According to a recent U.N. report, more people flew more places in 2010 than ever before. International air travel increased by 8.8% and greater travel within Europe and United States, both around 6.5%, seems slight compared with the activity seen in Asia, South America and the Middle East. As we spend more and more of our lives in planes, why don’t we use this “lost” time to network in person, make friends, and lesson the boredom? If this sounds like the ticket, join Planely in an airborne revolution!
Make Friends While You Fly
Planely is the creation of Nick Martin, Paul Kirkass, and Gorm Casper, who met at Copenhagen Startup Weekend in April 2010. As Martin explains, “Airports and airplanes are specifically designed to be largely solitary experiences for customers. Planely aims to dramatically disrupt the entire [airline] industry by positioning itself as the catalyst to socialize air travel.”
“Our mission is to see you choose your seat, airline, and even airport not solely based on price, schedule or window/aisle seat but on who else is there and what that opportunity might bring.” Martin and the rest of the Planely team believe that their company can change lives, “People are using us to generate new business, make new friends, guarantee themselves a quiet flight, and even find new love.”
Blue Skies Ahead
The entire Planely team has been working hard since Startup Weekend. Planely has received great press and is gaining more traction. The startup has been written up in TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Lonely Planet, and The Next Web, which included Planley in their “10 European Startups to Watch in 2011”.
Martin is very optimistic about the future, “We will be successful because the timing for [socialized air travel] is perfect.” Martin then references a statement Mark Zuckerberg made at the Web 2.0 Summit in November 2010: “In the next five years almost every major product vertical is going to be rethought to be social. Get on the bus.” Planely is certainly on the bus and they are working hard to ensure that we’re smiling as we get on the plane.
To learn more about Planely, visit their website (be sure to watch the video!).
