A HIGH-FLYING entrepreneur has launched a new business selling bottled fresh air which he captures on skydives — for £199 (US$286) each.

    Optimistic Jakob Aungiers, a semi-pro skydiver, holds a little glass bottle downwards while plunging to the ground at 160 mph (257 kmph).

    He quickly pops a cork in the 250 ml container before opening his parachute and landing safely down with the bottled product.

    German-born Aungiers, 25, reckons the purity of the air at 15,000 feet (4,572 meters) will appeal to people living in congested and polluted cities.

    He also hopes some will snap them up for their “symbolic” significance.

    Aungiers, a finance worker who lives in Brixton, south London, came up with the idea after clocking up 700 jumps since taking up skydiving seven years ago.

    He launched “Bottled At Altitude” complete with its own website two months ago.

    He is offering bottles at an introductory price of £99 but says they will soon shoot up to £199.

    Aungiers claims to have sold “a couple” of his air bottles so far but insisted, “It’s still early days.”

    And he defended the sky-high price tag, saying, “It’s not just a bottle of air.”

    He said, “Physically it is, but you are getting a premium product. It has got that little bit of spiritual and symbolic value.”

    He said, “I read last year about some guy going around the countryside with a net and collecting air like that to sell, and I thought that’s great, but I can do one better than that.

    “Air in the countryside is fresh, but not quite as fresh as air from two and a half miles up.

    “For people living in polluted cities like London or Manchester — or even New York and Hong Kong — to have a little bottle of freshness and pureness is brilliant.

    “Just to have that freshness and pureness in your house in their house can help, or even to have that there to open in a time of need.

    “Also, it is something that take a bit of time and effort and determination and bravery to do, so it has that value.”(SD-Agencies)