Elite Air Charter has introduced a new private membership programme, Eclipse Air Share, a rideshare in the sky that lets smaller parties select their destination city and dates, and reduce travel costs by splitting the chartered aircraft with another membership party that has been hand-selected from a similar demographic pool.

The membership programme will first launch in the Canadian market, offering flights to the popular destinations of Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Miami, Scottsdale, the Bahamas and Puerto Vallarta.

"We're solving the problem of how to make private air travel more affordable while also connecting like-minded individuals or groups for shared travel," says managing director Yasmin Alam. "A lot of the time, our clients are ready to pull the trigger, but they can't justify the costs for just two or three people. Eclipse will help alleviate that cost, making it more economical for everyone involved, without compromising the comforts and convenience of a private charter."

The concept of shared private air travel itself isn't new. Nearly a decade ago celebrity-backed BlackJet launched in the market and lasted just three years. Similar to rideshare apps like UberPool in that it connected passengers going in the same direction in order to reduce cost, BlackJet struggled to gain traction and ultimately failed due in part to a disconnect in its passenger selection process that left groups flying with others who weren't necessarily a good fit.

Unlike this system that may have paired a bachelor party heading to a resort with a business professional on their way to a summit, the Eclipse Air Share programme employs a stringent membership application process that requires individuals to share information about themselves, including travel preferences and even pets that may join them on board. Members will also have the opportunity to select multiple dates and locations. The system then processes this information and uses human matchmaking to thoughtfully connect members with other like-minded flyers bound for the same destination. Parings might include a retired couple heading to a vacation home in Miami and an executive en route for business.

Prior to departure, members receive detailed information about who they'll be travelling with, including a short bio, where their travel companions are from and their purpose for travel, be it business or leisure. A maximum of two parties will share one chartered flight, and should one group cancel, the original flight will still take off with the other group on board.

"Eclipse Air Share offers an alternative way to fly," says Alam. "You still have the ability to do a full private charter or to travel commercially, but our membership programme is the new middle ground."