"Climate awareness and flying are not contradictory".

Flyla wants to make flying palatable to an otherwise climate-conscious generation of students. In an interview, new CEO Ben Shaw tells us why flying can be cool and green.

Families on vacation, business travelers, tourists from foreign countries. At the gates of German airports, a wide variety of travelers crowd into the airlines' planes. But on average, around one fifth of the seats on the plane remain empty. Flyla wants to close these gaps with discounted tickets for a target group that might otherwise not be able to afford to travel - namely students. But they are actually rather critical of the airplane as a mobility option because of environmental concerns.

Mr. Shaw, with your platform you want to offer students discounted airline tickets. After the corona pandemic, you are now venturing a new start. What do you want to do differently?

We are massively expanding the range of airlines and also opening up long-haul flights. A lot has happened in the meantime. Almost every airline now offers student fares. We're also seeing a new generation of students who have really grown up completely digital.

What differentiates this generation from older students?

We need to capture younger users faster, attention spans have become much shorter. People often talk about seven seconds. We have to take that into account in marketing, of course. Another requirement also has to do with the issue of climate neutrality.

Some students are sticking their necks out for the climate, while others are on a flight bargain hunt. How does that fit together?

We have a generation where flying is no longer cool. Only one in 20 students even knows there are discounted fares. People today are more likely to hide if they fly a lot. At the same time, the data tells a different story: the new generation of students is traveling more than ever, by comparison. Corona has accelerated this because many students have realized that they don't even need to be in college to study anymore.

So for many students, the desire to travel is greater than the shame of flying?

Climate awareness and flying are not necessarily contradictory. The basic idea behind Flyla is to increase the utilization of aircraft. And that also reduces the average CO2 footprint per passenger. The planes would also take off without the students on board, but then with wasted seats.

But if the load factor doesn't drop, no routes will be canceled.

Of course, sooner or later, getting more and more students to fly can also increase demand for routes and thus supply. That's why we were aware early on that we had to deal with the issue of climate friendliness. We do that in two ways: We plant one to three trees in reforestation projects for every flight booked. We also offset the CO2 emissions of each flight. To be sure that the compensation projects are also serious and sustainable, we work together with Squake. This is a platform that was founded by Lufthansa, is active in Germany and is certified by TÜV Nord.

Environmental organizations tend to be critical of CO2 offsets. Wouldn't a reduction in emissions make more sense?

Of course, the goal of the airline industry must be to eventually fly CO2-neutral using modern fuels.

Why is it important for students to travel a lot?

Average happiness decreases when you buy an item, but increases when you collect experiences. We want to make it possible for students to travel who would otherwise not be able to afford it.

Do you necessarily have to fly to do that?

Of course, for some routes you can do without the plane. In the long term, we also want to cover a broader spectrum in the travel market: Trains, flights, hostels. There are many components to a trip that we still want to develop. For many destinations, however, there will be no getting around the airplane in the long term.

Ben Shaw studied business informatics in Scotland and worked at Barclays,a major British bank, before entering the start-up scene. He has now taken over the management of Flyla.