The world’s first influencer airline has landed in 2022’s cultural hellspace, and before you roll your eyes, they’ve already clapped back: “It’s hard to hear the haters when you’re 35,000 feet in the air.”
The brainchild of Willa, an online payments company that caters to freelancers – specifically social media creators – it was launched in 2019 to get users easily paid for content or to receive money from brands and sponsors. In 2021, the fintech platform raised $18M in Series A funding and reported that it had a waitlist of more than 150,000 freelancers.
“We launched Willa Air to provide superfast and convenient travel for the content creators who are jetting off to events across the U.S.” Willa Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Aron Levin said in a statement.
He added: “Willa was founded with the mission of helping creators, and quick, seamless travel is one of the many ways we are supporting our audience.”
Last weekend Willa Air went ahead with its first chartered flight. Naturally, the trip was to influencer mecca: Coachella. Twelve influencers were treated (the flight was free) to a pre-flight champagne bar and a post-festival weekend detox with IV drips, massages and a juice bar at the company’s Venice Beach lounge in Los Angeles. The flight was less than an hour long.
If you’re looking to torture yourself on a Monday morning, Willa’s Instagram feed has now been overtaken with content from the private jet experience. “PSA: Branded bottles are more fun to pop,” reads on one caption of a photo of two influencers with champagne flutes.
According to the company, creators who are already using the Willa platform will be prioritised, but all influencers, regardless of how many followers they have, are welcome to apply for future trips.
And now we’ve really seen it all.
