Story ID: 795JetScout
Jet Scout Opens Public Charter Platform
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: The Jet Scout service is targeted at charter customers as well as charter providers and brokers.
Word Count: 644
Late last year Jet Scout launched an online charter-booking platform that aims to serve charter end-users, charter operators (certificate holders) and brokers. Jet Scout was developed by Switzerland-based Aeronautica Consulting & Software Development, which was founded by Stefano Costi, a developer of business aviation software since 1989.

Jet Scout, according to Costi, “is open to all parties. It’s a new way to acquire new clients and [not to] let them go. It’s a new way to conquer the market.” Costi did his homework to evaluate the competition, among them charter platforms Avinode, JetSmarter, Stratajet, PrivateFly and FlyOtto. “We assembled a team of experts to ‘crash test’ platforms and find out the inefficiencies of current marketplaces, apps and websites,” he said.

With that in mind, designers set out to make it easy for charter customers to source a charter trip by simply asking for a quote. The user specifies the departure point and destination, the times and dates and any pertinent information such as the number of passengers (and accompanying pets, if applicable) and other needs.

Jet Scout delivers that information to the inbox of registered operators so they can choose whether to provide a quote to the potential customer. Jet Scout will be able to automatically create a quote, provided the master data that operators enter into the system is accurate enough. It will even take into account special routing considerations(for example, the need to avoid overflying certain war-torn countries or fees associated with certain routes). For automatic quotes to work, operators would also need to provide detailed pricing information as well as their valid air operator certificate. The goal, Costi explained, is that “pricing should be done in a way that is binding.”

Quoting Mechanism

Initially, the charter customer will see a quote for a particular category of airplane that can fulfill the flight request. For a long-range flight, for example, this could be an ultra-long-range jet such as a large-cabin Gulfstream or Bombardier Global. But if the customer determines the price is too high, he can request a smaller aircraft if he is willing to accept a fuel stop. Jet Scout has stored 140 aircraft types with performance numbers and information on 35,000 airports around the world.

When the quote is ready, the customer will see the airplane type, photos of the aircraft and information about the operator, and the operator will see the customer’s information, so they can make the final reservations and agree on payment terms or negotiate additional changes. The idea is to initialize the trip online, he explained, then let the parties talk on the phone.

The Jet Scout engine is available to charter operators and brokers, and both can use the system to create their own “white label” platform. Charter operators can use Jet Scout to source lift when their own aircraft are busy.

Charter/management firms can use the system to manage aircraft owners' flights. Instead of the typical round of multiple phone calls and emails between the owner’s assistant and the management firm, the assistant can make the booking directly on Jet Scout. “We download the request to [the management firm’s] scheduling system,” Costi said.

Jet Scout will earn revenue from charter operators and brokers that use the system, as they will pay a licensing fee based on a percentage of the amount invoiced for a trip. When brokers and operators use Jet Scout to create their own white label business, this will not appear to the charter customer as Jet Scout. All inquiries generated by the white label company will go directly to that company. White label charter companies will have to pay a per-aircraft fee or a bundle price for a fleet of aircraft.

 
, full_html