There has been a lot of coverage of POP, a new crowd-funded low-cost long haul airline but will it succeed? Andrew Hennigan is yet to be convinced

In a move that has been widely covered, a new low-cost, long haul airline is using crowdfunding to raise the £5 million needed for their first year of business. Coined POP – from People Over Profit – the new airline initially plans to operate non-stop flights from London Stansted airport to two key secondary cities in India – Amritsar in Punjab and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Crowdfunding, which works by inviting supporters to provide the money to fund a project, has long been a popular way to fund new high-tech products, video games, TV shows and even movies. The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset company, acquired by Facebook, started as a Kickstarter project that raised $2.5 million in 2012. The movie Super Troopers 2 was entirely crowdfunded by fans of the franchise, raising $2 million in 2015 and the Star Citizen video game raised $114 million on Indiegogo. In the travel world crowdfunding has mostly been limited to clothing like the BauBax travel jacket that raised $11 million on Indiegogo in 2014 and accessories like the BlueSmart smart luggage that raised $2.6 million in 2014.

In return for supporter backing, they get to help create a product they personally want to use.  To encourage people to donate more, the promoter usually offers a series of perks, normally in packages at different prices. Perks typically include fan-pleasers like having your name in the credits of a movie, or a chance to meet the band at a private event in the case of an album.

…there is no sign yet that the idea is taking off

In the rewards-based crowdfunding scheme chosen by POP the customers who buy a £500 Gold Pass receive one free off-peak return seat to any POP destination. For the next five years they also enjoy frequent-flyer-like perks including extra luggage allowance, unlimited free ticket name changes, priority boarding, extra legroom, complimentary meals and free Wifi. To benefit they will, of course, have to book more flights in this period.

POP hasn’t forgotten the your-name-on-the-product either: the first 7,000 gold pass supporters will also have a name of their choice printed as part of the POP logo on the underside of the aircraft, though if experience is anything to go by many of these names are likely to be Plany McPlaneface or worse.

What makes POP unusual is not just the crowdfunding. The company will also gift at least 51% of profits to charitable causes in the communities it serves – hence People Before Profits. Their choice of crowdfunding platform is also unusual. Instead of the market leaders Kickstarter or Indiegogo POP chose the Trillion Fund, which provides funding for social and environmental projects.

POP plans to launch their first direct flight from London Stansted airport to Amritsar before the end of 2016 but the company’s vision is more ambitious - to provide non-stop flights between the UK and second cities in nations of the developing world, targeting new demands in the Visiting Friends and Relatives, leisure tourism and business travel markets in the communities they serve.

POP may be banking on its ‘caring capitalist’ concept but the question is: will people in those communities care enough to pay upfront to rather than just flying through a hub on an existing airline.

Many people in the travel industry and beyond are watching the POP experiment. If it works it could start a new trend for other crowdfunded direct airline routes funded by passengers. But there is no sign yet that the idea is taking off. Some crowdfunding campaigns are spectacularly successful. The Pebble Time smart watch raised 4000% of their $500,000 target; the BauBax travel jacket raised 45,965% of their $20,000 target and a card game called Exploding Kittens recently raised 87,825% of the initial $10,000 goal. Even with the help of broad media coverage, in the first two days POP raised £8,500, just 0.17% of their 60-day goal of £5 million.