Company Overview

AirSprint Private Aviation is a Canadian company that offers fractional ownership of private business jet aircraft. As the company continues to expand with several dozen jets, the complexity of flight planning has increased, raising concerns about potential operational mistakes that can creep in without process enhancements.

Challenge: Managing Safety in a Growing Operation 

AirSprint places a high priority on safety, as highlighted on their website: "We treat every flight as an opportunity to demonstrate and improve our exemplary level of safety." However, their flight operations team faced significant challenges due to information overload from multiple sources, making it difficult to digest and act upon crucial details of every flight efficiently as the fleet continued to grow. 

With growing complexity, the traditional manual process of reviewing tail-specific data became increasingly difficult. Essential flight information, such as NOTAMs, Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs), crew restrictions, and weather updates, changes frequently and requires constant monitoring.

Solution: Implementing FlightRisk for Automation & Risk Management 

To enhance efficiency and maintain their safety mission, AirSprint sought an operational tool to streamline the flight preparation. They chose FlightRisk, a platform designed to automate mundane data consumption and processing while embedding critical operational risk controls to drive consistency and continuous improvement and ensure the operation never forgets a lesson learned. 

Morgan Danard, Quality & Standards Manager, Operations Control, recognized the potential impact of FlightRisk on scheduling and dispatching. By leveraging its rules engine, Danard developed dozens of risk controls to demonstrate the system’s value to the company. 

One of the first major wins was automating crewing, operational and customer requirements and restrictions. What once took hours was now completed in minutes, freeing up time for other safety-related tasks. Additionally, FlightRisk’s integration with FL3XX scheduling and ForeFlight Dispatch further automated the preflight process, ensuring that critical safety information reached the right personnel in real-time. 

Operational Impact & Benefits 

By implementing FlightRisk, AirSprint has realized several key benefits: 

• Proactive Decision-Making: Automated advisories alert the team about potential weather issues, allowing them to arrange hangar reservations in advance among other adjustments.
• Regulatory Compliance: Custom rules flag critical customs clearance windows and specific NOTAMs, such as airshow TFRs embedded within Canadian NOTAMs, ensuring they are not overlooked.
• Efficiency Gains: The system triggers automated email notifications and dashboard alerts, keeping all relevant personnel informed as early as possible. This is particularly valuable given AirSprint’s four-day intensive operational planning cycle.
• Optimized Flight Planning: Early identification of risks allows for more efficient planning and more options to recover from mechanical or weather issues. As Mike Vandermark, Director of Safety & Quality, stated: "Things change so fast…we might have 10 options to choose from several days ahead but only 4 to choose from if we’re 1 day out from the flight. Having more time and more options allows us to better serve our fractional owners!"
• Enhancements to Staffing: With FlightRisk doing more of the traditional tasking, this additional time is given back to the AirSprint personnel for other value add efforts and that is allowing the team to grow and specialize more.

Conclusion: Safety, Efficiency, and Excellence 

By integrating FlightRisk, AirSprint has significantly reduced time spent on tedious tasks, allowing their team to focus on mission-critical elements of flight operations. The automation of risk assessments, coupled with real-time alerts, enhances both safety and operational efficiency—ensuring that AirSprint continues to provide world-class service to its clients. 

As Danard aptly put it: "Knowing about an issue 3 days in advance is gold." 

FlightRisk delivers that foresight, empowering AirSprint to maintain the highest safety standards, while optimizing their operations for the future.