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For many charter brokers, growth can become a double-edged sword. More enquiries, more trips, and more customers are welcome . . . unless the systems supporting that growth begin to break under the pressure. In her latest column, Catherine Buchanan, Director of Business Development at STACK.aero, recounts a recent conversation she had with a key client about how digitalisation helped their business grow.
One of the things I enjoy most about working at STACK.aero is hearing how our customers' businesses evolve over time. Sometimes those conversations are about a new feature or process improvement. Other times, they are a reminder of just how far a company has come.
That was certainly the case when I recently caught up with George "JoJo" Wozniak, Chief Executive Officer of Ryan Aviation Group.
Like many successful charter brokerages, Ryan Aviation built its reputation on exceptional service, industry expertise and strong client relationships. But by 2023, the company had reached a crossroads. Demand was growing, trip volumes were increasing, and the systems that had supported the business in its earlier years were starting to show their limitations.
"When our volume of charter requests and bookings continued to increase, our manual system at the time simply no longer worked," JoJo told me. "We were losing trips because we couldn't quote fast enough, and there was far too much room for human error."
It's a challenge we hear often.
The reality is that the processes that help a company grow from start-up to success are not always the same processes that will help it scale. Eventually, what once worked becomes the very thing holding the business back.
At the time, Ryan Aviation was relying heavily on Word templates that were converted into PDFs and sent to clients. As volumes increased, the process became increasingly labour-intensive and difficult to manage.
"There were days before STACK when we took a deep breath when someone requested a trip because sending a quote was so labour-intensive," JoJo admitted.
For a business built on responsiveness, that is a difficult position to be in.
When Ryan Aviation began looking for a new solution, they were not simply searching for software. They wanted a platform built around the realities of charter brokerage. One of the reasons they chose STACK.aero was because many of our team members have worked in brokerage themselves.
"The STACK team had a really good vibe from the outset," JoJo said. "They understood exactly what we were trying to achieve."
Of course, any operational change comes with challenges. New systems require new ways of working and onboarding is never as simple as flicking a switch.
"Change is tough," he said. "You're replacing old habits and established ways of working. But the support was fantastic. The team was knowledgeable, responsive and explained everything in a relatable way."
What followed was not simply a software implementation. It was a fundamental shift in how the business operated. The first benefit was speed.
Once quoting, contracting, trip management, customer information and financial processes were centralised within STACK.aero, a major bottleneck disappeared. Instead of spending valuable time building quotes and searching for information across multiple systems, the team could focus on serving customers and winning business. Perhaps more importantly, it allowed Ryan Aviation to grow.
Before implementing STACK.aero, the company averaged between 10 and 20 trips per month. Then a new question emerged.
"We started asking ourselves: how cool would it be to do 50 trips in a month?"
Soon afterwards, they achieved exactly that. The business completed 54 trips in a single month while maintaining the high-touch service standards that had helped build its reputation.
"The quoting portion became quick. Human error was minimised. More time could be allocated to the next quote and the next trip. Our operations team had information at their fingertips."
Today, Ryan Aviation averages between 60 and 70 trips per month and is already looking ahead to the next milestone. What struck me most during our conversation was that growth was not simply about doing more trips. It was about removing constraints. Technology gave the team confidence that they could grow without sacrificing service quality. JoJo described STACK.aero as becoming the company's "brain trust."
"It really has been a massive game changer for us. Speed and quality of service. I no longer have to be the memory bank for everyone."
Instead of relying on spreadsheets, disconnected applications and individual knowledge, the entire team now works from a single source of truth. Client preferences, historical trip information, invoices, contracts, reporting and sales activity are all accessible in one place.
The benefits extend directly to the customer experience.
"Not only are our customers very impressed by the speed of our quotes and how fancy they are, STACK allows us to focus less on remembering information and more on serving our clients," JoJo explained. "Birthday requests, anniversaries, catering preferences, allergy information - it's all there, and it means customers no longer have to repeat the information."
STACK.aero’s customer relationship management software helps Ryan Aviation keep track of customer preferences, enabling them to offer better customer service.
For me, that comment perfectly captures what digitalisation should achieve. There is sometimes a misconception that technology replaces the human element in business aviation. In reality, it should do the opposite.
The best technology removes administrative friction, reduces repetitive tasks and eliminates avoidable errors so that brokers can spend more time building relationships and delivering exceptional service.
JoJo sees it the same way.
"Our clients value time and service," he said. "Digitisation gives time back. But we can't lose the service piece in the process. Human connection, relationship building and client retention remain incredibly important."
I couldn't agree more. Digital transformation should never be about replacing people. It should be about empowering them.
When I asked JoJo what role STACK.aero had played in Ryan Aviation's growth, his answer was telling.
"It's difficult to quantify exactly what percentage of our growth came from STACK," he said. "But it has absolutely been a significant part of it. It removed limitations and constraints that existed in our previous processes."
For many charter businesses, digitalisation is viewed as an operational necessity. Ryan Aviation's experience demonstrates something even more.
When implemented correctly, the right technology doesn't simply improve efficiency. It removes ceilings. And once those ceilings disappear, businesses can focus on how high they want to climb.
BlueSky Business Aviation News | 2nd July 2026 | Issue #849
