Reconciliation: The beginning on the deck of a ferry to Sicily (2015)
Tandem pilot Tobi – who was brooding over many experiences on his 6-week bike tour from the Allgäu to Sicily – and now sitting on this very deck, began to write a letter. The letter was addressed to Schelli and contained an apology, a reappraisal of the last few years and a wish for reconciliation from Tobi. And so it came as it had to, Schelli, Tobi and Michel buried the hatchet – in the middle of the mountains, of course – and reconciled. This was the fertile breeding ground for more cooperation instead of competition – from then on it was all about using synergies, optimizing costs and growing together: the tandem business became more professional and flourished to such an extent that it became necessary to hire office staff – and there was also the possibility of a joint booking office at the valley station of the Nebelhornbahn. The atmosphere between them improved, but there were still two companies that occasionally took advantage of one another. Time also brought change between Manuel and Tobi. Just 4 years earlier, Tobi had been warmly welcomed into Manuel’s apartment as a “poor” student when he “escaped from his parents’ home” shortly before his A-levels, where he was able to devote himself entirely to learning…..ähm Flying, as his parents wished. The tide turned and now it was Tobi who first took Manu on as a tandem pilot and shortly afterwards as co-owner in equal shares at vogelfrei. Both tandem companies continued to grow and with them the idea of merging in order to be able to offer an even wider range of services. And – exactly – in 2016 it happened as it had to: the agency “vogelfrei – Tandemfliegen mit Profis” came to life. After 15 years of building Flyzone into a healthy company, Schelli flew into the vogelfrei nest. Of course, the shared philosophy of “tandem flying with professionals”, whose slogan now features in the revised vogelfrei logo, is still with us.