A British Airways flight touched down at London Heathrow from San Francisco this morning, having been on quite a unique journey – it hosted the Pitch on a Plane competition using on-board WiFi.

The airline joined up with Founders Forum to give five start-ups the chance to pitch their ideas to a host of judges on board the flight including Alex Cruz, British Airways Chairman and CEO and leading tech entrepreneurs, investors and CEOs.

Using British Airways’ onboard high-speed WiFi, the start-ups were on the ground in the UK while a team of judges cruised at 30,000 feet on flight BA284.

Following the pitches and a Q&A session, the judges chose three finalists who will pitch their idea face-to-face at the Founders Forum in London on June 13, 2019. Experts taking seats on the judging panel included the President of WeTransfer and GM of Robotics at Google X.

The entries were focused on air travel innovation and the ideas they presented included a solo travel app, airline inventory management using blockchain technology and a new jet engine design. The top three finalists are:

• Pruvo –The website aims to save travellers money even after they have booked a hotel room. It searches for hotel price drops secret deals.

• Pluto – A travel insurance app that claims to be easy to understand, hassle-free and there when customers need it.

• Reynolds Aero – REYNOLDS is a UAV gas turbine design bureau and manufacturer of an advanced jet engine for fixed-wing aircraft.

Founders Forum is a private network of the world’s leading digital and technology entrepreneurs founded in 2005.