Building a better booking system for group aircraft
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2026
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: UK
Building a better booking system for group aircraft
I'm part of a small aircraft syndicate and, like many of you, have spent years wrestling with the existing booking tools. I've been building something to scratch my own itch and I'm now at the point where I'd like some outside eyes on it before opening it up for hands-on testing in the next few weeks.
First, some context on why I started. I've used both Goboko and Shlott, and while they both technically work, neither has ever felt like it was built for how syndicates actually operate.
Shlott is free for small groups, which is genuinely appealing and why our group used it for quite a while, but its UI is basic to say the least. Ultimately I guess it's a generic booking system that happens to be used by flying clubs, but it's not aviation-aware. There's no native app either, with the workaround being to "add to home screen" via Safari, and that being the case there's obviously no offline capability. Bottom line for me/us was that the lack of a monthly view is just too much of an omission, so we switched to Goboko.
Now Goboko has been around since 2003 ... and I think you can tell! The calendar is a monthly grid (yay!), but you have to tap individual days to see what's going on - there's no way to see at a glance whether a block is your booking, someone else's, or the aircraft is sitting in maintenance. The mobile app is a Cordova wrapper that hasn't had a meaningful update since mid-2022, and in my opinion while less clunky than Shlott, is still pretty clunky. The whole experience feels like navigating a system that was designed around the database rather than around the pilot.
The thing I kept coming back to was: I want to see at a glance where the plane is booked/bookable, where I already have it booked, and to have minimum clicks to make a booking. And I didn't think that was too much to ask, so I've been building something that does it. When I sat down to really plan it out, and write out my dream feature list.
What I've ended up with is a system where the booking calendar, maintenance status, billing, and tech log aren't separate modules bolted together. They're the same system. You can see your bookings, partner bookings, and downtime as distinct visual layers without clicking into anything. A grounding squawk blocks the calendar automatically. It works offline and syncs when you get signal back with automatic conflict resolution. Built in Flutter so it runs properly on iOS, Android, and web from the same codebase.
On the operational side, Tach/Hobbs readings feed straight into the billing. There's a super quick flow to log the start and end of a flight: it uses GPS to detect your airfield and notes the current time, then fills out the tech log for you. You can submit expenses by taking a photo, set up monthlies, configure different member rates or wet/dry rates, and all of that feeds into the billing system too.
At the moment I'm after two things:
1. Feedback on the concept: does this match the problems you actually have, or am I solving the wrong thing? Are there features your syndicate desperately needs that I might not have thought of?
2. In a couple of weeks I'll be opening up hands-on beta access. If you'd be interested in putting it through its paces with your group, I'd welcome the help.
Happy to answer questions or take a kicking. Not trying to sell anything, it's not launched yet and I genuinely want to know if this is useful before it is.
First, some context on why I started. I've used both Goboko and Shlott, and while they both technically work, neither has ever felt like it was built for how syndicates actually operate.
Shlott is free for small groups, which is genuinely appealing and why our group used it for quite a while, but its UI is basic to say the least. Ultimately I guess it's a generic booking system that happens to be used by flying clubs, but it's not aviation-aware. There's no native app either, with the workaround being to "add to home screen" via Safari, and that being the case there's obviously no offline capability. Bottom line for me/us was that the lack of a monthly view is just too much of an omission, so we switched to Goboko.
Now Goboko has been around since 2003 ... and I think you can tell! The calendar is a monthly grid (yay!), but you have to tap individual days to see what's going on - there's no way to see at a glance whether a block is your booking, someone else's, or the aircraft is sitting in maintenance. The mobile app is a Cordova wrapper that hasn't had a meaningful update since mid-2022, and in my opinion while less clunky than Shlott, is still pretty clunky. The whole experience feels like navigating a system that was designed around the database rather than around the pilot.
The thing I kept coming back to was: I want to see at a glance where the plane is booked/bookable, where I already have it booked, and to have minimum clicks to make a booking. And I didn't think that was too much to ask, so I've been building something that does it. When I sat down to really plan it out, and write out my dream feature list.
What I've ended up with is a system where the booking calendar, maintenance status, billing, and tech log aren't separate modules bolted together. They're the same system. You can see your bookings, partner bookings, and downtime as distinct visual layers without clicking into anything. A grounding squawk blocks the calendar automatically. It works offline and syncs when you get signal back with automatic conflict resolution. Built in Flutter so it runs properly on iOS, Android, and web from the same codebase.
On the operational side, Tach/Hobbs readings feed straight into the billing. There's a super quick flow to log the start and end of a flight: it uses GPS to detect your airfield and notes the current time, then fills out the tech log for you. You can submit expenses by taking a photo, set up monthlies, configure different member rates or wet/dry rates, and all of that feeds into the billing system too.
At the moment I'm after two things:
1. Feedback on the concept: does this match the problems you actually have, or am I solving the wrong thing? Are there features your syndicate desperately needs that I might not have thought of?
2. In a couple of weeks I'll be opening up hands-on beta access. If you'd be interested in putting it through its paces with your group, I'd welcome the help.
Happy to answer questions or take a kicking. Not trying to sell anything, it's not launched yet and I genuinely want to know if this is useful before it is.
Last edited by TheUKDave; 24th March 2026 at 11:48. Reason: Removed app name
Fleet Manager
Joined: Aug 2006
Aviation Qualifications: CPL
Posts: 7,081
Likes: 2,938
From: Ontario, Canada
A note, I have approved this post, though it could stray over the PPRUNe line of no advertising. So aspects of booking the airplane within the group are okay for discussion here, but promoting a particular system for doing that is across the line.
In the mean time, welcome to TheUKDave....
In the mean time, welcome to TheUKDave....
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2026
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: UK
Thank you, not meaning to advertise at all. I have edited to remove the name of the system I'm building.
As I've said, I'm just trying to figure out what tools pilots really need from a booking or asset management system, and hopefully to find someone will to help beta test it when it's ready.
Thanks!!
As I've said, I'm just trying to figure out what tools pilots really need from a booking or asset management system, and hopefully to find someone will to help beta test it when it's ready.
Thanks!!
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2026
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: UK
I plan to keep a free tier for small groups, as I am trying to make life easier for pilots. But I won't hide that it will be a subscription model (like goboko and others) for larger groups, renters, flight schools, etc. While my time is arguably free, the infrastructure hosting the system isn't, and I'm hoping that the paid customers can keep it free for small groups forever. If that counts you out, that's totally reasonable, and if that's the consensus, I'm also happy to take the post down.
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 475
Likes: 7
From: UK
For a "small aircraft syndicate" I use a telephone or lately a Wattsapp group. There is no need to over-complicate things. It's worked for the many "small syndicates" I've been involved with over the last 30 years. If you want to book some time, just let the others know. Job done.
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2026
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: UK
(my snip)
For a "small aircraft syndicate" I use a telephone or lately a Wattsapp group. There is no need to over-complicate things. It's worked for the many "small syndicates" I've been involved with over the last 30 years. If you want to book some time, just let the others know. Job done.
For a "small aircraft syndicate" I use a telephone or lately a Wattsapp group. There is no need to over-complicate things. It's worked for the many "small syndicates" I've been involved with over the last 30 years. If you want to book some time, just let the others know. Job done.
Clearly if your group/groups can be run by text message, that's awesome. For me, I feel I need to book ahead enough, that I often even forget when I've booked, often being over a month out.
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 755
Likes: 400
From: not where I want to be
For what it's worth, some years ago I contributed to a French open-source booking system that went by the name of 'Openflyers'. Said contributions were to both the code and (English) translations, which I felt was the least one could do as we were using the software with a flying school I was involved with at the time. I seem to recall that for an earlier iteration of such software it was quite well featured as it included maintenance data etc on the aircraft, and once they got used to it the instructors seemed to be quite happy with how it operated in terms of booking and accounting.
Unfortunately, from about 2008 or a little later I think the software moved on to become a closed-source system, possibly shortly after it moved from v1.3.x to 2.x (it was a while ago, I recall some discussion with Christophe Laratte at the time but it's getting fairly hazy now). Please accept my apologies if I've got the history wrong, but in any event these days it seems to operate as an online service you can purchase...
Mindful of Pilot DAR's comments (and my own views) I won't provide a link to the current online site, however a quick search showed me that version 2.0 appears to be still available from Sourceforge here, and 1.31 as ported for PHP 7 from Github here. There may be other more recent versions, but in any event as I'm pretty sure it was produced under a GPL 2.0 license it could be that anyone keen enough to consider producing a [open-source!] booking system may find it easier to utilise this as a base and update to fit in with today's environments, rather than completely re-invent the wheel.
Bearing in mind it seemed to work ok as it was, it may also be that one could even persuade one of the extant versions to work well enough within a VM or Docker image running an earlier OS on top of current hardware and modern OS. For a cash-strapped aero club, or enthusiastic individual this may still be a usable option. If you need to put it online then with a modern proxy in front of it, along with a few other reasonable restrictions, you might be able to address the majority of any security concerns too - although please note this is just an off-hand comment, I've certainly not looked at the code or specifically considered such a thing in many years now.
UPDATE: I see I last commented on Openflyers in 2010 here, and prior to that a couple of times in 2008, so yes it was quite a while ago!
FP.
Unfortunately, from about 2008 or a little later I think the software moved on to become a closed-source system, possibly shortly after it moved from v1.3.x to 2.x (it was a while ago, I recall some discussion with Christophe Laratte at the time but it's getting fairly hazy now). Please accept my apologies if I've got the history wrong, but in any event these days it seems to operate as an online service you can purchase...
Mindful of Pilot DAR's comments (and my own views) I won't provide a link to the current online site, however a quick search showed me that version 2.0 appears to be still available from Sourceforge here, and 1.31 as ported for PHP 7 from Github here. There may be other more recent versions, but in any event as I'm pretty sure it was produced under a GPL 2.0 license it could be that anyone keen enough to consider producing a [open-source!] booking system may find it easier to utilise this as a base and update to fit in with today's environments, rather than completely re-invent the wheel.
Bearing in mind it seemed to work ok as it was, it may also be that one could even persuade one of the extant versions to work well enough within a VM or Docker image running an earlier OS on top of current hardware and modern OS. For a cash-strapped aero club, or enthusiastic individual this may still be a usable option. If you need to put it online then with a modern proxy in front of it, along with a few other reasonable restrictions, you might be able to address the majority of any security concerns too - although please note this is just an off-hand comment, I've certainly not looked at the code or specifically considered such a thing in many years now.
UPDATE: I see I last commented on Openflyers in 2010 here, and prior to that a couple of times in 2008, so yes it was quite a while ago!
FP.
Last edited by First_Principal; 5th April 2026 at 22:41. Reason: Provide an update and link
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 475
Likes: 7
From: UK
Interesting take, thanks. I suspect this might suffice for very small groups (2-3 people?). When I say I'm in a "small aircraft syndicate" it's actually now 12 people, and me remembering when everyone vocalised when they wanted to fly wouldn't ... fly
Clearly if your group/groups can be run by text message, that's awesome. For me, I feel I need to book ahead enough, that I often even forget when I've booked, often being over a month out.
Clearly if your group/groups can be run by text message, that's awesome. For me, I feel I need to book ahead enough, that I often even forget when I've booked, often being over a month out.
We've run a booking system using Whatsapp for many years. First come first served, and we all trust each other . Sometimes booking many months ahead. If you don't have the trust of your group owners, then I'd look for another group.
