Flightright swallows Scandinavian competitor

With the takeover of Flyhjælp, the Potsdam-based start-up wants to expand its Scandinavian business. The founders of the Copenhagen-based company remain on board.

The German legal tech start-up Flightright is taking over the Danish air passenger rights platform Flyhjælp. The company announced this on Wednesday. "We have a clear strategic direction and are using the coronavirus crisis to consolidate the market for air passenger rights," said Jan-Frederik Arnold, CFO at Flightright, about the takeover. The purchase price was not initially disclosed.

Flightright and Flyhjælp pursue a similar business model. Both companies help passengers to assert claims against airlines, for example if they are responsible for delays or flight cancellations. The Potsdam-based start-up Flightright has thus become one of the most successful legal tech start-ups in Germany over the past ten years.

With the takeover of its Copenhagen-based competitor, Flightright aims to gain a better insight into Scandinavian law. On the other hand, the company hopes to achieve economies of scale, says CFO Arnold: "The more cases we bring together under one roof, the more we will be able to enforce our customers' cases with the airlines on the basis of the many data points and, if necessary, fight for them in court."

Flyhjælp founders Gustav and Johan Tybo will continue to manage the Copenhagen office in the future. Flightright even plans to expand the branch there in the near future.