Friedrichshafen: New airline will offer on-demand flights at Lake Constance Airport from 2025

“You order, we fly.” That’s how simple the concept sounds that Tomislav Lang explained to interested company representatives on Tuesday afternoon in the conference room above the terminal at Friedrichshafen Airport. No one else offers anything like the Stuttgart start-up Flyv, of which he is the founder and boss. On-demand flights are intended to enable business customers, and later everyone, to fly to any regional airport at low prices. In the medium term, a ticket should cost an average of 150 euros.

“If we do it right, we will be the Uber of the skies,” says Lang. Uber is a US service company that offers online passenger transportation services in many cities around the world.

There is no fixed flight schedule for Flyv – initially FlyV, now with a new spelling – to specific destinations. The route network is designed to adapt to the needs of customers.

No more domestic flights

Preparations have been underway for over a year. Now the new airline is about to take off. It will start on May 5, 2025 at Lake Constance Airport in Friedrichshafen, Tomislav Lang announced in this round. Representatives from ZF, Airbus and Rolls Royce Power Systems are there, whose employees have not been able to travel on business from Lake Constance Airport for months. In April, Lufthansa took the route to Frankfurt out of its program, thereby cutting off the important connection between the Lake Constance region and the international hub. Flight connections to Berlin, Hamburg and Düsseldorf have not been available for some time.

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Lake Constance

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It is one reason why Flyv is starting in Friedrichshafen and wants to build a new hub here, one for air taxis on demand and away from the routes of large commercial airports. The region is economically strong, but poorly connected by road and rail. The concept is an opportunity for regional airports that are struggling with the same problems everywhere. “Demand fluctuates greatly. “It is extremely difficult to do a reasonable business,” says co-founder Anton Lutz, who works as managing director at Flyv. They have already spoken to over 1,000 airport operators. There are over 20,000 regional airports worldwide that are suitable for this concept.

The managing director explains how the whole thing is supposed to work using a concrete example. Anyone who wants to fly from Friedrichshafen to Braunschweig, for example, enters a time window in the Flyv app, specifying when they want to depart at the earliest and land at the latest. Thanks to artificial intelligence and a specially developed algorithm, the system checks and bundles the demand of several customers and thus determines the connection that is suitable for all passengers. Three days before departure, interested parties receive the exact flight details and can book. A system that is infinitely scalable, assures Tomislav Lang. “We want to have 1,000 aircraft in operation in 15 years.”

Is Lufthansa returning to Friedrichshafen?Initially, it was said that Lufthansa would not fly to Lake Constance Airport for at least twelve months. Since June, it has been clear that the connection to Frankfurt is not expected to resume before the end of 2026. According to airport boss Claus-Dieter Wehr, the airline is apparently planning to withdraw completely from the regional air traffic business. For him, these developments speak against “Lufthansa coming back”. For this reason, Lake Constance Airport is looking for an alternative connection to another flight hub. Amsterdam is being discussed.

Get to your destination faster

“In the beginning, we need a little flexibility from our business customers,” says Lutz. Flyv initially started with one plane that will be stationed in Friedrichshafen. More planes will be added later. In the first two to three months, inquiries will only be possible by email because the AI ​​will be fed with the travel requests. An offer for the flight will then be available within 24 hours. The price will be between 80 and 500 euros per passenger. Customers should be able to get to their destination faster and not more expensive than by train or car.

The start-up has the flight attendant for the first phase, says Tomislav Lang happily. Also on board is Alpen Air from Augsburg, which offers sightseeing flights in Bavaria. Founder Simon Armbruster flew the plane to Friedrichshafen, which will be used by Flyv from May. The Tecnam P2012 Traveller, which is designed for short-haul flights, has nine passenger seats. Powered by two 375 hp engines, the propeller plane consumes comparatively little fuel at around 120 liters per flight hour.

Two test flights with the nine-seater

The first prospective business customers can try out the comfort that the air taxi offers passengers if they wish. The seats offer significantly more legroom than on a scheduled flight. In addition, everyone on the plane has a window seat. The headphones not only dampen the background noise on board, but also provide a direct line to the pilot. Simon Armbruster flies two rounds with the first potential Flyv customers to Lindau and back.

Could that be possible? Investor Sebastian Merillat is convinced of it. The Swiss is a pilot himself and was involved in Tomislav Lang’s first start-up called Skywork in Bern.

The new concept could also open a door for Lake Constance Airport. “This is a great opportunity,” says airport spokesman Bernd Behrend. With these so-called on-demand flights, the airport can also serve as a hub abroad. There is interest from local businesses, says Behrend. The relatively large response to the information event at the airport shows this. ZF, for example, is very interested because the company has many central locations and cities such as Passau, Straubing or Saarbrücken can also be flown to, which in the best case saves time and money.

Switch to electric drive planned

Last but not least, Flyv will fly climate-neutrally in the medium term and will use electric aircraft from 2030. Such flights would certainly increase acceptance for short-haul routes such as to Stuttgart. “We want to be part of that,” says Bernd Behrend.