Garmin Buys FltPlan.com

Garmin has acquired Connecticut-based flight-planning, scheduling and trip-support services company Fltplan.com, a company many pilots rely on for a decidedly self-serving reason: Aviation charts and many features in the FltPlan Go app and Fltplan.com website are free while other app developers charge subscription fees. Garmin says that won't change.

FltPlan has risen to become one of the largest flight-planning companies in the world, creating more than 6.3 million flight plans annually for its 165,000 registered users, primarily because of its free tools. Popular Fltplan.com features include the free Fltplan flight-planning and filing website, available for U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, Panama and parts of Venezuela and Colombia, as well as premium web-based offerings. The free FltPlan Go app is available for iOS, Android, and Windows, and is among the few that it is compatible with Garmin Flightstream database uploading technology.

The acquisition provides a major boost for Garmin in the web-based flight planning market to complement its portfolio of products led by its own Garmin Pilot app, second in popularity in business and general aviation only to ForeFlight.

“We are excited to have the FltPlan team join the Garmin family,” said Phil Straub, Garmin executive vice president and managing director, aviation. “We look forward to combining the comprehensive flight planning and flight management services available from FltPlan with our robust lineup of products and services to provide an unmatched portfolio of end-to-end services to our customers.”

In addition to the free features, Fltplan.com also offers a range of premium services including SMS (safety management service), PDCs (pre-departure clearances), eAPIS and APIS (advanced passenger information system) for Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean, as well as premium flight tracking, the unique DCM (dot com) call sign program and runway analysis.

More recently FltPlan.com has begun including its FltLogic and FltPlan Manager tools and a suite of services from scheduling and trip coordination to post-flight reporting.

“Thousands of pilots and operators depend on FltPlan.com every day for their flight operation needs,” said Ken Wilson, founder of FltPlan. “We’re looking forward to leveraging decades of experience and industry leadership from Garmin to continue expanding and growing our service offerings and geographical reach for customers.”

FltPlan is headquartered in Southbury, Connecticut. Those offices will continue to support the portfolio of FltPlan.com and FltPlan Go products while being integrated those services into the Garmin aviation “ecosystem.”

Financial terms of the acquisition will not be released, Garmin said.