Using its proprietary algorithms, Flyv offers its customers a guarantee that they will have a fixed travel time to their chosen destination at the point of booking their flights, and they will receive an exact itinerary detailing their arrangements prior to travelling.

What is Flyv?

Flyv is a complete aviation experience, from booking to transport to travelling using one app and one airline. It is also the first European air mobility service to leverage algorithms which allocate and adjust the capacity of flights across networks utilising underserved 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th tier airports on a constant flexible basis, optimising the use of small aircrafts and airports.

And whilst Flyv’s algorithms work in the background – all the front-end customer knows is that when they book their flight, they will fly where they want, when they want. “You’ll book your departure and arrival address, and we’ll take care of the rest,” says Lang.

The idea

“The idea comes from a saying from my father that ‘the most beautiful way to travel is by air’,” Lang reminisces as he talks to Startups Magazine’s Associate Editor, Sheryl Miles, at MOVE: Mobility Reimagined, in London.

Lang has been travelling by air since he was 13 years old. His father was a General Manager for various airlines. “I grew into this industry,” he comments.

Between 2008 and 2013, Lang transformed a private business Jet company into an airline before owning and selling the company and seeking his next adventure. Five years later, during his management position at Cologne Airport, Lang met “one great person” Anton Lutz, who would become his Co-Partner and Co-Founder.

“I know how to run and manage an airline, and all the challenges that come with an airline. He’s educated in aviation and algorithms and mathematics. I told him, ‘I will build an airline if someone can predict the future [of air travel].’ That’s the problem of an airline trying to run a profitable business model on the future – knowing the unknown. But Anton said: ‘we can do that.’ He explained that all we needed was an algorithm and our own software. Plus, our own airline and aeroplanes and the rest would be simple … so we started challenging ourselves.

“It’s a combination of aircraft, of knowledge, of people, of software, of future technology, of AI, and of KI.”

It was then that the partners soon realised that they already had the technology in place.

“We brought all of that together and came up with this ‘magic juice’ whereby our customers will predict the future for us, by telling us where and when they want to fly. And through our algorithm software, we will make that happen.”

Sustainable aviation

“We’re paving the way for the future of aviation to run fully sustainable.”

Flyv have a ‘locked-in’ contract with Electra.aero – a hybrid aircraft manufacturer from Virginia, US, who are transitioning to electric flights. Meaning that Flyv will be the first fully Co2 emissions free airline.

Lang is planning on selling Flyv’s first tickets in 2024, with the company’s first flights taking off in 2025. Currently Flyv can connect passengers to 150 central airports in Germany, which, says Lang, can be extended to 400, as can London and Denmark.

Why Flyv?

“If you tell me you want to fly on a certain date from Oxford to Manchester, for example, and you want a specific time and you’re happy to pay a price for that. That’s now locked into the algorithm, and your guaranteed flight is there.

Currently Flyv is pre-revenue and is looking for partners and investors to collaborate with. “I think people believe in the pure on-demand air mobility smart flying model. I strongly believe that the people want it, and they will use it if we do things right.

“We are pooling decentral air traffic streams, but that will need time. That’s why we need to build it, we need to fuel that algorithm and test the software. That’s why we will start small, with only four or five aeroplanes at the beginning. It’s all about testing the algorithms. Once that works and we have understood our network set up, we will grow organically.

“The vision of the future for Flyv is that it will be solely determined by our customers. They will tell us where they want to go, and we will connect them with the best decentral connection. We will connect the network to the closest airport they can get.

“The software is available in demonstrator version. Now we need funding to fuel it, to get it bigger.”

Whether its customers want to fly direct, or have different stops, it’s their choice. “You can have direct or multi-stop, it’s your choice. Flyv will get you there.”

Flyv bird – the next AaaS (Airline as a Service)

Smart air mobility begets smart air travellers, and Lang is already unleashing accolades on the future flyers of Flyv.

“Birds fly in a V formation, and when they do, they’re efficient, they’re fast, and they’re working in collaboration. That’s why we call it ‘smart flying.’ Also, our customers are smart because they will be using Flyv.”