Axis Taps Tech To Be Transparent with Aircraft Owners

AX Aero Group has launched its plans to offer an array of technology-based services spanning aircraft management, pilot training, and a digital platform for aircraft operators, owners, and charter clients. The Swiss-based group is making its public debut at the Aero Friedrichshafen show. AX Aero Group encompasses six companies, including Axis Flight Simulation, which is expanding its range of simulators to offer alternatives to market leaders CAE and FlightSafety International.

Business aviation entrepreneur Niall Olver, who was CEO and chairman of ExecuJet Aviation Group from 1994 to 2015, is leading the AX Aero Group expansion. The latest addition to the group is aircraft operator and asset management company Axis Aviation, which now operates alongside Axis Flight Simulation, in which he acquired a stake in 2013.

“I wasn’t planning to get back into private aviation, but no one else [apart from CAE and FlightSafety] was building business jet simulators, and so I decided to help out,” Olver told AIN. “To break into this duopoly business, you have to get flight data, and that led to [the launch of] Aeroset, a flight test company.”

Axis Flight Simulation has been in business since 2004 and has developed more than 20 full-flight simulators, including units for the ATR family of regional airliners, as well as Textron’s Citation CJ and XLS business jets, and the Bombardier Challenger 350 and 650 models. It is now in stealth mode on several other simulator projects.

Also now forming part of AX Aero’s training activities are AeronautX, an established Austria-based pilot training academy, and Propair Flight, which develops training software that taps artificial intelligence and virtual reality technology. The final parts of the group are Aeroset Flight Test, which is a data acquisition specialist that supports flight test campaigns, and Axis Technologies.

Axis Technologies offers what it describes as “a digital ecosystem.” This is intended to provide aircraft owners with transparent access to a comprehensive array of data covering all aspects of aircraft ownership and operations, and particularly economics.

Transparency for Owners

Like just about all other aircraft management providers, Axis Aviation says it is committed to being fully transparent with owners. According to the company, its technology platform for gathering and sharing all operational and financial data with both its own team and clients is what sets it apart.

The data layer system combines existing tools such as the Leon flight booking software and its electronic technical logbooks into a single data layer that can be presented in various front-ends, such as its FlyAxis crew app. A platform is currently available via desktop and mobile, with a dedicated iOS app MyAxis in development and expected to be available later this year. Via this platform, owners can choose how much data they wish to see and how they interact with the company. 

Axis Aviation CEO Kerstin Mumenthaler, a former airline pilot, said she was surprised by the lack of structure and transparency she found in the private aviation sector. “While this can give you more freedom, you also see things like hidden mark-ups in the charges for customers,” she told AIN. “Some people don’t seem to care about the owner’s money. They think that if you own a jet, you don’t have to think about what it costs.”

Axis gathers data covering all aspects of aircraft operations, including fuel use and maintenance costs for individual aircraft. Mumenthaler said it uses the technology to identify areas where savings and efficiencies could be made, with all of this laid out in the open for owners and their family office staff.

“In some cases, owners may simply want to see where their aircraft is at that time, but the fact that we show everything proves that we are honest,” she said. In her view, other aircraft management providers present more fragmented information that leaves the owners having to form their own conclusions about the value proposition.

The company seeks to help clients choose the most suitable aircraft to own for their actual travel needs, looking at factors such as average flight times and number of passengers. “We are not looking at these decisions in terms of what works in our favor,” Mumenthaler said.

“There was one client who had been more or less forced into buying a jet without realizing he would not make a profit on the operations,” she explained. “So we found a different model to try for a year. We have lost out on opportunities by telling the truth.”

Axis Aviation runs operations in Austria, San Marino, Switzerland, and South Africa. Its fleet currently totals between 48 and 50 jets, with a mix of types including several Dassault Falcon 2000s, Gulfstream G550s, G650s, and G700s, as well as Bombardier Global 5000s and 7500s.

In Europe, there are currently 15 based aircraft, and three more are expected to join the fleet over the next two months. This year, Axis aims to bring its asset management services to the U.S., and it is exploring the acquisition of a Part 135 operation. The fleet is operated with a core flight crew roster of 75 pilots, with some of these directly employed by individual owners.