New startup offers first class 'all-you-can-fly' service between major Texas cities

Photos show a plane from the fleet of Beechcraft King Air 200s used by Texas Air Shuttle. The Texas-based company will offer all-you-can-fly commutes between San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth for members only. Membership fees range from $899 - $4,900 per month. less Photos show a plane from the fleet of Beechcraft King Air 200s used by Texas Air Shuttle. The Texas-based company will offer all-you-can-fly commutes between San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth ... more Photo: Courtesy/Texas Air Shuttle Photo: Courtesy/Texas Air Shuttle Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close New startup offers first class 'all-you-can-fly' service between major Texas cities 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

An all-you-can-fly air shuttle is coming to San Antonio in February, as well as other major Texas cities, in an effort to reduce the hassle of traveling by plane.

Texas Air Shuttle announced Jan. 6 that they have opened a waitlist for flights in February. The company, which operates from the Lone Star Executive Airport in Conroe near Houston, focuses on business travelers that make daily commutes.

“Time is money,” chairman and founder Ken Haney said, referring to the hours-long drive businessmen take when traveling to other cities. “Business commuters need to make themselves more productive.”

The planes will commute between San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. Haney said they are limiting flights to two hours for now, but they do plan to expand to Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Membership fees range from $899 - $4,900 per month and all members must pass a background check. Haney said flyers would not have to go through security checks before boarding because none of the destination airports have TSA requirements.

For San Antonio, the plane would fly into the Stinson Municipal Airport on the South Side.

Haney said he thought of the unlimited-flights idea after being a business traveler for 22 years and dealing with check-ins that are “needed, but just overrated.”

Texas Air Shuttle is the second Texas-based company to offer private flights. Rise, based in Dallas, launched last fall and offers interstate flights for membership fees starting at $1,650.

According to a report on Bloomberg.com, the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport and the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston are deemed some of the most frustrating airports in the country, and the route is one of the busiest in the country, Haney said.

The San Antonio International Airport was not ranked on the list, but Austin’s Bergstrom International Airport was ranked third for least frustrating airports.

rsalinas@mysa.com