New messaging app allows air travellers to text others on same flight to fill idle time

A new mobile app that recently made inroads into Asia, including Singapore, hopes to get flight passengers to chat with one another during their idle time in the air.

- Sheo Chiong Teng

Wingle, a third-party in-flight messaging app, allows users to talk to one another without an internet connection. Users need only turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on their phones to start messaging fellow passengers aboard a flight.

On the app, users can also book airport lounges, among other features.

Wingle, a portmanteau of "wing" and "mingle", is available in English and Spanish, with more languages to follow.

Wingle's co-founder Inigo Merino said: "Everyone has a Hollywood dream of meeting someone on a plane and getting a date."

But forging romantic connections is not the only objective of the app, which has been billed by some as the "Tinder of aeroplanes".

"The purpose of the chat is up to the user. It can have a social perspective, a romantic perspective or even a networking perspective," Mr Merino told The Straits Times in February, when he was in Singapore for the Aviation Festival Asia, an aviation technology conference.

Wingle's Spaniard creators, Mr Merino and Mr Pol Quintana, both 30, first discussed the idea of an in-flight messaging app in 2020 when they met in Dubai, where they were based for work.

Mr Merino was in the travel and hospitality industry, while Mr Quintana was in the technology field.

Both frequent travellers for work, the pair saw an opportunity for passengers to make meaningful connections during their spare time on flights.

Mr Merino said: "I looked around and saw that there were so many people like me, travelling for work alone, and I didn't know any of them."

It was only in March 2023 that the pair got down to exploring the potential of such an app.

They left their jobs early in 2024 and dedicated their time to developing Wingle, which was launched in Europe in July 2024.

The app was made available globally, including in Singapore, in January and has more than 20,000 active users, Mr Merino said.