Flatfare

Flatfare is a proposed European short-haul airline operating on a subscription rather than a per-ticket basis, serving the London–Paris and London–Madrid capital-city corridors. The feasibility study behind it starts from observed demand: of those travelling between London and Paris, approximately eight million made the journey by rail and two million by air over the period studied.

The model assumes capture of 15 per cent of the air market — some 300,000 subscribers — split between frequent travellers on an annual fee of €2,500 and less frequent travellers at €1,000, operating ten daily rotations on the Paris route and twelve on the Madrid route with a 189-seat aircraft. It costs the operation in full, from leasing and slot charges to crew, fuel and per-passenger handling.

Against annual operating costs of roughly €83.3 million, the study projects subscription revenue of €570 million, priority-boarding revenue of €60 million and ancillary revenue of some €47 million — a total of roughly €677 million. The exercise establishes that a subscription structure can, on these assumptions, support short-haul operation on dense city-pair routes.