Contributor - Business Aviation

James Wynbrandt

FlightAware (Stand 2065), the U.S.-based flight tracking company, is introducing two new web-based products this week in its debut appearance at the EBACE show. <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2011-07-31/offshore-doesnt-mean-books">FlightAware Global</a> is aimed at aircraft operators, while FBO ToolBox Europe is designed for FBOs and handlers.


“So many people, possibly as many as 30 to 45, are involved in the movement of business aircraft and they all need access to flight alerts,” explained FlightAware CEO Daniel Baker. Two or three undisclosed European charter operators have already signed up for FlightAware Global and their dispatch teams are using the system for tasks such as generating revised routings and estimating delays.


FlightAware Global provides real-time flight tracking in more than 40 countries across Europe, North America and Australia, enabling operators to know the location of their aircraft at all times. According to Baker, it “seamlessly combines half a dozen services currently available from FlightAware–for example, real-time maps, flight alerts, satellite tracking and mobile apps–that will reshape the flight data arena in Europe in the same ways the industry has changed in the U.S. as a result of FlightAware innovations.”


FBO ToolBox Europe is the European version of the company’s FBO ToolBox product, which is deployed by more than 250 FBOs in the U.S., Canada and Australia. In addition to flight tracking, the ToolBox provides airport traffic information and aircraft usage analysis along with tools designed to improve customer service and assist sales and operations. The system has been devised to help FBO and handlers with tasks such as optimising schedules and planning fuel needs.


However, the fact that it is hard to source flight data in Europe and local requirements that information about an aircraft’s location should be supplied only to owners or their direct representatives mean that FlightAware is unable to provide its basic service for free as it does in the U.S. There, its business model is based on the assumption that if users are pleased with the core flight tracking service they will pay more for additional features.


The company is working to remove these restrictions but, for now, charges a base rate of €95 per month, which Baker claimed is a fraction of comparable services. It is now set to offer additional features such as integrated European weather radar service and the ability to track an operator’s entire fleet on one map. It will also be increasing fourfold the resolution of its U.S. weather radar imagery.


“There is a real opportunity to help people to operate more efficiently and to save time,” said Baker. “Hard times, like those facing the industry today, tend to spur innovation like this.”