The future of travel has been a huge question mark for many companies in the industry for the last few months as COVID-19 has halted many travel efforts.

As a means to be the driving force to redefine the way we travel, Singapore Airlines has begun its sixth edition of the SIA AppChallenge, which gives startup companies across various stages the chance to be the next big breakthrough in travel technology to “solve six key pain points,” Web in Travel reports.

“Singapore Airlines prides itself on striving to be the world’s leading digital airline, and the AppChallenge is a perfect opportunity to continue to engage with startups and work towards solutions to some of the key challenges facing not just us, but the aviation industry as a whole,” Travis Lim, Assistant Manager Digital Innovation, Singapore Airlines said, according to Future Travel Experience.

Travel Massive reports the mission behind the SIA AppChallenge is to have startups collaborate with Singapore Airlines business units in an effort to gain further insight into the airline industry and pitch to win them as a potential client.

“Startups who are able to contextualize their solutions and the benefits to the challenge statements team stand out from other participants,” Lim said. “The AppChallenge team is also providing early feedback for those who submitted their solution before the closing date to help participants to fine-tune their solution. We are looking forward to the startups’ innovative solutions!”

The initiative requires startups to address ten problem statements across six key themes including Seamless Travel Experience, People and Operations, Beyond travel, Traveling in the New Norm, New Business Opportunities, and Sustainability, according to Future Travel Experience.

Future Travel Experience shared that selected participants from the first round will be formally invited to virtually pitch to Singapore Airlines senior management and top executives from Scoot and Vistara Business Teams.

They also stated that solutions with business potential will then be fast-tracked into the SIA Accelerator Programme, where startups will have a chance to build a Proof-of-Concept of their solution with the airline company.

Additionally, Singapore Airlines is hosting a Virtual Roadshow that will take participants on a deep-dive of the problem statements for its AppChallenge 2020, and share insights as well as tips from some of last year’s finalists.

Startups applying for the Singapore Airlines Accelerator challenge have until July 12.

To learn more about how you can submit for the challenge, click here.

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