A wealth of options exist for flight planning services, including the companies listed below.
MARKETPLACE
Free, with Added Premium Services Company: Fltplan.com Product: For 26 years, Fltplan.com has continuously grown its complimentary service capabilities to make it possible for a business aviation operation to get by without a hefty price tag. Small operators without an extensive dispatching department can file flight plans, obtain weather briefings, and create navigation logs covering North America, Central America and much of the Caribbean entirely for free. Tools for each phase of flight are available, including FBO information, digital charts, routes with radar overlays, customizable aircraft performance, flight tracking and more. Should a user opt for premium services, the list includes access to eAPIS, International Trip Services, runway analysis and premium flight tracking to name a few. Fltplan.com and its mobile app Fltplan Go were acquired by Garmin in 2018, making it part of the Garmin Connext system. The integrations allow users to display traffic, weather, and GPS data from compatible Garmin ADS-B products and transfer flight plans directly from FltPlan Go to the Garmin Pilot app and certain Garmin avionics. https://marketplace.aviationweek.com/company/fltplancom
Not Just Tablets Company: Foreflight Product: The go-to resource for the single pilot, which supplements much of the preinstalled avionics and GPS features that have been in aircraft well before the days of tablets, also has a product dedicated to flight planning called “Foreflight Dispatch.” The company says the multi-user platform can be used for teams of any size, with the main functionalities of schedule-to-mobile integration along with many tools for complex planning. In 2021, Foreflight’s noteworthy additions to its Dispatch application included weight-and-balance improvements, fuel tankering and eAPIS services. After introducing its runway analysis service, Foreflight also developed engine-out procedures for more than 60% of the common business aviation fleet. Most recently, in March 2022, Dispatch now allows users to enable or disable operational rules and create and save a general declarations document as part of the eAPIS workflow. https://marketplace.aviationweek.com/company/foreflight
More than Approach Charts Company: Jeppesen Product: There are two forms in which customers can take advantage of Jeppesen’s flight planning services. The first is through a web interface (Jetplan.com) and the second is through a PC software (JetPlanner). Both platforms allow users to graphically depict routes, overlay weather and navigation information, and track a flight in progress. International trip planning is also a provided service with 24/7 customer assistance. The company says its goal for its flight planning service is to calculate an optimized plan for a specific aircraft and routing to file with ATC that will allow the most savings in both time and money. Jeppesen’s products integrate with Foreflight, both of which are owned by Boeing. https://marketplace.aviationweek.com/company/jeppesen
Highly Connected and Integrated Company: Honeywell Product: Under the umbrella of Honeywell Forge for Business Aviation, a platform that combines inflight connectivity, flight planning, datalink and flight database services in a single view, lie numerous integrations and connectivity features. A subsection includes Honeywell Forge Aircraft Datalink Services, which claims the fastest datalink speeds available to help reduce pilot and dispatcher workload. One can also convert and upload flight plans from many of the popular-third party flight planning services, and coverage does not require changing current data-communications hardware. Aircraft that have the ability to take advantage of the FAA’s NextGen Departure Clearances via datalink can receive their clearance and stay logged on to receive a second clearance when the wind changes direction and thus causing a runway change. Another component of Forge’s Flight Services includes Flight Sentinel, Honeywell’s “White Glove” concierge service. The Flight Sentinel team monitors aircraft position in real time so they can spot airspace and ATC initiatives while also looking ahead for weather hazards, traffic congestion, or any other conditions that may affect a flight. https://marketplace.aviationweek.com/company/honeywell-aerospace-0
Staying Ahead of Breaking Information Company: Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. Product: One of Honeywell Forge’s recent integrations from March 2022 includes information generated from Universal Weather and Aviation. Some of the integrated information includes flight plans, Aircraft Performance Group (APG) Runway Analysis reports, and APG weight and balance performance calculations. While Honeywell Forge has the perks of connectivity, a key strength of Universal is delivering pertinent information quickly. The company has advance access to the status of NAS and current Traffic Management Initiatives (TMI) that affect national airspace air traffic flow. This should help mitigate trip problems before they occur. For Covid-19 related travel restrictions, Universal’s resources and access to information have allowed on-demand charter operators the ability to take uncertainty out of this constantly changing landscape, allowing the time-sensitive nature of many of these trips to happen. This is representative of the many other complexities that come with international trip planning, which Universal says they can assist. The company also mentions that they participate in collaborative decision making to stay abreast of emerging FAA air traffic management tools and procedures.
https://marketplace.aviationweek.com/company/universal-weather-aviation-inc.
High-End Ocean Liner Company: ARINCDirect Collins Aerospace Product: The popularity of ARINCDirect for transoceanic missions on ultra-long range business jets seems to be a trend. Parallel to the greater cost of these routes and the aircraft that fly them, a subscription with ARINCDirect may come with a higher price tag as well, which makes sense according to pilots and the operations teams that use this flight planning service. What many pilots are concerned about with an oceanic crossing is errors, but ARINCDirect’s plotting chart allows pilots to change or amend a route easily. The plotting chart generates all intersections that are close to a particular area and loads a new route, which can be verified with the aircraft’s FMS. The plotting chart will also automatically populate the equal time points, and at the end of a trip, the software generates a master document that is required after every oceanic trip. https://marketplace.aviationweek.com/company/collins-aerospace-arincdirect-solutions
FBOs Made Easy Company: AC-U-KWIK Product: AC-U-KWIK, celebrating its 40th anniversary, is a business aviation go-to resource for global airport FBO and handler information. As a pre-flight planning resource, AC-U-KWIK’s suite of digital and print products acts as convenient quick look-up resource for the desktop or cockpit. Over the years, many have known AC-U-KWIK for its North American and International FBO book editions. However, building on that legacy, the ACUKWIK.com website and app offer a much deeper range of information for North American airports that is free to all users. For operations outside of North America, AC-U-KWIK offers a reasonably priced subscription that opens up information to airports across the world. The app is compatible with iOS and Android devices.
https://acukwik.com/
