Trip-planning provider Flight Pro International (FPI) has developed a secure tablet app that allows clients to conduct all their interactions with FP. The company is demonstrating its cloud-based iOS or Android Flight Pro Connect (FPC) app this week at NBAA-BACE and expects it to go live in the first quarter of 2024.
Features available on the app include trip schedules and daily view; aircraft services details with status updates; crew and passenger manifest and documentation; access to trip documents; trip alerts for critical services and documents; and real-time communication.
During a market research phase, FPI asked clients for troubleshooting feedback and best practice needs. This helped the company's development team to address its approach to quality, which encompasses five pillars: cloud-based infrastructure, geo-redundancy, on-demand scalability, security, and mobile optimization.
“Most FPI team members have worked in global trip management for 25 to 30 years apiece, and we’ve seen a litany of technical lessons learned from a variety of operations experiences,” said Roberto Cormack, FPI's executive v-p and CIO. He also leads the FPC development team.
FPI was launched in 2021 by a group of former Air Routing International executives.
Because it is cloud-based, FPC is freed from typical non-cloud server constraints that affect ground-server-based platforms, including “limited speed flexibility, IT technician availability, on-demand storage capacity (scalability), and lacking nationwide backstops in case of disruptions,” according to FPI.
The geo-redundancy feature makes it possible to move the platform and trip management data from one region in the U.S. to another, the company explained, “and to do so within a single hour.”
From a security standpoint, FPI performs annual vulnerability testing and partners with Microsoft on cybersecurity.
“At the inception of FPC development, our goal has always been to remain customer-centric as the core driver behind the FPC program, even if it appears to be overkill for the average client trip,” said Cormack.