Evgenii Artemov and Alan Phelan are the co-founders of APTN.AERO, an online tool for the aviation sector that aims to make it easy for those who invest in or trade aircraft assets to hire the right technical consultants to oversee their projects.
Technical consultants usually work freelance and are highly specialised in areas such as aircraft maintenance and inspections. One of the main ways in which consultants are hired is through brokers or middlemen.
As these consultants are based all over the world it can be difficult for those who need them, typically investment banks, aircraft traders and asset managers, to pinpoint a consultant who not only has the required skill set but is also available in the right location, at the right time, at a competitive cost. On the other side of the coin, consultants face challenges in making themselves known to the aviation community.
Artemov and Phelan have more than 50 years’ experience in the aviation sector between them and more than a passing familiarity with these pain points. Their paths had never crossed professionally, so neither knew that the other was working on ways to solve these problems until Enterprise Ireland introduced them earlier this year. At that point they decided to pool their expertise, and APTN.AERO is the result.
“Back in 2022 when everyone was trying to recover their aircraft from Russia, I spoke to a friend who is a technical consultant and he told me he had received five calls from five different middlemen for the same job and he couldn’t help thinking how inefficient this was. In addition, the sector is heavily dependent on slow, manual processes,” Artemov explains.
[ Aviation industry expected to grow in 2024 despite supply and quality challengesOpens in new window ]
“At APTN.AERO we have developed a suite of solutions that automate tasks such as project scheduling, contract negotiation, collaboration and billing. So, instead of depending on middlemen, our clients can use our system to quickly and directly source the best local candidate for the job at short notice and at minimal cost, with significant reductions in project costs and travel and accommodation expenses.”
“We use an advanced algorithm to identify the most suitable consultants for each project, and to promote transparency and trust we independently vet the consultants and have a comprehensive rating and review system. Also, when a job is completed at the moment it takes several weeks to generate a comprehensive report. We are introducing AI to help consultants with this task so that reports can be ready in days or even hours,” adds Artemov, who created the company’s minimum viable product (MVP) for free using Bubble.io, which allows someone with no coding experience to build an application.
The only cost incurred by the founders so far has been their time, but as they push ahead with product development, expansion of the consultant database and demonstrating the platform to potential clients, significant investment will be required. The fundraising process is already under way and the founders are looking at seed and HPSU options with Enterprise Ireland, as well as private equity.
“We have launched our MVP with limited functionality, but by the end of this year we plan to introduce features such as a review system, contracting and billing modules, a benefits hub for consultants, a technical Q&A forum, and iOS and Android apps. At the moment, we have several hundred consultants in our database and 20+ prospective clients.
“We are not aiming to displace brokers or intermediaries, but rather to provide tools that will benefit everyone in the aviation consultancy ecosystem and help to reduce costs, enhance transparency, and improve efficiency,” says Artemov, who recently completed the Enterprise Ireland-backed New Frontiers programme at TU Dublin’s Hothouse start-up incubator. APTN.AERO is currently free for all to use but starting in 2025 both consultants and clients will pay a fee. The platform will initially be rolled out in Europe followed by Asia and North America.
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