Meridian Air
A charter demand and conversion system: enquiry to priced options in under four minutes, and one pipeline the whole desk works from.
Meridian is an eleven-broker charter brokerage flying private clients across Europe. The desk was competent and busy; the systems around it were email, a shared spreadsheet and memory.
- Client
- Charter brokerage, 11 brokers
- System
- Demand + conversion + ops
- First release
- 9 weeks
- Surfaces
- Public site · broker console · client portal
- Status
- In production, on support
| Request | Route | Status | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| CH-4192 | LTN → NCE | Priced | £18,400 |
| CH-4193 | FAB → IBZ | Sent | £24,900 |
| CH-4194 | LCY → GVA | Awaiting ops | £11,250 |
| CH-4195 | BHX → DUB | Won | £6,800 |
| CH-4196 | STN → OLB | Priced | £31,600 |
The commercial problem
Charter enquiries have a four-hour life. Meridian was answering in nine.
Three brokers, four inboxes, one shared spreadsheet. The best-qualified operator on a route was often quoted last, and follow-up stopped whenever the desk got busy. Trips were lost on time, not on price.
Before: 24% quote-to-booking
System strategy
How the system was shaped.
01
Price without asking anyone
Positioning, crew, handling and margin encoded as rules, so a defensible price exists before a broker opens the request.
02
One record, start to finish
Enquiry, quote, contract and trip are the same object. No re-entry between sales and operations.
03
Follow-up as infrastructure
Sequences weighted by trip value, escalating to the desk head instead of quietly expiring.
04
Sell the empty legs
Repositioning flights published automatically to a public feed and matched against saved searches.
Two journeys, one system
- 01Route searchLanding pages built per route and aircraft class, indexed and fast.
- 02Quote requestFour fields, aircraft preference optional, no account required.
- 03Priced optionsTwo to four aircraft options with all-in pricing, inside minutes.
- 04Contract & payE-signature, deposit, and a trip record the client can see.
- 05Trip portalCrew, times, changes and documents in one place before departure.
- 01Enquiry lands scoredRoute, lead time and value scored; assigned to a broker with a four-minute SLA.
- 02Availability pulledOperator fleet availability synced, unsuitable aircraft filtered out automatically.
- 03Price assembledPositioning, crew, handling and margin rules applied, so the broker adjusts rather than rebuilds.
- 04Follow-up runs itselfSequenced reminders by trip value; escalation to the desk head when a quote goes cold.
- 05Won trip becomes opsThe same record moves into operations: crew brief, handling, invoicing, no re-entry.
Key capabilities
What the system actually does.
- Instant charter pricingRules for positioning, crew, handling, fees and margin.
- Broker pipeline & SLA timersOne queue, owned stages, visible response clocks.
- Empty-leg publishingRepositioning legs pushed to a public feed and saved searches.
- Operator availability syncFleet availability pulled in and filtered against the request.
- Client trip portalDocuments, crew, timings and changes without a phone call.
Architecture snapshot
Four layers, one source of truth
Nothing exotic. A boring, well-drawn architecture is what keeps a system cheap to extend three years later.
- Uptime, last 12 months
- 99.97%
- Median quote page load
- 0.8s
- Access model
- Role-based · SSO · MFA
- Public surfaceRoute landing pages, quote request, empty-leg feed, client portalStatically delivered
- Application layerPricing engine, qualification rules, pipeline, sequences, permissionsCore logic
- Data layerOne enquiry record, versioned quotes, immutable audit trailPostgres
- Integration layerOperator availability, e-signature, payments, accounting, email & SMSRelay
Accessibility
- Broker console operable end to end by keyboard, including the pricing panel.
- Status is never colour-only: every state carries a text label as well as a crimson marker.
- Public quote request meets WCAG 2.2 AA contrast and supports screen-reader labelling throughout.
Commercial value
What changed after launch
Figures supplied by Meridian from their own reporting, comparing the same quarter year on year, ninety days after the first release.
- 41%quote-to-booking rateUp from 24% on the previous process.Measured
- 3m 41smedian first responsePreviously around nine hours.Measured
- 128broker hours returned per monthMeasured
- £412kempty-leg revenue from the new feedFirst twelve months.Measured
Future expansion
Where it goes next.
Phase two: in discovery
Operator scorecards
Rank operators on punctuality, response and margin so pricing favours the ones that perform.
Phase two: scoped
Corporate accounts
Negotiated rates, cost centres and approval chains for repeat corporate flyers.
Phase three: concept
Demand forecasting
Use three years of enquiry data to pre-position aircraft against predictable route demand.
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Same problem, different sector?
The pattern behind Meridian Air (win more charter trips by quoting first, with pricing the brokers trust) transfers to most businesses selling complex, high-value work.