The private aviation boom continues post COVID. Phoenix based SaaS firm, Bluetail, aims to capitalize.
Phoenix, AZ (September 29, 2022) — Bluetail’s Roberto Guerrieri and Stuart Illian are center stage, accepting the Arizona Commerce Authority’s award for “Most Outstanding Startup” in 2022. Their SaaS company, Bluetail, has been flying high since its inception in 2019, partly driven by a major increase in private aviation that occurred during the COVID pandemic.
Each year the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) receives hundreds of applications for its Venture Ready Accelerator, a nine-month program aimed at supporting and helping grow some of Arizona’s most promising companies. The 2021/2022 cohort consisted of the top ten of these breakout companies including Bluetail, Better Agency, Ampcera, The Patient Company, SaiOx, NaviNurses, VivaHR, ReSuture, TapRoot and Dorm Room Movers.
The culmination of the accelerator program is a final pitch event, where a panel of four judges select the winning company. In addition to a standout pitch presentation, Bluetail won over the judges due to their significant sales traction and further development of their technology. “We’re really excited about our current product-market fit and newest upcoming product geared towards air charter operators,” said Stuart Illian. He continued, “Unknowingly, aircraft owners and operators are at risk. Not just from lost records, but from lost revenue when the plane gets grounded for maintenance. Bluetail squarely addresses such challenges.”
Flying private is often associated with celebrities and C-level executives. However, private flights now account for 25% of all U.S. flights, up from 10% prior to the pandemic. This shift towards private flying is becoming a pricey but sought-after alternative to flying first class.
The boom is benefiting plane makers like Textron Aviation, Bombardier and Gulfstream, but it also means more opportunity for Bluetail.
“Bluetail was built to help aircraft owners easily manage their aircraft records through the cloud, making them accessible, searchable and impossible to lose. With 80% of aircraft records still buried in bankers boxes, we realized how inefficient this was.” said Roberto Guerrieri.
Boxed records pose a larger problem too – if lost or missing, the aircraft can be worth 30% less or more when resold. There’s also downtime for maintenance, with much of that time being wasted sifting through records to determine which maintenance is necessary and which is not.
The ACA is currently reviewing applications for the 2022/2023 cohort. Their selections will be made public sometime in late October.
