Digitsing business aviation

There is a disparity within the business jet market. The jets themselves are at the cutting edge of technology, with advances in on-board luxuries such as WiFi and a new wave of jets models on the horizon. However the deal and servicing side of the market is antiquated in comparison. The back-end of the business jet market is well overdue a digital revolution.

Andy Hudson, founder and CEO of Down-route, says that digitisation comes somewhat naturally, pointing out that 20 years ago, most people had Nokias and sent faxes.

Up until the 1980s, everything in the industry was done with paper, then excel, then group software. Now the internet and mobile services are a standard. The panel agrees that the next step is heading towards fully automated systems that will make the end user experience more efficient and the operator’s business cheaper.

While the market is far from the most digitised, Richard Koe points out that it is far from broken, people are doing well. So where does the benefit of digitisation come from? The panel unanimously agrees that it will streamline the process, saving time and money for customers and operators.

The panel arrived at the conclusion that streamlining how you book a flight on a business jet will ultimately improve the user experience, make the industry more affordable, and help bring in more users.

Per Marthinsson from Avinode thinks we that industry digitisation is not to far away, saying: “Booking a private jet needs to be as easy as booking a ticket on a commercial flight. We are now closer to this then ever.”

The bottom line is whether this will be cheaper for the operators that should be digitising? Irena Develle from Convolus thinks this is absolutely the case. Operators that have made their back office more efficient have seen substantial savings. She claims that Convulos’ Smart Purchasing service has already saved a number of operators money through digitisation.