Travel startup FromAtoB discontinues service

The platform FromAtoB announces its end. The reason is the economic difficulties caused by the Corona crisis. The industry association also sees the state as responsible.

Corona has already cost several companies their existence: The latest example is the travel start-up FromAtoB, which has discontinued its service as of Dec. 28, 2020, according to a notice on its website. It cites "economic developments" as the reason. It added: "After months of hard work and hoping for better times, we have to admit that the travel industry still hasn't recovered."

The start-up was founded in Aachen in 2008 and had developed a search engine for the perfect trip, combining all offers from train, bus and flight to carpooling. The algorithm was also able to incorporate individual wishes, such as those for the lowest possible CO2 emissions or very fast travel. The company was supported by the EU Commission and the German government.

The European industry association Allrail sees the responsibility primarily with the railways, which are owned by the states and do not provide independent platforms such as FromAtoB with real-time data, making their work more difficult. Various providers had complained to the EU Competition Commission about this.

Members of Allrail like FromAtoB had written a letter to Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager last summer expressing concern "that the Covid 19 measures only help state-owned railways to further distort the market and irreversibly limit growth among competitors in the long term." In Germany, the Federal Cartel Office is investigating allegations of market abuse by Deutsche Bahn.