Another Airline Startup Set to Debut in the US

Once again, despite the pandemic, there appears to be enough financial backers and interest for another startup airline in the U.S.

Airbahn is set to become the fourth startup this year to launch as it just took delivery of its first Airbus A320 plane earlier this week, according to Business Insider.

Airbahn will be based in California and will serve mid-range markets in California, Nevada and Canada. So far on its website, the startup is advertising for staff ranging from pilots to aircraft maintenance to human resources at five California locations – Irvine, Oakland, Ontario, Sacramento and San Jose.

Business Insider noted that Airbahn was founded by Tariq M. Chaudhary, the same businessman who founded Airblue, the second-largest airline in Pakistan.

Airbahn is not likely to begin flying until 2022 but will be the fourth airline in the U.S. to launch in a year, joining Avelo, Breeze and Aha!, all three of which have begun service.

Aha!, in fact, has been in the air for barely one month.

If Airbahn follows the blueprint of its predecessor, it will start as a regional/budget carrier using smaller, underserved airports.

According to a filing reported by Business Insider, Airbahn plans to use the 174-seat single-class cabins of the Airbus A320. In fact, that first plane that it took was actually an A320 that has been retrofitted and given new livery after being used by Chaudhary’s Airblue airline.