoned in early 2022.

In July 2021, Surf Air Mobility announced it had entered into a relationship with Textron Aviation for purpose of developing an electrified Cessna Grand Caravan—a notion suspiciously reminiscent of Ampaire’s Eco Caravan concept. Surf Air Mobility has agreed to purchase up to 150 Cessna Grand Caravan EX single-engine turboprops with an initial fleet order of one-hundred aircraft and an option for an additional fifty.

Surf Air Mobility allegedly seeks to merge with Palm Beach, Florida’s Southern Airways Corporation, a commuter airline operating a fleet comprising primarily Cessna 208 Caravans and Pilatus PC-12 single-engine turboprop aircraft.

FMI: www.surfair.com