flyvbird, Europe's new low-cost, on-demand regional airline model, has confirmed the creation of its flyvAI prototype, featuring proprietary algorithm and software architecture. It has been developed in collaboration with customised software development company Startup House of Poland, working in close collaboration with flyvbird's CEO Anton Lutz. The system will now be fine-tuned over the next six to nine months.
The algorithm prototype pools travel demands from customers – marrying them with available city pairs and routes. Passengers can determine an itinerary based on ‘constraints' – i.e., whether they are prepared to take stops en-route to their chosen destination, because doing so will reduce the ticket price. More flexibility with the itinerary will enable flyvbird to distribute a price-sensitive model to its customers.
“This is a significant milestone in our development,” said CEO Anton Lutz. “Using this proprietary software, we hope to deliver high standards in efficiency, convenience, and environmental sustainability for regional air mobility.”
flyvbird is committed to its vision of enhancing connectivity in rural areas of Europe – all utilizing smaller, more accessible airports. Its first aircraft will be the nine-seat Tecnam P2012 Traveller, with its short runway, rugged performance characteristics. Thereafter, it plans to move into the hybrid-electric Electra, when infrastructure to support next-generation aircraft becomes available. Flyvbird signed a Letter of Intent with the US manufacturer Tecnam for up to 100 aircraft in June 2023.
“We haven't determined our full future fleet yet, but we plan to keep loyal to the Tecnam Traveller P2012 for a long time. It's right sized, offers excellent performance with good economics and is perfect to get distributed in new networks and scale-up. It's all about unit economics and technology,” said Anton Lutz, speaking at World Aviation Festival 2023 in Lisbon on September 28.
Initially, flybird will focus on six initial airports with three aircraft. “We ask the algorithm what it can do – to help us to generate 72 connections for example, considering passengers' needs flying on a route (including whether they will accept a stop). Once fine-tuned we skip into the second year with seven aircraft, enabling 85 connections. And once that's happening, we can escalate and open all our airports in between, because then we will understand our customers, and fly non-stop flights,” explained Anton Lutz.
