Washington-based AviationManuals has reported strong demand in the first half of 2020. This demand was the result of flight departments taking advantage of reduced flight schedules due to the COVID-19 pandemic to improve their operations by implementing SMS software and improving or developing operations manuals.

“We have had surprisingly robust demand in 2020, especially considering the negative effects the pandemic has had on business aviation activity overall,” says CEO Mark Baier. “Operators showed a lot of initiative and foresight using the additional time they had available to review and improve the way they operate.”

As the pandemic continues to spread, operators are recognising the need for better support tools to help manage the new and unique impacts of COVID-19. Several AviationManuals' product categories including health travel preparedness, organisational changes and metrics reporting have all seen increases in demand over recent months.

“Our advisors have been remarkably busy helping flight departments and FBOs, particularly with ARC SMS software and emergency response plans. Many operators also took the time to develop and update their flight operations and maintenance manuals,” Baier continues.

Compared to 2019, the first half of 2020 saw considerably increased business requirements for digital flight department tools as companies continue to seek to improve the way they operate. The first half expansion followed strong growth last year as companies continued to improve the way they operate.

The market strength in the first six months of 2020 allowed the company to grow its team and improve its offerings with new risk assessment tool features, a new maintenance manual, as well as an enhanced ERP. AviationManuals' growing team also allowed it to support the industry by providing complimentary resources for flight, ground and FBO operations through a series of complimentary whitepapers and guides. The aim was to help operators deal with this pandemic as well as future unforeseen crises.