How Talon Air Turned Faster Records Access Into a Competitive Edge
Talon Air CEO, James Chitty, gave the same tour three to four times a week. No matter who was visiting — new customers, prospective aircraft owners, or local high school students — every tour led to a room he never looked forward to showing: the aircraft records room.
Talon Air has a fireproof records room on-site and an even larger one off-site. Both are lined with rows of sliding shelves full of aircraft paper logbooks. Some books haven’t been opened in years.
I look at this room, and I think about my life. I went to Atlanta yesterday with just my briefcase and my computer. The idea that we still have all this paper is wild to me. – James Chitty, CEO, Talon Air
Talon Air has been on Bluetail for over three years. It started with taking on the management of a single aircraft already using Bluetail, what followed was a company-wide push toward digital operations that continues to give Talon Air a competitive advantage.
A Pleasant Surprise
Talon Air didn’t go looking for Bluetail. They inherited it.
When the company took on management of an aircraft already using Bluetail, it gave the team their first real look at what the platform could do. The verdict was quick. Better search. Better access. No more shipping boxes or crates of paper records to wherever the plane was sitting.
They didn’t know they had a problem, until they saw the value of Bluetail and how it could help.
“That was kind of our first real look at it. And it was just — this is a better solution for us.” – James Chitty, CEO, Talon Air
From there, Bluetail became the standard for aircraft coming onto the Talon Air certificate.
Why Speed Matters
For a charter and management company like Talon Air, the speed at which you can onboard an aircraft is everything. The aircraft isn’t generating revenue until it’s conformed and on the certificate. And conformity inspections done with paper take time.
Even in a favorable regulatory environment, Talon Air routinely saw conformity timelines stretch two to three weeks. Every one of those days carries a cost for both the owner and for the operator.
There’s a heavy carrying cost to bringing an airplane from certificate to certificate. The more we can do to limit that time, the quicker owners get to revenue. – James Chitty, CEO, Talon Air
For Talon Air, one of the biggest advantages of Bluetail is visibility before the aircraft even arrives. When an incoming aircraft already has its records in the system, the team can review things like compliance with airworthiness directives and service bulletins ahead of time.
Conformity packages and AD searches are never fun when you have years of ADs to review. It was nice to see that Ask Bluetail could pull up all 80 of our complied ADs within seconds. -Andrei Levcovivo, Chief Inspector, Talon Air
Instead of uncovering issues during conformity, they know what they’re dealing with before the process begins. That allows Talon Air to give clients realistic onboarding timelines from day one rather than discovering delays weeks later.
Time is money. And it’s not even just the money. It’s setting yourself up for success with the client right from the start. – James Chitty, CEO, Talon Air
Beyond Conformity
Conformity is only one place where access to records matters. Charter aircraft go where their customers need them — and sometimes that means an AOG event or a maintenance stop somewhere across the country, far from the records room.
For years the answer was shipping. Physical logbook boxes or crates would be sent to wherever the aircraft was so the maintenance team could access what they needed.
Bluetail eliminated that entirely. The aircraft’s full maintenance history is accessible wherever you are, whenever you need it, safely and securely.
Talon Air’s Chief Inspector, Andrei Levcovici shared how Bluetail has helped them keep the pace during their every day operations:
The MACH search is amazing. I was skeptical at first that it could pick up handwritten notes out of a log entry, but it does, and that saves us a lot of time. When the shop calls needing paint codes for touch-up work or a drawing for an entertainment system, I can pull it up immediately and get it to the vendor so the work gets done. We have 42 planes all over the place, and when they’re being worked on every single one of them is waiting on a quick answer to keep moving, we don’t have time to dig.
The same advantage extends to aircraft transactions. Talon Air regularly works with buyers evaluating aircraft purchases. In the past, that often meant flying people in and spending hours reviewing paper logbooks in a conference room.
Digital access changes that. Records can be shared instantly, questions can be answered faster, and multiple buyers can review documentation (concurrently) from anywhere. The result is a smoother evaluation process and fewer obstacles standing between interest and a completed transaction.
Recruiting for a Digital Future
The shortage of Aviation Maintenance Technicians is one of the industry’s biggest challenges right now.
Like many operators, Talon Air has invested time in attracting younger technicians, hosting local schools in the hangar and giving students the opportunity to work hands-on with the airframe, engines, and avionics.
What stands out to James is how different their expectations are versus his current A&Ps.
The young guys coming out of school in their early 20s — they’re used to going to their phone for everything. You don’t have that ‘get over the hump’ process with them. The quicker we can integrate digital tools into our onboarding, the better off we’ll be. – James Chitty, CEO, Talon Air
Mechanics get into aviation because they want to work on aircraft. They don’t want to spend their day searching through binders. Industry data suggests actual wrench time can represent as little as 15% to 45% of a technician’s workday — the rest spent on administrative work and documentation. Every hour reclaimed from paper is an hour spent maintaining aircraft.
According to James, enthusiasm for digital records isn’t limited to younger technicians.
It appeals to all groups once they’re committed to a more streamlined process. I have a handful of seasoned mechanics who want it maybe even more than the young guys. – James Chitty, CEO, Talon Air
What Talon Air Would Tell Other Operators
James encourages the industry to embrace digital records and believes everyone benefits when they do.
The quicker I can conform an airplane, the quicker I generate revenue. The quicker I can sell a plane, the closer I am to those commissions. – James Chitty, CEO, Talon Air
Talon Air’s story isn’t one dramatic turnaround. The difference shows up every day – aircraft moving through conformity faster, records immediately available when questions come up, buyers reviewing documents remotely, and technicians not spending half their day digging through file cabinets.
Those wins protect revenue, reduce costs, and show clients — and future hires — that Talon Air operates more efficiently across the business.
The records room is still there. But it’s no longer the stop on the tour that defines how Talon Air works. Instead, it’s a reminder of how much valuable real estate can one day be put to better use.