Airbnb has no plans to announce a flights product, but the company isn't ruling it out either. In a Skift interview published April 1st, Chief Business Officer Dave Stephenson said Airbnb is "absolutely thinking about how do we just make the journey better."
Stephenson was careful to frame flights as an idea, not a roadmap item. But the comment confirms that a feature Airbnb was actively developing before the pandemic is back in the conversation.
The Trips Tab Is the Blueprint
Airbnb's post-booking Trips tab already pulls together multiple parts of a guest's travel. After booking a stay, guests can now book rides to and from the airport directly in the Airbnb app, and book Experiences and Services like massages, and other trip details in one place.
Stephenson pointed to the Trips tab as the foundation for what comes next. "You can see how, over time, more and more activities and things, actions could be included in that Trips tab, and we could be providing more services," he told Skift. Flights would be a natural addition to that feed.
Expansion After the Covid Reset
This isn't Airbnb's first run at flights. When Stephenson joined the company as CFO in 2019, CEO Brian Chesky tasked him with expanding beyond stays. At the time, Airbnb had Luxe, Plus, a HotelTonight acquisition, a magazine, and an active flights project.
"We were working on flights. We just had all these activities, and there were many others in the skunk works, and then Covid hit. We had to retrench," Stephenson said.
Since relaunching Experiences and Services in May 2025, Airbnb has moved quickly. The company pushed into hotel listings, launched an Instacart grocery delivery partnership, added ready-to-heat meals from celebrity chefs, and rolled out Welcome Pickups in over 125 cities. Stephenson's CBO role, created in 2024, exists specifically to manage this expansion.
If Airbnb does add flights, it would be playing catch-up with its largest OTA competitor, as Booking Holdings already bundles flights across its platforms.
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