Floating Fleet AI to debut scheduling software at NBAA-BACE

AI-powered scheduling software developer for business aviation Floating Fleet AI is set to unveil its “breakthrough” platform at NBAA-BACE 2025 in Las Vegas. 

With patents pending for optimisation algorithms, Floating Fleet’s AI Scheduler enhances aircraft and crew assignments, reduces workload for staff and unlocks measurable cost savings while expanding available fleet capacity. 

As the name suggests the platform has been designed for floating fleet operators, but is also suited to corporate flight departments and charter brokers. 

The AI Scheduler integrates with existing flight management systems and was recently connected with FL3XX. 

Featuring a user interface similar to ChatGPT, the platform is designed with usability in mind, according to Dr Roger Zhan (pictured above), CEO of Floating Fleet AI. Training for the platform can be completed in as little as 10 minutes. 

“The two most important assets for Part 135 or 91 operators are their crew and aircraft. Those have to come together to serve the customer,” says Zhan. “We’re not trying to replace human schedulers. We give them machine-generated recommendations, and they have full control to accept or adjust them.

“If they like the result, they can push it to their FMS— myairops, FL3XX, whichever they use—and continue their workflow,” he adds.

Floating Fleet’s AI is purpose-built for aviation logistics and uses custom algorithms capable of handling complex scenarios quickly. “For example, scheduling 30 aircraft over seven days takes just a few seconds for us,” explains Zhan. “I’ve seen other programmes take five or fifteen minutes to return results, or can’t handle seven days at all.”

Platform beats human capability

With a growing customer set across North America, Floating Fleet optimises tens of thousands of flights each month. 

Jacob Wall, vice president of operations at Jetvia, the world’s largest Learjet 60 operator and Floating Fleet customer, says: “Jetvia operates a fleet of over 25 aircraft. Floating Fleet AI has materially reduced our deadhead percentage by delivering optimisations that exceed what a human could do. The team has been consistently responsive and quick to innovate. Floating Fleet AI is now integral to how we manage our fleet.” 

How it all started

Zhan began in business aviation at CitationAir, a now-defunct fractional operator and joint venture between TAG Aviation and Cessna. There he worked on much of the technology and data science behind CitationAir’s aviation product design. 

Following the closure of CitationAir, Zhan moved to China and helped set up two joint ventures — Cessna Excel and Cessna Caravan. 

Returning to the US, Zhan spent a year in Wichita with Textron Aviation before moving to Wheels Up in 2016. “When I joined, it was still a very small company, mainly focused on sales and marketing,” he says. “The aircraft were operated by Gama Aviation.”

Tasking with transitioning Wheels Up into an aviation-plus-tech company (much of the app is thanks to Zhan’s team’s work on real time pricing and availability), he was there when it went public through a SPAC in July 2021. “That was definitely a highlight of my career—standing at the NYSE, ringing the bell,” Zhan notes.

In 2021, he briefly left aviation to join East Coast-based online furniture store Wayfair as their B2B division’s chief data officer, helping to build sales models for its 300-plus-strong team. But once you get into aviation, you can’t escape, quips Zhan. 

“It keeps pulling you back in. People would call me and say: ’Hey, can you help with this?’ ‘Can you work on that?’. My former CEO and a great mentor at CitationAir reached out one day and said: ‘There’s an operator who needs help with a project. Are you interested?’,” he says. 

“I said: ‘Yes, but I want to do it my own way’.” That is how Floating Fleet AI was born. 

Floating fleets add complexity 

Zhan says he started the company because he has seen so many shortcomings in existing offerings. “People often talk about the benefits of a floating fleet, but they forget that those benefits come with tremendous operational complexity,” he explains.

With a home-based fleet, the aircraft goes out and then it comes back and the crew usually stays home. But in a floating fleet, the plane goes out and doesn’t necessarily return right away. The crew might stay out for seven or eight days. It becomes a complex logistical puzzle to solve.

“Most products out there are designed for fixed-base operations,” says Zhan. “There’s nothing wrong with that, since many operators run that way, but floating fleet operations are far more complex, especially when you’re managing 10 or 15 aircraft.”

Human brains can’t process all of that efficiently, continues Zhan. “Given enough time, sure – but doing it quickly and optimally is very tedious. So we designed and built a product geared specifically for Part 135 or 91 operators.”

“Humans are best at talking to people and handling relationships. But solving the scheduling puzzle takes too much brainpower,” he adds. “I believe every professional now needs AI assistance.”

AI builds AI

Zhan says he uses generative AI on a daily basis. He reveals sections of Floating Fleet’s algorithm have been created using code written mainly by AI coding assistants such as Claude and Cursor – in some cases as much as 70%. 

So what prevents anyone from building an AI-based software product? Nothing, according to Zhan. Although, he believes the key differentiator for his team is the ability to understand the problem.

“I’ve had multiple customers tell me, ‘Roger, you’re the only one who actually understands what we’re trying to solve’,” he notes. “You have to know the problem deeply. Once you define it clearly, it’s not really a problem anymore.”

Just as important is the need to interpret and validate AI-generated results. “We produce a trustworthy product, and that requires being able to test and make sense of what the AI outputs,” says Zhan. 

Every result is explainable, even bugs, he adds. “If something goes wrong, we can pinpoint whether it’s a data issue or a logic issue. It’s not like generative AI hallucinations, this is hard logistics solved with deterministic algorithms.”

 Visitors to NBAA-BACE 2025 can connect with the Floating Fleet AI team at Booth #926.