Alaska Airlines has partnered with Up.labs to create the Airline Venture Lab, “a partnership to build startups that solve core strategic challenges for Alaska Airlines and the future of aviation,” the carrier announced last week.
The venture lab will focus areas of friction within aviation, such as network optimization and routing, aircraft maintenance, revenue management and the guest experience, according to Alaska. The lab has a goal of launching the first startup in 2024.
Sean Menke, executive chairman of Sabre and former CEO of Sabre, Frontier and Pinnacle airlines, has joined the lab as senior advisor and investment committee member. He also has held executive roles with Air Canada and Hawaiian Airlines, according to Alaska.
This new partnership with Up.labs is in addition to Alaska’s existing limited partnership in Up.partners’ venture capital fund.
