Fly Spain

What Fly Spain does

Fly Spain is a privately-held paragliding and paramotor training school headquartered in Algodonales, in the Cádiz province of Andalusia, Spain, operating year-round as the self-described largest BHPA-accredited school in Europe. Founded and run by Rob Mansley (Chief Flying Instructor) and Nicola Mansley, the company runs a full-time staff of eight instructors and trains more than 500 pilots per year across beginner through advanced certification levels, issuing BHPA, IPPI, and FAI-recognized qualifications. Course delivery is anchored at the Eagles Nest, a nine-bedroom training townhouse, and utilizes a combination of private training sites and 12+ flying locations in the Sierra de Lijar area that enable roughly 20+ flying days per month.

The company's revenue model is centered on week-long, all-inclusive paragliding and paramotor courses priced from approximately €800 for guided holidays to €3,450 for 1-1 tuition, with deposit-based booking via flyspain.co.uk. Secondary revenue streams include equipment retail (gliders, paramotors, harnesses, accessories) through a UK-based distribution office, tandem experience flights sold as gift vouchers, and international guided tours to Italy, Austria, Colombia, and Brazil. Technology integration is pragmatic rather than novel: Flymaster GPS trackers are deployed on all guided holidays for real-time flight monitoring and post-flight analysis, Stripe handles payment processing, and Brevo powers email marketing. The technical differentiator is operational — proprietary site access, a multi-brand training fleet, and the championship credentials of the instructional team (Dylan Mansley, British Champion; Marcelo Sanchez, European declared distance holder) — rather than software or AI.

The business is bootstrapped, family-controlled, and has shown durable demand signals including repeat customer visits, family bookings, and consecutive TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards in 2020 and 2025. Distribution is direct-to-consumer through the website and word-of-mouth in the UK and Irish paragliding community, with limited but visible content marketing via YouTube training videos and Instagram.

Name

Fly Spain

Legal name

Fly Spain Paragliding School

Website

https://flyspain.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Fly Spain is a family-run BHPA-accredited paragliding and paramotor training school in Algodonales, Spain, serving beginner through advanced individual pilots and hobbyists with all-inclusive courses, guided holidays, and equipment retail across Europe and select international destinations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Paragliding and Paramotor Training Services

NAICS

Flight Training (611512), Sports and Recreation Instruction (61162)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Aerial Adventure & Flight Schools (Paragliding, Hang Gliding, Paramotoring) (THAAAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Aerial Adventure Guiding (Paragliding, Hang Gliding) (THAAALAK), Extreme Sports Training, Certification & Coaching (Skydiving/Bungee Safety Courses) (THAAAMAJ)

Keywords

• Paragliding training
• Paramotor lessons
• Guided paragliding holidays
• BHPA pilot certification
• Paragliding equipment retail

Headquarters

HQ city

Algodonales

HQ country

Spain

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Paragliding Training Courses: Week-long intensive training courses ranging from Elementary Pilot (beginner) to Club Pilot and Club Pilot Extra courses. Packages include accommodation, airport transfers, equipment hire, and 6-8 days of tuition.
2. Paramotor Training Courses: Zero to Hero paramotor courses (10 days) and conversion courses (5 days) that qualify pilots for BHPA Club Pilot Power rating. Packages include accommodation, transfers, and equipment.
3. Guided Paragliding Holidays: Week-long guided XC and progression holidays with coaching from competition pilots. Includes accommodation, airport transfers, guiding, and retrieve services.
4. Equipment Retail: Direct sales of paragliding and paramotor equipment including gliders, harnesses, reserves, paramotors, and accessories. British-based sales and distribution with free delivery over £150.
5. Tandem Experiences: Tandem paragliding flights offered as gift experiences or add-ons to courses, flown with BHPA qualified tandem pilots.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Fly Spain is a BHPA-accredited paragliding and paramotor training school in Algodonales, Spain, offering week-long intensive courses from beginner Elementary Pilot to advanced Club Pilot and paramotor ratings, alongside guided cross-country (XC) paragliding holidays, tandem experiences, international flying tours, and an e-commerce shop for paragliding/paramotor equipment. All-inclusive course packages bundle tuition, accommodation at the Eagles Nest facility, airport transfers, and equipment hire.

Product overview

Fly Spain operates as a paragliding and paramotor training school offering integrated course packages, guided holidays, equipment sales, and accommodation. The core offering consists of BHPA-accredited training courses ranging from beginner Elementary Pilot (EP) to advanced XC programs, supplemented by guided paragliding and paramotor holidays across Europe and worldwide destinations including Colombia, Italy, and Austria. The company also operates an e-commerce shop for paragliding equipment sales. Training utilizes private flying sites in Algodonales, Spain, with accommodation provided at the Eagles Nest facility. Certifications include BHPA (British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association), IPPI (International Pilot Proficiency Information), and FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) accreditations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Beginners Elementary Pilot (EP) Paragliding Course One-week entry-level paragliding course covering flight theory, ground handling, and supervised flights; achieves the BHPA Elementary Pilot rating. Includes 6 days of tuition, equipment hire, twin accommodation with pool, and airport transfers.
• Club Pilot Paragliding Course
• Zero to Hero 1-1 Paragliding Course
• Mentor Plus Guided Holiday
• Progression XC Guided Holiday
• The Big 100 Course
• The Big 50 Tour
• Moustache Parakite Course Training week dedicated to the Flare Moustache parakite wing for experienced paragliders (Club Pilot onwards with good soaring skills) or speedwing pilots. Limited to 7 pilots per course.
• XC Colombia Tour
• Bassano, Italy Tour
• Austria Greifenburg Tour Alpine flying tour to Greifenburg, Austria near Embergeralm launch, with in-air coaching and route briefings for pilots of all levels from first 50km flights to 200km goals.
• Tandem Paragliding Experience
• Tandem Training Course
• Paramotor Zero to Hero Course
• Paramotor CP Conversion Course
• Paramotor Holidays
• Paramotor Camping Safari
• Club Pilot Power Plus
• Fly Spain Online Shop
• Beginner Paraglider Packages
• Eagles Nest Accommodation

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 500 flyers trained per year
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• KarmaFlightsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with KarmaFlights (a project of Cloudbase Foundation) for Nepal charity paragliding trips. KarmaFlights provides charity tandem flights worldwide and channel donations to Nepali communities. 100% of donations go toward relief efforts in the Gorkha region. KarmaFlights was voted best NGO in Nepal by Stern Magazine.
• FlymastercoreTechnology or IntegrationFlymaster provides GPS tracking technology used on all FlySpain guided paragliding holidays. Trackers monitor pilot locations during flights for safety, speed up retrieves, and enable flight data analysis for debriefing. Flymaster is a specialized aviation electronics company.
• BHPA (British Hang Gliding and Paramotor Association)coreOthersAccredited BHPA school operating under BHPA standards for over 20 years. BHPA visits the school twice yearly. FlySpain issues BHPA qualifications including Elementary Pilot, Club Pilot, and Club Pilot Power ratings. BHPA provides instructor training standards, technical support, and insurance infrastructure.
• FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale)coreOthersInternational air sports federation providing IPPI (International Pilot Proficiency Information) cards for international pilots. FlySpain is an accredited FAI school, enabling pilots to obtain internationally recognized qualifications.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Fly Oludeniz (Oludeniz Paragliding): Major paragliding school in Oludeniz, Turkey — one of the world's busiest paragliding destinations. Competes with Fly Spain for European beginner tandem and training customers, offering similar all-inclusive packages in a different geography.
• Para Aventura Brazil: Brazilian paragliding school offering tandem flights and training. Comparable in service mix (beginner tandem, certified instruction, tours) and overlapping customer interest in Latin American XC destinations that Fly Spain also tours.
• Cloudbase Paragliding: Cloudbase Paragliding is a Nepal-based paragliding operator running guided cross-country tours and BHPA-aligned instruction. Highly comparable to Fly Spain's guided-tour product (Nepal tours via KarmaFlights, Colombia tours) and shares a similar international-pilot customer profile.
• Skyline Paragliding (Annecy/Alps): Alpine paragliding school offering tandem flights and instruction in the Annecy region. Comparable to Fly Spain in its training-plus-tourism hybrid model, with a similar champion-led premium positioning in a different European microclimate.
• High Adventure Paragliding: UK-based paragliding school offering BHPA-accredited courses in the UK and abroad with similar beginner-to-advanced curriculum. Direct competitor for the UK student pilot segment that Fly Spain targets with its .co.uk distribution.

Others

• Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI): International air sports federation that issues the IPPI cards Fly Spain distributes. Provides the regulatory and rating-recognition framework underpinning Fly Spain's international training proposition but does not itself offer instruction.
• Ozone Paragliders: Major paragliding equipment manufacturer whose gliders are part of Fly Spain's training fleet and retail shop. Adjacent peer — Fly Spain is both a customer (buys gliders for training) and a channel partner (retails them to graduates).
• British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (BHPA): UK governing body for hang gliding and paragliding that accredits Fly Spain as a school. Indirect peer — sets certification standards and provides the qualification framework (EP, CP, CP Power) that Fly Spain's courses lead to; competitor only in the sense that competing schools are also BHPA-accredited.
• KarmaFlights (Cloudbase Foundation): NGO running charity tandem paragliding flights in Nepal. Fly Spain's existing partner for Nepal charity trips. Adjacent ecosystem participant — shares the paragliding customer base and complementary mission rather than competing for training revenue.
• Flymaster: Aviation electronics vendor whose GPS trackers are integrated into all Fly Spain guided holidays for safety, retrieve, and flight-data review. Enabling technology partner rather than competitor; comparable only in the sense of serving the same paragliding ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/flyspain
• Facebookfacebook.com/FlySpain
• Instagraminstagram.com/flyspain
• Xx.com/FlySpainCentre

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fly Spain