AVIATION ACCELERATOR LAUNCHED FOR POST-COVID-19 TRAVEL

SimpliFlying Launchpad aims to power technologies to kickstart travel

The world's first accelerator designed explicitly for post-COVID-19 travel launches today.
The SimpliFlying Launchpad curates market-ready technologies and matches them with airports and airlines looking for urgent solutions on everything from sanitisation to contact tracing.

Created by aviation consultancy SimpliFlying, the SimpliFlying Launchpad has a range of major names on board as corporate partners, ready to pilot new technologies to kickstart travel.

The launch of the SimpliFlying Launchpad comes after SimpliFlying's April report. 'The Rise of Sanitised Travel', identified over 70 different passenger touchpoints that will change as a result of the need to reassure both passengers as well as industry regulators, that air travel won't be a spreader of the pandemic.

The Rise of Sanitised Travel was covered in over 200 media outlets worldwide, with many of the measures described subsequently helping airlines, airports and industry regulators such as EASA and IATA.

Four focus areas
Over the next two months, the SimpliFlying Launchpad is inviting applications in four different areas that have been shortlisted after consultation with the industry partners. They include sanitisation, touchless travel, contact tracing and ancillary revenues.

All applicants are invited to join SimpliFlying Marketplace, which is a private platform for airlines and airports to find the best solutions, without having to conduct rigorous research on their own.

In just a couple of weeks, the SimpliFlying team curates the most promising solutions and invites them to work with industry mentors. Finally, a virtual demo day showcases all finalists to pilot partners,aviation executives and even investors. Startups exit the programme and are ready to go live, with the SimpliFlying team having developed their launch trajectory in aviation.

World-class partners
SimpliFlying is constantly adding world-class partners and mentors to advise applicants before each demo day, including current and former aviation executives. They have successfully rolled out large scale technology implementations and will share their experiences with the shortlisted startups.

One of the partners, Akira Mitsumasu, VP Marketing, Japan Airlines, said, "At such critical times, we must work collaboratively to find solutions both for the short term and the longer term. SimpliFlying Launchpad will be a platform for concerted efforts."

SimpliFlying’s CEO Shashank Nigam added, "To deal with the unprecedented challenges brought on by the pandemic, the aviation industry urgently needs transformative innovations to help rebuild passenger trust in travel. As a result of this, not only will we be helping a new class of startups and entrepreneurs succeed."

"We aim to curate ready-to-deploy solutions for aviation partners who are willing to pilot them. We'll also ensure that the aviation industry can successfully and quickly meet the challenges of the COVID-19 era of travel and beyond, with tried and tested and ready to go solutions."