Airbnb to launch an airline?

Accommodation giant Airbnb may be getting into the airline business. The tech company’s founder, Brian Chesky,  raised the possibility during an interview with The Sunday Times in London about ways of expanding the home-stay company into a travel industry giant. “We’ve seriously considered a lot of things around aviation and we’ve spent a lot of time exploring different concepts,’’ Chesky told the paper. “We definitely want to make sure, though, that we can get into the end-to-end trip business.” Airbnb has seriously disrupted the hotel industry with its peer-to-peer system of allowing property owners to offer short-term rentals of all or part of their properties. This opened up a new world of often cheaper accommodation for travelers and more than 300 million people have used the service, which recently celebrated its 10^th anniversary and now spans 192 countries. As a result, the company that started with an invitation by Chesky and co-founder Joe Gebbia to three strangers  to share their flat to help pay rent is now valued at $US31bn. But  it has not been without its controversies with traditional hotels lobbying for stricter regulations on its operations, crackdowns by some local authorities and allegations it is fuelling growth in holiday rentals at the expense of affordable full-time housing In January, Chesky sent an open letter to Airbnb members outlining his vision for the company and promising to release an annual stakeholder report in March. He said this would explicitly identify criteria by which management would hold itself accountable to stakeholders. The company recently also announced new products such as Airbnb Plus, which highlights quality homes using a 100-point quality checklist, and custom-designed luxury trips. It is changing the way it categorizes properties to make it easier for travelers to choose one that suits them best and foreshadowed a loyalty program to be launched in the northern summer that includes perks such as last-minute booking and discounts. Airbnb already has some connections with the aviation industry and in 2016 joined forces with Australian carrier  Qantas to allow members of the airline’s frequent flyer scheme to earn points when they book accommodation.