AvPlan OzRunways sold (again)
Today it has been announced that Thoma Bravo are acquiring Jeppesen (and other digital products including ForeFlight and OzRunways) for […]
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Today we received news that Boeing (via ForeFlight) is acquiring OzRunways. This is an interesting move and one which will certainly change the competitive EFB (Electronic Flight Bag) landscape in Australia. The announcement though reminds me of a few other Boeing acquisitions in the past.
In 2000, Boeing acquired Jeppesen Sanderson, a Denver based company specialising in aviation charting and data. The announcement of that acquisition read, in part:
“We are delighted at the prospect of becoming part of The Boeing Company,” said Horst Bergmann, CEO of Jeppesen. “We’re looking forward to working together to create an array of new digital information services and to speed the movement of our existing products to new digital platforms.”
Jeppesen at the time were known as an innovative company, however post-2000 that slowly changed, with their focus shifting mainly towards commercial and business aviation. In 2024, support for FliteDeck, their private aviation EFB, was discontinued.
In 2019 Boeing acquired ForeFlight and announced, in part, that:
“We are excited to build on ForeFlight’s tremendous success in personal, business and defense aviation so we can provide next-generation, integrated tools to our aviation customers today,” said Ken Sain, Boeing Vice President of Digital Solutions and Analytics.
Following this acquisition, ForeFlight appear to have shifted focus to concentrate on the needs of commercial, business and military aviation, which has been accompanied by price rises, and the introduction of ever higher subscription tiers.
The announcement today about the OzRunways acquisition is reminiscent of those earlier statements extracted above. Over the short term, I would expect little change in OzRunway’s service offerings. In time, I wonder if we will see a focus shift away from personal aviation and/or the ANZ market.
At AvPlan, we want to see a strong and diverse competitive landscape, to provide real choice for local pilots. AvPlan is now the largest Australian-owned EFB. All our team are based in Australia, and this gives us local knowledge and a commitment to fostering the Australian and New Zealand aviation community. We can only do what we do with the support of ANZ’s pilots and aircraft operators. This, in turn, inspires us to keep innovating and serving the community we are a part of.
Thank you all for your continued support.
Bevan Anderson
Founder, CEO, Australian pilot.
