Seasoned airline executive Jeff Potter is behind the launch of a new travel and lifestyle membership service, Manifest.
Potter left his job as CEO and president of Surf Air in 2017 and was previously boss at Frontier Airlines for five years until 2007 and held the same role at Vanguard Airlines for a year in 2000-2001.
The idea behind Manifest, which Potter has founded, is to operate a platform that connects its members to getaways in exclusive destinations around the U.S. via private planes.
The Colorado-based company says it has received over $2 million in funding from HNWI and Potter. It is currently in the process of filling out a seed round.
Manifest will have club “chapters” that are positioned in the top 50 to 60 U.S. source markets, based on household income and consumer propensity to buy business and first-class fares.
Each will be limited to 175 members. The first chapters available to join now include Denver (with flights out of Centennial Airport), San Francisco Bay Area (San Jose Airport) and Los Angeles (Van Nuys Airport).
The cost for members comes in at $2,500 per year.
Potter says: "I’ve been fortunate in my aviation, hospitality and travel career in that each opportunity presented me with some successes, and equally as important, some lessons learned, all of which came to bear when I envisioned the concept of Manifest.
"While I’ve have had the good fortune to travel to all corners of the world, I still believe there is much to be discovered within a matter of hours from where we live. This is especially true now, in the midst of COVID-19 – we are still searching for moments of excitement and discovery but in destinations much closer to home."
Other chapters are planned for Santa Barbara, San Diego, Phoenix, Seattle and Portland in the coming months.
Included on the team are Kelly Tompkins (chief product officer, ex-founder of AdventureLink and LeisureLink), Dan Cohn (vice president of corporate strategy, ex-Delta exec), Margaret Harrell (director of business operations) and Cam Thiel (director of member services, ex-United and Inspirato exec).