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.

Already, Corona has cost quite a few companies their livelihoods: The latest example is travel startup FromAtoB, which has shut down 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 working hard 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 journeys. The company was supported by the EU Commission and the German government.

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

Members of Allrail such as FromAtoB had written a letter to Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager last summer expressing concern "that the Covid 19 measures will 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.