Fly Fairly takes off by delivering flexibility to Gen Z travelers

A fast-growing travel startup targeting millennials and Gen Z is carving out a niche in a crowded sector without chasing mass market consumers – and it’s doing so profitably.

Singapore-based Fly Fairly, which earns a commission on each flight booking and from services like cancelation protection, has seen the volume of travel bookings grow 50% month on month since its launch in August 2024.

Fly Fairly CEO Alexander Yardley (center) flanked by LFG co-founders Darryl Tan (right) and Foo Shi Hong (left) / Photo credit: Fly Fairly

Think of Fly Fairly as a next-generation, youth-driven online travel agency (OTA). Compared to typical OTAs that focus on providing the cheapest flights, Fly Fairly offers more payment methods, flexibility with cancelations, and more transparent pricing, according to CEO Alexander Yardley.

Users can choose from over 100 payment options, including credit and debit cards, e-wallets, buy now, pay later (BNPL), and more than 70 cryptocurrencies. They can also find flight options with cancelation flexibility or add a cancelation protection feature that gives them a full refund.

The company achieved this while remaining mostly bootstrapped (it has raised some funds from angel investors) and running a remote-only team, says Yardley, who was most recently the managing director for global accounts at rewards platform ShopBack.

Fly Fairly turned a net profit this February and continues to be profitable every month since, Yardley shares. The startup doesn’t do any paid advertising aside from Google, and 40% of transactions and bookings on its platform come from word-of-mouth referrals, he says.

Partnerships and campaigns launched with firms like Heymax, a loyalty platform for flights allowed it to tap into “highly engaged travel communities,” the CEO notes.

See also: SG loyalty platform raises $2.6m in seed money to give users free vacations

Fly Fairly acquired Malaysia-based travel discovery platform LFG in April, propelling its ambitions even further.

Finding a niche

The crypto and BNPL options on Fly Fairly’s platform target a small niche: Globally, just 5% of online spending occurred through BNPL in 2024, according to a recent WorldPay report. Cryptocurrencies, meanwhile, accounted for approximately 0.2% of consumer ecommerce spending worldwide last year.

Being able to pay for flight tickets via installments isn’t new, but it is rarer compared to hotel bookings due to their thinner margins.

From a credit perspective, flights are also more risky in nature due to their higher transaction sizes and potential for fraud, Yardley explains.

People also tend to book flights weeks or months ahead, creating more opportunities for changes or cancelation. The non-refundable nature of plane tickets means that customers sometimes resort to chargebacks if plans change and they can’t obtain refunds.

Different from the pack

Spotify x Pinterest x flight booking

Looking ahead