Eyeing Air Travel, Airbnb Hires Former Virgin America CEO
- Startup Airbnb named Fred Reid global head of transportation
- Reid is leaving behind Larry Page’s flying car company
Photographer: Jason Black/EyeEm
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Airbnb Inc. isn’t building an airline. It’s not going to start a generic flight booking platform. In fact, years after promising to get into the aviation business, Airbnb still hasn’t "settled on exactly" what it’s doing in air travel, Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky said in a statement.
But the startup is hiring a former top airline executive to help figure it out. Fred Reid, the one-time chief executive officer of Virgin America who most recently worked at the flying car company Kitty Hawk, is joining Airbnb as the global head of transportation, the company announced Thursday.