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Street Ideas Just Put Surf Air Mobility (NYSE: SRFM) On The Radar This Morning—Thursday, October 1, 2026
Don’t Miss Our Next Update—Get Real-Time Alerts Sent Directly To Your Phone. Up To 10X Faster Than Email. Consider Pulling Up (SRFM) While It’s Still Early… October 1, 2026 Dear Reader, There is a lot happening at Surf Air Mobility (NYSE: SRFM) right now, but the software business is what stands out most this morning. Three OperatorOS customers in less than two weeks have put SurfOS squarely in focus. One of the more important developments at Surf Air Mobility (NYSE: SRFM) is happening on the software side. The company is beginning to turn technology built for internal use into a platform for outside aviation operators. On September 17, the company signed its first commercial OperatorOS contract with Sprintbach Aviation.1 Six days later, on September 23, it signed a second with SkyDance Air. That same morning, it named Barrett Brown, a 10-year Palantir veteran who ran Palantir's Asia business, as President of SurfOS. And now just a week later, Air Fuga is announced as the third OperatorOS customer this month. Three commercial operators. One Palantir-trained executive hired to sell the platform. All inside a span of 2 weeks.
And it lands on top of a second quarter where revenue came in at the high end of guidance, private charter revenue more than doubled, and management reaffirmed full-year Adjusted EBITDA guidance it had already improved by roughly 40% Here is what just happened, and why it matters. OperatorOS Is No Longer a Product Launch.
It Is a Revenue Line.
Surf Air Mobility (NYSE: SRFM) announced a definitive agreement with Air Fuga, its third OperatorOS customer in less than two weeks. The Company also announced that its partnership with Palantir Technologies Inc. is accelerating the commercialization of OperatorOS and the development of OwnerOS. These announcements come as Barrett Brown, the former Head of Asia at Palantir, begins his role as President of SurfOS, effective September 30, 2026, where he will lead efforts to scale commercial deployment and grow SurfOS revenue. The definitive agreement with Air Fuga for OperatorOS continues the commercial momentum of OperatorOS, following recent announcements of contracts with Sprintbach Aviation and SkyDance Air. Surf Air Mobility will earn a percentage of revenue for all flights managed through the OperatorOS software. SkyDance is the second largest single-fleet operator of Cirrus Vision Jets in North America. It flies three aircraft today and plans to grow to approximately ten in 2027, and once again SRFM earns a percentage of revenue on every flight the software manages. That pricing model is the point. Surf Air Mobility is not selling a one-time license, it is taking a slice of its customers' revenue, so the software line grows as the operators grow. Liam Fayed, Co-founder of Surf Air Mobility, put it plainly. Quote: "OperatorOS is an ideal solution for an operator like SkyDance, a high-volume Part 135 business that needs better tools to manage scheduling and crew operations as they grow. This second agreement of OperatorOS reinforces a trend we are seeing with operators needing a single platform built with modern software that replaces the patchwork of systems and manual processes they are using today."
OperatorOS is the piece of SurfOS built for Part 135 operators. It handles aircraft and crew scheduling, flight management, reporting, and distribution from a single AI-enabled system powered by Palantir's Foundry and AIP platforms. Surf Air Mobility has run its own airlines, Southern Airways and Mokulele Airlines, on OperatorOS since 2025. So the first outside customers are not buying a demo, they are buying software that already runs roughly 112 scheduled departures a day in Hawaii alone. Sprintbach operates nine aircraft with 16 pilots, and it already flies for Surf On Demand, so it had watched OperatorOS run a real airline before it signed. Under the agreement, SRFM will earn a percentage of revenue on every Sprintbach flight managed through the software. One more detail sits inside both releases. The FAA recently approved OperatorOS as an authorized system of record for electronic signatures and recordkeeping. For a regulated Part 135 operator, that is the difference between a nice dashboard and a system it can actually run its certificate on. Management's stated goal is five operators live on OperatorOS by the end of 2026. Three are signed, and three months remain. 
SurfOS brings Palantir-powered AI to the fragmented private aviation market through three flagship products: BrokerOS, OperatorOS, and OwnerOS.
Every Operator Added Makes the Other Side of
the Platform Stronger
SurfOS is built as a two-sided platform. Brokers on BrokerOS need aircraft, and operators on OperatorOS supply them. The company says each new operator on OperatorOS adds supply and operational data to the platform, which strengthens the supply and demand dynamics with BrokerOS and improves distribution through the broker network.2 In plain terms, every operator that signs makes BrokerOS more valuable to every broker already on it. And BrokerOS already has its anchor customer. In June, Wheels Up Experience, one of the largest private aviation companies in the world, became the launch customer for Enterprise BrokerOS in a contract worth up to $12M over the initial three-year term. The independent broker program, Powered by Surf On Demand, has drawn hundreds of applications since launch. So SurfOS now has paying customers on both sides of the marketplace. That is the moment platform businesses are built on. The Executive Hired to Sell It Spent 10 Years at Palantir
Surf Air Mobility (NYSE: SRFM) appointed Barrett Brown as President of SurfOS, effective September 30. He will lead go-to-market, strategy, and commercial expansion for the software business. Brown spent 2013 to 2024 at Palantir Technologies, starting as a Forward Deployed Engineer in New York and serving as Head of Asia from 2018, where he ran business strategy and operations across the region for government and commercial clients. He then served as Vice President and Head of APAC at Maxar Technologies and has advised Turion Space since 2024. In his own words. Quote: "I spent my career at Palantir scaling enterprise software into new markets, and I'm looking forward to repeating that success at SurfOS as we build a massive business."
Chairman Shawn Pelsinger, himself a ten-year Palantir veteran, worked alongside Brown there. Quote: "Barrett and I worked together at Palantir, and I've witnessed first hand his success in building and scaling disruptive software platforms. He has a rare ability to translate complex technology into commercial strategies that drive and accelerate customer adoption. Barrett is the leader that SurfOS needs today."
Step back and look at the whole picture. Palantir accepted $6M in equity instead of cash for software services in November 2025, making it one of the company's largest outside shareholders In June 2026, Palantir expanded the partnership, adding engineering resources plus business development and go-to-market staff who now participate directly in SurfOS enterprise sales. In July, Pelsinger became Chairman of the Board. Palantir's fingerprints are now on the cap table, the boardroom, the engineering team, and the executive running the software business. Companies do not get that treatment from Palantir by accident. The Second Quarter Numbers Behind the Story
Software contracts are easier to trust when the underlying business is executing. The second quarter, reported August 10, showed exactly that.
- Revenue of $29.5M, at the high end of the $27 to $30M guidance range, up 8% year-over-year and 15% over the first quarter
- Surf On Demand private charter revenue of $12.1M, up 101% year-over-year, with departures up approximately 67%, the highest revenue and flight volume quarter since inception
- Adjusted EBITDA loss of $10.5M, within guidance, despite elevated fuel costs and weather-related cancellations in Hawaii
- Airline operations ended the quarter at a 98% controllable completion factor, 88% on-time arrivals, and 83% on-time departures
Then management gave the market a road map. Third quarter revenue guidance is $35.5 to $37.5Mwith an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $7 to $4M, and the company expects the loss to narrow further in the fourth quarter. Full-year revenue guidance stands at $128 to $138M, representing 20% to 30% growth, with a full-year Adjusted EBITDA loss of $30 to $25M, an approximate 40% improvement from prior guidance of a $50 to $40Mloss. For the second half, management expects airline operations to be the most profitable area of the business. CEO Deanna White summarized the quarter. Quote: "The second quarter was strong. We delivered revenue at the high end of our guidance range and Adjusted EBITDA within our range, and we did so during one of the most volatile fuel cost environments the industry has experienced."
Read the sequence. A $10.5Mloss in Q2, guidance for a $7 to $4M loss in Q3, and a narrower loss still in Q4. Hawaii Just Locked In Four Years of Federal Revenue
On September 14, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Mokulele Airlines a new Essential Air Service contract to continue scheduled service to Lanai. The contract represents $19.4M in EAS subsidies over four years, excluding passenger fares, doubling the term of the prior contract and providing contracted revenue through August 2030. Mokulele won it through a competitive process. In awarding the contract, the DOT highlighted Mokulele's track record serving the Lanai community, its established infrastructure in Hawaii, and the strength of its interline connectivity. Under the new contract, Mokulele will operate 63 weekly round trips, or 126 weekly flights, connecting Lanai to Honolulu and Kahului. Today Mokulele runs approximately 112 daily departures across five islands and is the largest commuter airline network in Hawaii by airports served. Louis Saint-Cyr, President of Airline Operations, framed what Hawaii means to the bigger plan. Quote: "This contract also rewards the broader investments we've made into our Hawaii operations where we provide safe, reliable, and profitable air service, and where we continue building toward our ambition of operating the first commercial passenger electric flights in the country."
That last line is not a throwaway. Hawaii's short average stage length and high-frequency interisland routes make it a model network for the introduction of electric aircraft. Surf Air Mobility (NYSE: SRFM) holds a firm order for 25 all-electric BETA ALIA aircraft with options for up to 75 more, and is BETA's designated launch operator for commercial electric passenger service. In June, BETA's electric aircraft began landmark demonstration flights across the Hawaiian Islands with Hawaiian Airlines' support. 
The BETA ALIA in Surf Air livery. Surf Air Mobility has placed a firm order for 25 aircraft with options for up to 75 more.
Sitting at the Table With the FAA, Joby, and Archer
On September 10, SRFM executives attended the launch meeting for Project Nexus at Alliance Field in Fort Worth, Texas. Project Nexus is the FAA's eVTOL Integration Pilot Program initiative awarded to North Texas, bringing together a coalition of the industry's leading eVTOL manufacturers, including BETA Technologies, Joby Aviation, and Archer Aviation. Think about who is in that room. Aircraft makers still working toward certification, and one company with a Part 135 airline, real crews, and the software to run them. CEO Deanna White made the positioning explicit. Quote: "We built SurfOS and our operating airline for this moment. Surf Air Mobility's role is to make sure that once these aircraft are certified, there is a commercial platform available for their technologies to seamlessly go to market and scale."
The company has a stated goal of flying the first commercial passenger electric flight once the aircraft are certified. Every eVTOL maker in that coalition will need an operator to bring its aircraft into service, and Surf Air Mobility is building the platform to be that operator. And on September 28, 2026, it was also announced SRFM had signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the FAA to participate in the agency’s Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories (“SMART”) program. Under the agreement, Surf Air Mobility will serve as a Participating Airspace User in the FAA’s evaluation of new tools designed to modernize how the National Airspace System is managed. Surf Air Mobility has some major potential catalysts right now:
- Two OperatorOS Contracts in Six Days: Sprintbach Aviation on September 17 and SkyDance Air on September 23, both paying a percentage of flight revenue, against a stated goal of five operators live by year-end.
- A Palantir Veteran Now Runs SurfOS: Barrett Brown, 10 years at Palantir and former Head of Asia, starts as President of SurfOS on September 30.
- BrokerOS Has Its Enterprise Anchor: Wheels Up signed as launch customer for Enterprise BrokerOS, worth up to $12M over the initial three-year term.
- Q2 Delivered and Q3 Guidance Steps Up: Q2 revenue of $29.5M at the high end of guidance, charter revenue up 101%, and Q3 revenue guided to $35.5 to $37.5M with the loss narrowing to $7 to $4M.
- $19.4M in Contracted Federal Revenue Through 2030: The four-year Lanai Essential Air Service contract, awarded competitively by the DOT.
- The Electric Aviation Launchpad: 25 BETA aircraft on firm order with options for 75 more, demonstration flights already flown in Hawaii, and a seat at the FAA's Project Nexus alongside BETA, Joby, and Archer.
- A $75B to $115B Market: McKinsey projects the regional air mobility market at $75 to $115B by 2035, and NASA has called it transformational for American transportation
The Team Building It
Deanna White, Chief Executive Officer. More than 20 years in aerospace, former COO of Wisk Aero and former CEO and CFO of Bombardier Flexjet, one of the largest private aviation companies in the world. Jason Secore, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Secore brings 18 years of finance leadership experience across aviation, aerospace, and technology companies. He has served as Chief Financial Officer of Matternet, a full-stack autonomous aviation technology company integrating aircraft, software, and operations. Shawn Pelsinger, Chairman of the Board. Ten years leading corporate development at Palantir, where he personally built the Surf Air relationship and helped architect Skywise, the Palantir and Airbus aviation data platform. Barrett Brown, President of SurfOS. Eleven years at Palantir, including Head of Asia, followed by Vice President and Head of APAC at Maxar Technologies. What to Watch Before Year-End
Management has put specific markers on the calendar for the fourth quarter. These are the checkpoints:
The software is sold. The operators are signing. A Palantir veteran is running it. And the airline underneath just locked in federal revenue through 2030. That is the Surf Air Mobility (NYSE: SRFM) story this week and as always, please remember to do your own research. See the full Surf Air Mobility story here. Consider pulling up (SRFM) while it’s still early today, Thursday, October 1, 2026. Sincerely, Paul Prescott
Co-Founder & Managing Editor
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