# Atyab Bhatti

> Atyab Bhatti is the cofounder and CEO of SkyLink, an AI corporate-travel company conceived during his University of Illinois years, sharpened by his experience as a McKinsey consultant and acquired by Amadeus in February 2026. SkyLink turns Slack and Microsoft Teams conversations into policy-aware travel bookings, a thesis that won the BTN Group's 2024 Innovation Faceoff and gained adoption at companies including McKinsey and Sony.

- **Role:** CEO and Cofounder at SkyLink
- **Organizations:** SkyLink, Amadeus, McKinsey & Company, Malwarebytes, Stripes, SEAK, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- **Education:** Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- **Known for:** Cofounded SkyLink and led it through its acquisition by Amadeus in February 2026., Won the BTN Group's 2024 Innovation Faceoff with SkyLink., Named BTN Group Innovator of the Year for 2024.

## Career timeline

- **2015-2016** — Worked with Kush Maheshwari and John Yoon on SEAK, a mobile marketplace for local retailers, while studying at Illinois.
- **2016** — Discussed an AI-powered travel-agent concept with friends; the available machine-learning technology was not yet adequate.
- **—** — Held roles at Malwarebytes, Stripes and McKinsey & Company across product management, investing and consulting.
- **2021** — Founded SkyLink with Kush Maheshwari.
- **2022** — Participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2022 batch.
- **2024** — SkyLink won the BTN Group Innovation Faceoff; Bhatti was named the group's Innovator of the Year.
- **2025** — Business Travel News named Bhatti one of its 25 Most Influential people in business travel.
- **2026** — Amadeus announced its acquisition of SkyLink on February 25.

## Achievements

- Cofounded SkyLink and led it through its acquisition by Amadeus in February 2026.
- Won the BTN Group's 2024 Innovation Faceoff with SkyLink.
- Named BTN Group Innovator of the Year for 2024.
- Named one of Business Travel News' 25 Most Influential people in business travel for 2025.
- Led deployments of SkyLink with enterprise customers including McKinsey & Company and Sony.
- SkyLink was selected for PhocusWire's Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Amadeus announced the acquisition of SkyLink to expand AI-driven conversational capabilities across corporate travel and, over time, the wider travel ecosystem.
- **2025-12** — Business Travel News named Bhatti one of its 25 Most Influential people in business travel for 2025.
- **2025-11** — SkyLink was selected for PhocusWire's Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2026.
- **2025-08** — Business Travel News detailed SkyLink's collaboration with McKinsey, including an average booking time of 99 seconds and a 96 percent positive user rating.

## Links

- Website: https://www.tryskylink.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atyab
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/atyaberr

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/atyab-bhatti
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-27