When Kelvin Fu speaks about building, he doesn’t just mean companies. The AeroHub co-founder talks like an engineer, weaving systems, networks, and connections into every answer. “I cannot stop building,” he says. “Whether it’s companies, partnerships, or even transportation systems, I’m always curious where the gaps are and how we can fill them.”
That restless curiosity – rooted in his training in computer science and sharpened during stints at IBM and Fujitsu – has shaped a career that now wants to redefine air distribution.
Said Fu, “I started in IBM China but found it boring. I joined Fujitsu as engineering manager for the cloud, but found Japan boring – I mean, I was 20-something then so you can understand. I tried Europe, worked in Nice but found the food boring. I returned to China to work on Ren Ren, the Chinese version of Facebook then, but realised it’s hard to build something within a big company.”
The entrepreneurial spirit in him was calling. A friend asked him to help with a flights business. They started with a team of three and in 2014, launched Letsfly, where they pioneered the first API connections with low-cost carriers like AirAsia and Hong Kong Express in China.
Today, the Letsfly group comprises four ventures – the original low cost flights business, hotels and GDS aggregation, all focused on China while AeroHub, which celebrates its second anniversary this month, is its global wing, designed to tackle one of the industry’s biggest challenges: how travel agents can thrive in an increasingly decentralized flight supply chain and where airlines increasingly want to go direct.
From China’s first movers to global ambitions
In 2014, Fu and his partners were the first to bring international low-cost carrier content into China via APIs, making it accessible for Chinese travel agents. This move coincided with Trip.com and Qunar’s rapid growth, and Letsfly’s early APIs helped power their rise. “We were the first in China to integrate international low-cost carriers, bringing in 60-70 APIs, and that gave agents a new way to compete,” he recalls.
But China, for all its scale, is only 10% of the global market. Today, Fu sees the next frontier clearly: “If you are already top-tier in China, what’s next? The outbound market is flat. The opportunity is global.”
He sees plenty of gaps in India and South-east Asia. AeroHub is now servicing 30-40 customers outside China, with two-thirds of the group’s business already international. As for his team which stands at 350, about 40 are based outside China, a number it is keen to expand.
Rewiring the flight supply chain
Traditional distribution was once centralized through a handful of GDS players. Today, NDC and direct airline distribution are fragmenting the market, creating both complexity and opportunity. Fu sees AeroHub’s role as the bridge for travel agents – OTAs, TMCs, and traditional players alike – helping them manage fragmented content without having to rebuild their entire tech infrastructure.
He sees this as increasingly critical given the ambitions of OTAs to scale globally with flights. “Content has gone from centralised to decentralised. Flights have become more fragmented. Airlines want to go direct – there’s a mismatch between airlines’ strategies and OTAs. It’s getting more difficult and complicated for OTAs to secure global inventory in one pipe. We want to try build the supply chain to enable OTAs to easily embrace airlines.”
He explains, “AeroHub isn’t just about fulfilment. We give agents a step-by-step structure to scale globally. At first, they can plug into our aggregated content. Then, using our credentials, they can test direct connections with airlines without committing their own commercial resources. Over time, they can build their own supply chain on top of our platform.”
It’s a philosophy born of his engineering mindset: standardize complexity, then empower others to innovate.
Competing in a low-margin world
Air distribution is notoriously tough: low margins, high volume, fierce competition and particularly in this wave where several Chinese-based competitors such as Atlas, PK Fare and Dida are also expanding overseas, fuelled by the same desire as Fu to diversify their markets and chase global growth.
Why does an engineer-entrepreneur choose such a punishing sector? For Fu, the answer is simple: “Low margin is our competitiveness. If we can operate efficiently in this environment, we will always be strong.
“We can help agents be more efficient in embracing more content. We can go deeper and build a system to help agents build their own supply chain. We did it with Trip and Qunar and we can empower other OTAs with a similar model.”
He sees his China playbook as fully translatable globally. “Systems are the same, only cultural specificities are different. We can give them the tech to scale their content. Besides, everybody always ask the same question, can you give me cheaper fares?”
More importantly, he sees purpose beyond profit. “We want to help travel agents build their supply chain. Airlines are decentralizing, but agents are not ready. Our role is to prepare them, make them efficient, and give them the tools to compete globally.”
Future is unknown but some things will remain the same
As for what air distribution will look like in the future, Fu is honest and says, “No one knows. The world will be changed by AI’s continuous innovation and adoption in everyday lives. Life will change.
“What will not change is where the content will be. The fragmentation of content – that won’t change. When AI enters everyday life, data needs to be centralised. Someone needs to standardise, organise and make the content accessible and available.”
Building a legacy
For Fu, AeroHub isn’t just a business venture – it’s a legacy project. A father of two young children, he reflects on what he will tell them one day: “I don’t want to just say I made money for you. I want to tell my kids I changed the world. That I helped connect travellers, agents, and airlines in a new way. That I enabled Chinese travellers to go outbound, and now I’m enabling agents worldwide to compete.”
Even as he looks beyond flights – eyeing future opportunities in trains, buses, and activities – his mission remains the same: to build networks that empower and endure. “The world is no longer dominated by a few giants. Travel is a network now. AeroHub is one of the spokes in the network. The more connections you have, the stronger and stabler you are. That’s the future we’re building.”
Spoken like the engineer he is.
Kelvin Fu will be speaking at WiT Singapore: The Next 20, Oct 6-8. Get your tickets now.
