New flight search startup wants to revolutionize the business

The Swedish-Russian flight search startup Avionero is, on July 11th, launching a beta version of a new user friendly flight searching website based on advanced AI technology. According to recent studies, 55% of US business travelers believe that AI advancements can improve their travel experience. With the help of this AI technology, Avionero is the first of its kind in the world to provide live searches with open criteria on price comparison level, which means users can, for example, search flights for a whole country. Due to Avionero’s business model, they can provide the largest inventory of flights – larger than other price comparison site. The team behind Avionero has developed a new user friendly interface deeply connected to behavioural psychology, and they use a modern search technique similar to Google, Amazon, and YouTube. This, to be able to meet the populace, personalise the search results, and obtain relevant recommendations for the user. So far, via a pre seed-round, as well as a seed-round, Avionero has raised almost a million dollars. Their intention for autumn is to raise an A-round of $2.5 million. Avionero’s goal is a growth of 100-200% per year. In addition to this, Avionero will – at the users request, via a Gamified Rollout – launch in a new country every three months.

I’ve been in the online flight search business for ten years, and have for a long time tried to argue that the existing services, and how they’re built today, doesn’t match the users’ needs. I know the market need Avionero – an online flight search website that’s established on people’s needs and wants, based on the thought process of people when they plan their travels – and which is not a chatbot. We’re everything but yet another chatbot, instead we’re building a new user interface, and use a new and modern search technique similar to Google, Amazon, Ebay, and YouTube, CEO and architect Lars Kristensson says.

With a brand new business model – where Avionero works closest to the customers, one step closer than the price comparison websites – Avionero is the next generation online flight searching website. Unlike chatbots, which usually are focusing on a niche audience, Avionero meets the needs of the populace. The team behind the product has a genuine interest for people’s flexibility, curiosity, and comfort, and their goal is to simplify the process for the end user. For example, all searches will be presented on one page, which means less tabs open, and a better overview of the different options. By being able to choose open, many, or no dates, the user also is freer and is allowed more flexibility, while still getting correct live prices for the dates presented. Avionero personalises the results by not only showing the cheapest alternatives, but also the most relevant flights for the user, giving an effective and more convenient search experience compared to other traditional sites. As Avionero proceeds, they will also be adding the ability to search for weekend trips based on weather forecast, family vacations with sun and swimming, backpacking trips within a certain budget, or even an address or village you need to visit.

We've always been developing Avionero while having actual user needs in mind. A lot of people have flexibility in plans which is poorly supported by current solutions on the market and we wanted to encourage this behaviour: Explore, compare flights and be inspired by unexpected options! That was my main challenge in UX: How can we help people to search for flights based on how they actually think about it, rather than how it's constrained by the current technology? Anton Tyulenev, co-founder and UX designer of Avionero says.

Together with this launch, Avionero will publish a Gamified Rollout (a poll) where the users will be able to vote for what country they next want Avionero to launch in; something that’ll happen every three months. Since the site is created with the end user in mind, Avionero wants to create commitment, and bring the users with them on every step; support, product, and launch. Avionero has pre launched a beta version in Sweden and Russia with great success – there’s a continuous growth of 10-20% every month in Sweden.

Avionero was founded by Lars Kristensson, CEO and system architect, and Anton Tyulenev, vice president and product designer, in November 2015. The team behind Avionero consists of ten people located in Sweden, Moscow, and Bolivia. They’re expected to be at least twelve people in the team within a couple of months.