The Austrian flat-rate airline startup SupremeFly is planning to offer numerous European destinations from Bratislava, including Berlin, Rome, Frankfurt am Main, London and Zagreb. Chartered medium-haul jets of the type Airbus A321 will serve as aircraft.

The business model of SupremeFly differs from that of the existing airlines: Depending on the package chosen, customers receive a certain number of included flights per calendar month. The trend is: the more expensive the membership, the more often you can fly with SupremeFly every month. In detail, Aviation Direct already announced a few weeks ago reports on the background and plans of SupremeFly.

Company boss Ahmed Taieb told Aviation Direct that the start will take place with around 25.000 registrations. He assumes that this will be achieved by around June 2021. Originally the plan was to use the Airbus A319, but now the plan is to charter A321. Taieb does not yet want to reveal who will operate this: “Our passengers will most likely be allowed to fly with an Airbus A321. To date, I cannot and may not give any further information about the operator - this will only be the case shortly before the start of the flights ”.

SupremeFly outlines the route network planned at the start as follows:

The destinations shown above represent the current planning status. SupremeFly plans to publish the exact flight plan around June 2021. According to company boss Taieb, a total of 12 non-binding pre-registrations were made on March 2021, 1.216. The company is currently collecting pure expressions of interest that are not associated with any payment obligation. Only when the start is fixed should people be able to decide whether they want to book a fee-based flat rate membership or not. This also provides security, as no advance payments were required and if the project were canceled, no customer funds would have to be reimbursed or would even be at stake. This is a small but subtle difference that sets SupremeFly apart from other airline startups.

Startup is preparing for corona challenges

In times of Corona and discussions about climate protection, a flat-rate flight model comes into complicated market conditions. Therefore, the question of which target group SupremeFly is primarily aimed at is entirely justified. Ahmed Taieb replied: “Our target group for the European routes are mainly young people and people who prefer city breaks and cultural holidays: there is definitely a lot to see here in cities like London, Rome and Amsterdam! With our pricing in particular, we will make a major contribution to increased city tourism within Europe - that is exactly our intention ”.

The Corona issue definitely influences the planning of SupremeFly. It was originally planned to take off from Bratislava in April 2021, but the current entry and quarantine regulations have also contributed to this goal being postponed by a few months. Since the start-up is obviously also targeting Austrian customers, a wise decision, because the entry requirements for Slovakia and Austria are currently complicated. Merely crossing the border to go shopping in Bratislava can trigger a quarantine in both countries. The vast majority of the population does not fall under exceptions, which ultimately has a negative effect on demand in the entire airline industry.

SupremeFly is preparing itself for the fact that travel, as it was possible before the corona pandemic, will remain a dream for a long time to come. Politicians are currently assuming that vaccination and test certificates will be the basic requirement for cross-border travel in addition to the passport.

The SupremeFly founder said: “What I really want to highlight is our COVID-19 area, as the“ Green Pass ”is currently on everyone's lips. Our customers have the option of uploading a COVID-19 test report or accessing it at any time via mobile device - a vaccination status will be added shortly. The simple upload in the customer profile also automatically informs the staff involved about the status of each individual passenger on board ”.

The route network is designed based on demand

When asked about the fact that the destinations Luqa and Stuttgart are not included in the plans, Taieb explained how the future route network will develop: “Our destinations are served according to the frequency of the request, we follow a dynamic flight plan. With us, the customer decides where to go. If we notice that one travel destination is not particularly popular, but another is very popular with our customers, we will adjust the flight plan accordingly. The customer concern has the highest priority for us and we give the customer the opportunity to determine for themselves where we as an airline will fly ”.

The goal of reaching around 2021 non-binding advance registrations by June 25.000 is quite ambitious in view of the corona pandemic, but not completely impossible. In any case, the company founder is convinced that this will succeed. So it remains exciting to see whether SupremeFly's new business model for Europe can hold its own on the market. For commuters who live in Slovakia or Austria, for example, but work in Germany, the flat rate model could offer calculable travel costs for visits to the family. As a rule, this group of commuters does not travel daily, but rather weekly at most and would therefore fit into the target group of SupremeFly.