JUSTIN WASTNAGE / LONDON
US company tailors software for online aircraft booking system for region's users
Air Charter Guide is set to embark on a promotional drive in Europe to plug its CharterX online aircraft booking system and challenge the dominance of market rivals.
The listings company has around 35 brokers licensed to use the software in Europe, most recently with French broker Jet Solutions launching its easybusinessjet.com online reservation system.
Air Charter Guide is finalising plans to visit operators and brokers in France, Germany, Italy and the UK next month to demonstrate new Europe-specific features in the latest versions of CharterX. "We recognise that we haven't done a good job so far convincing brokers in Europe about the functionality of our system," says Jim Betlyon, Air Charter Guide's director of online services. Air Charter Guide has around 110 licensees in the USA and aims to match that number in Europe, he says.
CharterX has been refined following feedback from existing European customers, including Italy's Eurofly Services, Germany's Excellent Air, the UK's London Executive Aviation and TAG Aviation in Switzerland, he adds. The multilingual European CharterX 3.5 version of the software already includes provisions for cabotage, variable landing fees and other costs for individual airports or aircraft in different countries, unique to the European version. The company is also working on ways to display pricing estimates rather than exact sums, allowing brokers to finalise quotes, says Betlyon.
CharterX rival Avinode of Sweden has secured 190 operators and brokers for its online air charter network since its launch in November 2002, and plans to increase its presence in the Middle East. The Gothenburg-based company says its success is due in part to growing acceptance and maturity of the internet as a business tool. "The last quarter of 2003 was very busy, with 37 new operators and brokers signed up," Avinode says, "and we are seeing a return in consumer confidence".Source: Flight International
