AURA : The New Luxury Air Travel WAVE

In 2016, at just 20 years old, Zander Futernick founded ZED Aerospace and created AURA. AURA offers a newly curated-comfort flying experience that aims to bridge the gap between commercial transport and private jet charter services, promising to deliver ultra-luxurious air travel at relatively affordable rates. To deliver on this unique vision, they have upgraded 75-seat Bombardier CRJ700 aircraft with a Swiss-designed interior and suite of high-tech features, such as augmented reality displays on OLED side panels and the ceiling.

“When you’re flying over a mountain range, we can show you which mountain you’re flying over,” Futernick explains. “It’s the next generation of cabin mood.”

FIRST on AURA is a new “WAVE”, unlike anything you’ve seen before. It may be in the rear cabin but it’s far beyond what commercial airlines put up front today. FIRST features the widest seats with the most legroom of any domestic first-class service in the United States. Our 20-inch wide seats provide maximum comfort and our 44-inches of pitch means you can actually cross your legs. Each AURA plane has two cabins: FIRST, which accommodates 21 passengers and boasts the most leg room and widest seats of any commercial first-class in the United States—and WAVE, the company’s signature offering. Featuring only eight seats, “WAVE is supposed to resemble the experience of a private jet at a fraction of the cost of any other similar type of service out there today,” Futernick explains.

Slated to begin in 2019, the service—which will exclusively depart from and arrive at private airports and terminals—will initially serve Miami, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Denver. Phase Two cities—including Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Houston—are set to launch the following year. Flights to popular sports, holiday, and event destinations will also be available, with a new booking schedule to be released every 90 days.

Joining requires paying a one-time initiation fee of $700 and a monthly fee of $250 (though those who sign up before July 31 are entitled to a $100-per-month key for life and an initiation fee waiver). By comparison, JetSmarter—AURA’s largest competitor—has a $3,000 initiation fee and a $4,950 annual fee for individual memberships.

One-way ticket prices for KeyHolders range from $280 to $580 for FIRST and $600 to $1,180 for WAVE, with unfixed fares for non-members (who don’t have to pay a monthly fee) starting at $560 and $1,200, respectively.