Business aviation software company Bluetail has accelerated the launch of its new business aircraft records on-demand SaaS platform in response to the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Founded by former Apple executives and entrepreneurs, Stuart Illian and Roberto Guerrieri, Bluetail’s aim is to help business jet owners and operators maximise the lifetime value of their aircraft through a next generation, back-to-birth, FAA-compliant, digitised aircraft records management system.
Guerrieri told Corporate Jet Investor: “The primary reasons we started Bluetail in the first place – regulatory/industry push towards digitisation, improved tools and technologies, solid validation of our use cases, etc. – have taken on added significance as a result of the Covid-19 situation. Thus, we made the decision to accelerate our official launch date.
“Plus, we thought the business aviation could use some positive news at this point in time. Capital is still flowing and solid ideas are still being encouraged by the industry.”
‘Capital is still flowing’
Guerrieri and Illian built their platform using modern technologies within the Amazon Web Services environment and think they are well-positioned to develop future versions of the product. The next major iteration of our product will include smart scanning and mach search.
Illian added: “Business aviation is definitely in the next stage of digital transformation. Our customer research is telling us that owners and operators want now, more than ever, to accelerate the move away from paper. They need a digital hub to safely keep, organise and share aircraft logbooks, supporting records, manuals, and much more.”
The Bluetail platform fits very well into the post Covid-19 landscape, according to the entrepreneurs. More people are working remotely but still need to access their important aircraft records quickly and easily. “We see that as being right in our wheelhouse and one of our better use cases,” said Guerrieri. The system also offers the assurance that records will always be protected against loss or damage.
‘This scenario was made for improvement’
Another benefit of the Bluetail system was said to be the ease with which it could improve business aircraft transactions. “I have personally experienced the ‘old way’ of doing this,” said Guerrieri. “You get on an airplane to go examine the aircraft logbooks in person, you sit in a room, typically with other individuals, to review the aircraft logbooks and supporting documentation, etc. This scenario was made for improvement using Bluetail.”
Noel Yantos, CEO of pilot training services provider LOFT and Bluetail customer, said the Bluetail platform enabled easy access to records despite the current Covid-19 contact restrictions. “My CitationJet records are now fully digitised, organised, backed-up and in one place,” said Yantos. “As we continue social distancing through the Covid-19 crisis, I can easily and safely grant access to maintenance personnel and pilots with zero contact, while still keeping everything up-to-date.”
Meanwhile, Bluetail timed the launch to coincide with the anniversary of Charles Lindbergh’s epic trans-Atlantic flight. Lindbergh’s monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis, took off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island on Friday May 20 1927 before touching down at Le Bourget, Paris 33 hours and 30 minutes later.
The Bluetail platform launch was timed to coincide with Charles Lindbergh’s epic flight.
