“We have seen a tremendous number of brokers and operators joining since last year’s launch," reports AeroBid CEO Zaher Deir. "We’ve listened to their feedback and experiences and, as a result, we’ve added many new features to help them get what they need from the platform. For example, we added operator and broker directories with their name and bio; it is a great way to present and market themselves. 

“We have also added alert systems that will instantly notify operators of any broker flight request in any geographical area they choose, by WhatsApp, email or SMS. Likewise, brokers will get a notification when an operator bids on their charter request.”

The company signed up about 100 operators and 200 brokers in the first eight months, but says the platform represents a big behavioural change to which some users have struggled to adapt.

“We know it takes time for people to change their habits. We’ve put a lot of energy into educating both brokers and operators to see the benefits of this faster, real-time way of finding each other, and to negotiate charters through one convenient platform.”

Initially the company lacked engagement with the platform from operators: “Around 30 to 40 brokers posted flight requests, but the operators weren’t bidding for the charters in real time. We realised that only a few had set up their alerts, so we showed the others how to get notifications any time a relevant flight was posted. Over time, their engagement has improved, but we’re still working on that education.”

With phishing emails and social engineering on the rise, AeroBid Messaging aims to provide a secure environment where vetted and verified operators and brokers can message each other, upload contracts, invoices and photos, and deal with each other in a safe and secure environment.

“That said,” he continues, “we are still listening to feedback and making changes, and we haven’t stopped building new functionality for our users.” The latest feature is AeroBid Ping, where a broker can post a charter request and also ping up to 10 specific operators from whom they’d like to request bids. The company is also working on integrating with other software providers such as FL3XX.

User education continues: “We need to persuade brokers that they are now dealing with a marketplace, not just emailing a particular operator. When they post their flight request on the marketplace, hundreds of operators will see the request, not just the operators they ping.”

AeroBid aims to accommodate all one-way flights, so to meet the demand for a single place for empty legs, the Empty Leg marketplace was added on. All brokers can see any empty leg post and can set up intelligent alerts, while operators can set a price, or leave it open for offers, and post a fixed or flexible route for which interim stops may be accepted. Similarly operators can be alerted to broker flight requests that meet their empty leg criteria. But for that to happen, both sides have to have set up alerts. “It’s all about education and changing mindsets,” he says.

So far response times on both sides are lagging a little, even though the platform is performing well from a technological point of view. “We still need to work on internal platform engagement,” Deir concludes. “But I understand that it takes people time to adapt to a new workflow and technology before they realise its full potential.”