Development of a unique platform for private jet operation
of the Czech private aviation market
until the launch of the prototype demo
to pilot operation
Strafos, a startup founded in 2018, aims to change private aviation – it saves private jet operators the manual work of pricing, selling and managing flights with its cloud-based platform. It then offers passengers the option of instant bookings.
Challenge
Development of a private flight management tool
Strafos had a unique business vision – to create a modern platform that would reduce the need for manual calculations and the use of additional resources. What people used to do with Excel and took hours to do, their app was going to do in a few clicks. The ultimate goal of this project is then to reduce costs and help fill empty flights.
However, developing such a platform is no easy task, so a technology partner was needed. One that was mindful of best practices and placed the utmost importance on the user experience. Strafos approached INVENTI in 2021 with the requirement to develop an environment for the entire private flight planning and booking process. During joint meetings, we communicated all expectations and needs and then got to work.
Solution
Strategic team composition for the most efficient delivery
After a careful analysis of the requirements, we came up with two possible technology paths to create the system. The first one was a combination of JavaScript and PHP, and the second one was JavaScript only.
Together with Strafos, we went through the advantages of each solution and recommended proceeding with the fullstack JavaScript option, which was approved by the startup's representatives.
Thanks to the chosen architecture and the fully JavaScript development environment, we were able to involve developers on both the frontend and the backend. This allowed us to be very efficient and handle entire functional blocks without additional information passing requirements. This allowed one developer to deliver the entire module from A to Z.
The development team, led by a project manager and a lead analyst, consisted of 6 members. It had a Tech Lead, developers, testers, a DevOps engineer and an architect. We proceeded with the use of agile techniques (SCRUM).
Used Technologies
- React and ReactDOM: Libraries for UI development in React.
- Redux: Library for managing the state of the application.
- React-Redux: A library for connecting React with Redux.
- Axios: Library for HTTP requests.
- Styled-Components: library for creating styles for React components.
- Material-UI: A library for React components with Material Design appearance.
On the other hand, for the backend, we bet on the following in terms of project needs:
- Nest.js Core: Basic Nest.js framework library for building web applications and APIs in Node.js.
- TypeORM: A library for working with relational databases in Nest.js that supports various database systems such as PostgreSQL, MySQL and others.
- Nest.js JWT: A library for creating and validating JSON web tokens for user authentication and authorization in Nest.js.
- Yup: Data validation library in Nest.js.
- Swagger UI Express: Library for generating API documentation in Nest.js using Swagger.
Results
After two months, we had the first version of the app ready, which the client used for a presentation at an expo in Dubai. After four more months, we delivered the majority of the app for the pilot launch. In this version, the app was already integrated with the global Avinode system, which unlocks users' access to the global private flight market.
Avinode is one of the largest and most powerful private flight marketplaces, providing a comprehensive solution for finding, comparing and booking private flights.
Commercial operation of the app was then launched in May 2022. Even after the launch, we fixed a few minor bugs that sharp operation revealed.
The project currently serves approximately 20% of the Czech private aviation market and has global ambitions. Even after two years since its launch, it continues to collect more and more feedback, based on which it is being improved.
Its cooperation with INVENTI does not end there – in addition to managing and developing the application, we support the project in its expansion and attracting further investment.
Let's create something amazing
You will be surprised what we can create together.
