Three grounded Aer Lingus pilots have raised more than €500,000 for their start-up during Covid-19 lockdown.
The pilots, who have more than 40 years of flying experience between them, used their downtime during lockdown to launch a crowdfunding campaign for their start-up Frequency.
Frequency is an internet-based communication system which aims to ensure that critical communication lines between aircraft, line maintenance and operations control are kept open at all times.
This could drastically improve decision making and communication transfer during airline turnarounds. It could also save a lot of money - currently these communications delays cost airlines over €22billion annually.
The three pilots – Justin Perry, Darach O’Comhrai and Kris Vansteenkiste – took to Irish equity crowdfunding platform Spark Crowdfunding, launching a 30-day campaign to raise funds, in exchange for equity in their company.
The campaign raised €278,000 on the crowdfunding platform over the 30-day period. The start-up then received match funding to the tune of €250,000 from Enterprise Ireland.
Justin Perry, who is an Aer Lingus first officer, said the start-up was inspired by the pilots’ daily frustration using an overly complex system that relies on inefficient, unreliable and dated forms of communication.
Mr Perry, who is now also Frequency CEO, said: “We were having a terrible day with delays and trying to talk to the right people.
“We were giving out about communications and the systems. We’d call one person who would then call an aircraft engineer who then talks to maintenance.
“All these calls cost small amounts of time, but it adds up. Every minute wasted costs the airline €65.
“If we can speed up the process of talking to a boarding agent, it can quickly save hundreds. The turnaround is a critical time for an airline for efficiency.”
