GlobalAir.com celebrates 15 years by giving away iPad at NBAA convention

LOUISVILLE, KY, October 20, 2010 (Press-News.org) Visit GlobalAir.com at booth No. 3608 during the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) annual convention in Atlanta, Oct. 19-21.

The Big Bang of the Internet occurred in 1995. Dial-up modems sprung up in FBOs and hangars across America, and most of today's 50 largest dot-com businesses came into existence during the following two years.
At the end of 1995, there were 100,000 Web sites in operation. Over the next decade, that number exploded to more than 100 million.
In that smaller, earlier cyber universe, Jeff Carrithers, former pre-owned-aircraft broker, started a company called Global Aviation Navigator, Inc., in his apartment. Its online hub, http://www.globalair.com, still is today among the largest aviation resources to find and sell aircraft on the Internet.
GlobalAir.com will celebrate its 15 years during the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Annual Meeting & Convention, Oct. 19-21. Attendees are encouraged to visit representatives of the web site at booth No. 3608, where they can register for a chance to win an iPad from the company at the convention.
Its services include the buying and selling of aircraft, airport information, FBO fuel prices and aides for pilots and flight services, as well as a comprehensive directory of aviation companies and services from throughout the globe. It is safe to say that Carrithers achieved his initial ambition of using the web to connect the aviation industry.
Now located at Bowman Field (LOU) in Louisville, Ky., GlobalAir.com has outlasted and outwitted many other flash-in-the-pan Web companies.
"We have watched so many dot.coms and their mega financial backing come and go, especially in the for-sale arena," Carrithers said, smiling. "Yet here we are, still one of the largest and by far the most advanced."
The same year of the launch of GlobalAir.com also included the first Sony PlayStation, the first flat-screen TV and the first eBay auction. Google, Facebook and Twitter had yet to exist. The World Wide Web would have looked more like the Wild Wild West compared to today's digital world. Yet, like a wise old sage, GlobalAir.com was around to see it all, working hard to stay ahead of the curve.
Early this year the company launched an entirely new Aircraft Exchange. New features include options for buyers to text an aircraft seller via wireless phone, to share an aircraft on a Facebook newsfeed, to scroll through and expand dozens of images with Photoflow+, and to download and view aircraft specifications and photographs, to name a few of the enhancements, all a first in the online aircraft-for-sale arena.
"We have evolved the technology far beyond our competitors," Carrithers said. "Existing sites just list an aircraft, while we are doing presentations, making it a much more fluid experience for the user."
The easy-to-navigate information hub looks nothing like sites in the days of dial-up, when webmasters kept image displays to a minimum so users could access them without waiting on snail-paced page-load times. As the oldest site of its kind, GlobalAir.com has proven it is still the most innovative.
As GlobalAir.com witnesses its 15th anniversary, it also recently revamped its home page to make it easier and faster to use, and it created an aviation blog, http://blog.globalair.com the newest component of the site. It features aviation news and information, along with articles from some of the best minds in the business aviation industry. Topics range from the latest aircraft developments, to current market insight and current trends in aviation law.
The 15-year flight of GlobalAir.com has come with moments of turbulence, including at one point when Carrithers operated the site out of a friend's basement.
"There were many nights that I walked the hallways, wondering 'Is this going to make it?'" Carrithers recalled to the Louisville Business News in 2006. "Honestly, I didn't think I was an entrepreneurial type. I didn't want to go back to the resale business, but I knew I loved aviation."
That love, along with some crafty ideas throughout the years, such as the site's BrokerNet system where aircraft dealers share privileged information via email broadcasts, has kept GlobalAir.com aloft amongst friendly skies.
The company partly credits its lengthy run in the digital age to understanding and utilizing search engine optimization (SEO), having solid relationships with its customers and recognizing the promise of social media platforms in the aviation industry.
GlobalAir.com has a larger footprint on Facebook and Twitter than any of its competitors have. While many companies continued head scratching when it came to the new communication platforms, GlobalAir.com took proactive steps to adapt its business model and enhance exposure with social media use.
That mindset of innovation and customer satisfaction will ensure that GlobalAir.com is still around no matter how much further technology takes it in the coming years.
"We're going into this next decade as smart and as strong as we have during the past 15 years," Carrithers said. "And we still maintain our top objective from day one: Be loyal to our customers."

Launched in 1995, GlobalAir.com is one of the largest aviation Web sites on the Internet. It provides aircraft-for-sale listings, FBO fuel prices and flight data for regional airlines, business jets and general aviation operators.
Based in Louisville, Ky., the site averages more than 2.3 million page views each month. Services include its Airport Resource Center, at globalair.com/airport, aircraft fuel-route mapping through its Max-Trax system, at airportfuelprices.com, and aircraft leasing and sales through its Aircraft Exchange, at globalair.com/aircraft_for_sale. Find additional press releases at globalair.com/press. Get real-time updates by following the company at blog.globalair.com, twitter.com/globalair and facebook.com/globalair.com.