1980s - Getting the party started...

Bytron was founded in 1984 by the late Richard Harris, a long-haul pilot, and his wife Irene. Our first software, a strip printing program, caught the attention of NATS - the UK Air Traffic Service provider. This application was upgraded to a fully-fledged Flight Data Management System (FDMS) in 1989, and became the first computer based system in the world to successfully promulgate, transmit and receive AFTN messages.

In 1989, Bytron installed the world's first route specific, integrated MET/NOTAM self-briefing unit at Humberside Airport.

From humble beginnings as a small team of aviation software developers, industry professionals and pilots, we set out as bytron, with the aim of providing effective, innovative and flexible aviation solutions.

(Pictured below) Hardware from the early days, the end result of our first venture into aviation software - the first of many.

1990s - Crew Briefing Systems...

During this decade Bytron developed specific systems to meet airline requirements for flight crew briefing. A truly integrated system for the secure and audited aggregation, synchronization and dissemination of flight crew information was developed, and in 1999 a dedicated ISDN company briefing service was implemented throughout 15 UK locations.

It was in this decade that our AIS NOTAM Management System was developed for UK CAA, and was subsequently implemented throughout many worldwide locations.

2000s - Taking Crew Briefing into the Cloud...

As the world evolved technically, so did Bytron. In 2001 we upgraded our services to provide worldwide internet access. Early in the 21st Century we successfully developed our crew briefing system to be an Internet delivered service - skybook.

In 2004, skybook was implemented on laptop - at that time known as 'less paper cockpit'. Later that year it became skybook eFB and over the following years much time was dedicated to developing our range of eFB applications, all built on proven synchronisation technology and using our in-house flight data centre.

We were the first aviation software specialists to produce a best in class eFB product onto the iPads within the cockpit

Since then, we've continued to grow and work with some of the biggest names in aviation; developing some of the most cutting-edge, innovative technologies to be used at the forefront of our industry today. Needless to say our offices are slightly bigger than when we first started, though they were certainly not without their charm...

2010 - 2015 - Increasing our global reach...

Much of 2010 was dedicated to the development of skybook.aero briefing services and skybook eFB applications, which has been a huge success...

In 2012, we successfully sold our best-in-class skybook eFB application to Sabre Airline Solutions, whom had identified skybook eFB as providing optimal value for their requirements. The sale marked a significant step forward for our company and increased the global reach of our brand and our development team's capabilities; establishing Bytron as a pioneer of aviation software solutions.

There are a lot of exciting opportunities on the horizon for Bytron, as we continue to establish skybook as market leading software for airlines, airports and ground handlers - with more pioneering aviation technology in the pipeline which our airline software developers work on behind the scenes.

The early days of bytron truly helped to form the backbone of what has become skybook today - an aviation cloud to take your data on a digital journey making everything simpler, faster and more accessible than ever.

Bytron's history of standard setting, pioneering and development has been reflected in the team's recent development of skylightES; an aircraft turnround tool, our joint venture with partner company ACDM Ltd.

2016 - Our most comprehensive software solution...

Not one to rest on our laurels, our aviation experts re-engineered our skybook crew briefing software in 2016 to cover a wider spectrum of critical airline operations; essentially creating the 'complete' solution for flight dispatch, crew briefing and journey logging within airlines - ' skybook aviation cloud'.

skybook makes it easy for users to access all airline dispatch, briefing and journey log data, allowing airlines to fully integrate and centralise all of the information from their core systems... Delivering the right data, to the right people, at the right time, to any device.

skybook as we see it today also includes independent modules for crucial processes, including Airfield Watch (WX and NOTAM monitoring) and ETOPS Charts, allowing airlines to get started using skybook within specific operational areas before implementing the full system throughout their airline.

2017 - 2018 - Taking skybook to a whole new level

2017 was a big year for us, with headlines that included a supply partnership with Jeppesen, who are now providing our solutions as part of their global product line up, the delivery of skybook to a number of new clients across the globe.

So what does 2018 have in store for Bytron Aviation Systems and our award winning software?

Most importantly, our development roadmap is packed with a range of new modules and functionality, which we will be starting to release early in 2018 when our standalone EFF/EFB application goes live, taking the flexibility and scalability of skybook to a whole new level.

That will be followed by an all new user interface, Flight Following module and E-Tech Log, all of which are being engineered in conjunction with our clients and skybook Super Users.

2019 - The next big thing...

2019 was our biggest year to date full of milestone achievements. The next big thing was our E-Tech Log. Allowing crews to capture aircraft information and defects, E-Tech Log will feed the data back to the engineers on the ground as it's recorded.

Further enhancements were developed for skybook including the ability to take photos in some modules within the app. Push Notifications were added to the dispatch functionality which allows a free, instant text message to be pushed to the Electronic Flight Bag. 

 2020 promises to be an even bigger year as we continue to roll out our growth plan and software developments.