Charter X Signs TAG, Clay Lacy

TAG Aviation and Clay Lacy Aviation have signed on as two of the latest participants in CharterX, the Air Charter Guide's online reservation, scheduling and marketing system. CharterX also recently signed its first British and European licensee-London Executive Aviation. With the additions, CharterX now has 51 participants, including some of the charter industry's leading operators.

Air Charter Guide e-Services vice president Meara McLaughlin says operators find the system appealing because, like the Air Charter Guide itself, CharterX is "a non-partisan tool to increase business." As an unbiased information source with no vested interest in how data is presented, Air Charter Guide does not compete with charter operators or brokers.

CharterX may be customized to individual users' needs. Operators can use it to offer branded online quotes or booking through their own websites, display realtime availability, aircraft photos and even offer trip quotes with preferred buyers' discounts factored in. Another popular application is the posting of empty legs on the site. CharterX is compatible with most major scheduling and dispatch software .

Air charter buyers can filter the information they receive­such as limiting quotes to preferred operators, aircraft or other criteria. High volume charter buyers can use the site to offer in-house booking on corporate intranets and to ensure that itineraries are compliant with corporate travel policies. McLaughlin says many companies use the system to determine whether it is more cost-effective to use in-house aircraft or outsource a particular trip to a charter operator.

Air Charter Guide president and founder Frederick Gevalt says CharterX finally offers the charter business "a global reservation network for charter services such as the scheduled carriers have enjoyed since the seventies."

CharterX is focusing future growth on the 2,000+ worldwide charter operators who have not yet signed on as active participants, as well as high-volume charter buyers such as corporations and fractional operators in search of an efficient way to locate and book supplemental lift.

Further information about CharterX is available in Booth 6414 or on-line at www.aircharterguide.com.