CJI Town Hall hears announcement of two new business aviation data products

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Two new data products, to ease business jet operations, were announced at this week’s Corporate Jet Investor Town Hall online meeting. They were the Airport Pricing Calculator (APC) and Tally Ho!; an app for owners and operators.

Announcing his new product on CJI Town Hall was James Parsons, founder Aviation Data Solutions, who has built APC, the first combined airport and handling charge quotation system. Stemming from his time on the broker sales desk, Parsons found quotes were often inaccurate by some margin and this could always be put down to a lack of airport and handling charge information.

Parsons explained: “It is designed to produce a 100% accurate, instantaneous cost calculation for any aircraft, visiting any airport, with any handling agents, with any time, any itinerary, any ground service equipment required, any sundries. Basically to give a complete picture. With the eventual goal to plug in to distribution systems, charter platforms so we can in fact leverage our data as a service.”

‘Instantaneous cost calculation’

APC has already secured agreements with over 500 airports before the platform is launched commercially at the end of October. Parsons said one challenge has been trying to manage the huge number of pricing strategies undertaken by different airports and handling agents. There are around 800 pricing plans and over 3,600 different combinations. However, convincing handling agents to entrust APC with their data has been the greatest challenge according to Parsons. A new system has been built to accommodate agents by providing security, efficiency and marketing benefits in return for their data. So far APC has 200 agents? on board but Parsons said the system will require 300 before its official launch.

In the future Parsons intends to expand the system outside of the business aviation sphere by introducing it into the wider premium travel market. “This could be the missing piece that enables automatic quoting, which in turn will enable us to get into the premium travel market. So that’s where I am aiming, it’s a way off, but this is just the start.”

Fellow Town Hall panelist, Byron Severson, also used this week’s session to announce, Tally Ho! a new, two app, product which connects owners and operators with the services they require. App users can search for the service they need and locate providers in that area or to any area that you may be flying to. The second app, a pro platform for the service providers, allows companies to monitor their traffic and “bang for their buck”. The app is free to users and service providers pay a subscription.

A one-stop-shop for users

Severson explained his inspiration: “I bought my first airplane four years ago, it needed a lot of maintenance. So I had a lot of opportunity to go and look for service providers and what I found was it was really difficult to go and find new service providers. You’d had to go to Google or online message boards, which worked, but took a lot of time and rarely provided multiple quotations.”

Tally Ho!, which takes its name from a term used by British fighter pilots in the Second World War, also includes a messenger feature creating a one-stop-shop for users. An idea developed after feedback from market research Serverson told delegates. The messenger feature also allows the sending of appointments and images.

Outlining his long-term vision for Tally Ho! Severson concluded: “You’ve had some really smart people on here [at the Town Hall]. I think there’s a lot of energy, thought and investment going into a space that’s been largely ignored in our industry.

“I see this industry going in the direction, when it comes to data, of putting those pieces together. Integrations or partnerships where you are connecting the service event with not only finding the service providers, but then connecting the information about the aircraft. While also integrating that with maintenance due dates, cycle due dates and putting all of that ecosystem together.”

This week’s edition of CJI Town Hall, New ideas for the New Normal, was sponsored by GE Aviation and included presentations from its sales director, Steve McManus; Chris Marich, co-founder, MySky; Vicki Nakata, CEO, Stellar Labs; and Paul Mulko, vice president of marketing and sales, FlyEasy Software. You can catch up with any previous here or feel free to watch the window below to see an action replay of this week’ session.

Airport Pricing Calculator

  • Founded: James Parsons
  • Vision: To provide world’s first combined airport and handling charge quotation system
  • More information can be found on APC website

 

Tally Ho!

  • Founded: Byron Severson
  • Vision: To create a one-stop-shop for owners and operators to connect with service providers efficiently.
  • More information can be found on Tally Ho! website
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