New US airline plans to sell 'condo' seats on N.Y.-L.A. route

December 6, 1983

Next March, you may hear a Los Angeles executive arriving at a New York airport say ''I did - really. Flew all the way here on that condominium.'' What he will mean is that he crossed the country on Bicoastal Air, which next year will fly 98-pas-senger refitted Lockheed Tristars on this route.

But a flying condo?

That's the multi-ownership concept developed by this new air transport service. A limited partnership is being arranged to buy and refurbish Tristars for lease to Bicoastal. The airline will in turn seek investors - mostly corporate - willing to participate in the venture at the $200,000 level.

Put together for companies with frequent coast-to-coast executive travel, Bicoastal expects to charge 40 percent less for individual seats than normal airlines charge for first-class tickets. Space not used could be resold by the condo owners or returned to the airline itself for resale, officials said.