Willa Air, the new airline for influencers, is going to Coachella

If your TikToks have gone viral or you’re somewhat Instagram famous, you might want to try to catch a flight on a new airline that’s just for online content creators.

Willa, an online payments company that caters to social media creators, just launched an airline called Willa Air – and its first voyage will take 12 lucky influencers to this month’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on an exclusive, and free, flight.

In addition to the free travel, the airline’s luxury offerings include 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, according to its website.

The flight lasts under an hour, during which time influencers will have champagne, drinks and dessert – not to mention plenty of opportunities to collaborate with their fellow content creators. 

Launched in 2019, Willa’s payments platform is aimed at helping freelancers, particularly content creators, request and receive payments quickly from brands, sponsors and other collaborators. The company said in 2021 that it had raised $21 million in venture capital funding and 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,” said Aron Levin, co-founder and chief marketing officer at Willa, in a press release. “Willa was founded with the mission of helping creators, and quick, seamless travel is one of the many ways we are supporting our audience.”

While the first flight for Willa Air will take just 12 passengers to Coachella, the company says it’s also planning future trips, including one to New York City’s Fashion Week events in September.

Willa Air is taking applications for the free Coachella flight from content creators who are 18 years or older and can depart from Los Angeles, California on April 15. You have until April 8 to apply, and the company will let you know by April 11 if you’re chosen.

Anyone can apply – there’s no minimum number of social media followers required to be one of the chosen creators who fly for free. But, the company admits that it will show a preference for applicants who are already users of Willa’s payment services platform. In fact, the more payment requests you send through Willa leading up to April 8, the more likely you’ll get a ticket to fly to Coachella, according to Willa’s website.

Willa’s website also makes it clear that getting chosen for the free flight does not pay for your ticket to Coachella. A three-day pass for this year’s festival currently starts at $549, before taxes and fees, for general admission.

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