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Flight Schedule Pro expects to grow

Flight Schedule Pro, the popular aircraft scheduling service, announced on March 31 a major investment from Mainsail Partners, a self-described "growth equity firm" focused on software companies.

Flight Schedule Pro was conceived and created to computerize the once paper-intensive task of scheduling flight lessons. Photo by Chris Rose.

CEO Jasen Barnes and Chief Technology Officer Nick Wegner founded Flight Schedule Pro in 2000, inspired by what the company called in a recent press release "inefficient aviation training processes," which many pilots will recall as paper calendars. The company computerized all of that and has grown to more than 1,000 operators booking 10,000 flights per day.

Barnes described the recent investment by Mailsail Partners in a blog post as enabling the company to offer better customer service capabilities, and expand the product line and integration. While not immediately available for comment, Barnes wrote that Mainsail is a good fit for Flight Schedule Pro because of a “top notch operations team with deep software experience that will help chart our course.” Although ownership and key players remain intact, it appears Mainsail will have some controlling authority over future strategic directions.

Barnes and Wegner started FSP in more than 20 years ago with $100. They saw how challenging it was for Wegner to schedule his lessons, and knew it could be done a better way. Today the company offers scheduling and aircraft management tools used around the world, including by universities and Part 141 and Part 61 flight training providers.

Ian J. Twombly
Ian J. Twombly
Ian J. Twombly is senior content producer for AOPA Media.
Topics: Flight School, Financial

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