Surf Air moves ahead with plans to go public via direct listing

Surf Air Mobility is moving ahead with its plan for a direct listing, the first significant company since 2021 to venture the alternative route to becoming publicly traded. The filing Monday by the regional air travel company confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg News that it was working with Morgan Stanley on the listing. Located at the Hawthorne Municipal Airport in the Los Angeles area, Surf Air is planning for its shares to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SRFM. After the listing and a combination with Southern Airways Corp., co-founder Liam Fayed will remain the largest shareholder with an 8.7% stake, followed by co-founder Sudhin Shahani with 7.3%, according to the filing. Surf Air had a net loss of $20.6m on revenue of $5.5m for the first three months of 2023, according to its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. That compared with a net loss of $10.6m on revenue of $4.8m in the same period the previous year. With Southern Airways included, the combined business had a loss of $15.2m on revenue of almost $28m on a pro forma basis during the first quarter of this year, according to the filing.<br/>