Chief technology officer (CTO) · Chief information officer (CIO)
Fractional and virtual CTO and CIO for airlines
A senior technology leader in the seat, from $5K/mo. Start with a 30-minute call.
Why airlines choose a fractional CTO and CIO
Most operators can't justify a full-time CTO or CIO. As your fractional CTO and CIO, we fill the seat month to month. A typical virtual CIO hands you a roadmap. We build it with you.
- Embedded today at Great North Airlines, Connect Airlines, and WM Aviation
- A 30% cost takeout on software subscriptions at a single client
- First Transport Canada-approved minimum equipment list (MEL) through our platform
What the retainer includes
- Technology planning
Plan technology work around your business goals
- Software development
Lead engineering, and build software when existing products cannot do the job
- Vendor management
Negotiate contracts and manage your technology vendors
- System integration
Connect your systems so they work together
Fractional CTO and CIO vs virtual CIO vs full-time
Who does the work
- Fractional CTO and CIO (ForIT)
- Our team builds the software, manages the vendors and integrates the systems
- Typical virtual CIO
- Advice and a roadmap; your staff or other vendors carry it out
- Full-time CTO or CIO
- One leader who still has to hire or contract a team
Cost
- Fractional CTO and CIO (ForIT)
- From $5K/mo · $60K/yr
- Typical virtual CIO
- Hourly or a monthly retainer, for advice only
- Full-time CTO or CIO
- $300K to $500K+ a year
Aviation experience
- Fractional CTO and CIO (ForIT)
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 135 and 121, Canadian Aviation Regulations (CAR) 704 and 705
- Typical virtual CIO
- Usually general IT across industries
- Full-time CTO or CIO
- Varies, often limited
Terms
- Fractional CTO and CIO (ForIT)
- Month-to-month, 30-day termination
- Typical virtual CIO
- Varies by provider
- Full-time CTO or CIO
- Hiring cycle and severance risk
| Comparison | Fractional CTO and CIO (ForIT) | Typical virtual CIO | Full-time CTO or CIO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | Our team builds the software, manages the vendors and integrates the systems | Advice and a roadmap; your staff or other vendors carry it out | One leader who still has to hire or contract a team |
| Cost | From $5K/mo · $60K/yr | Hourly or a monthly retainer, for advice only | $300K to $500K+ a year |
| Aviation experience | Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 135 and 121, Canadian Aviation Regulations (CAR) 704 and 705 | Usually general IT across industries | Varies, often limited |
| Terms | Month-to-month, 30-day termination | Varies by provider | Hiring cycle and severance risk |
After the call: a free discovery
Two weeks of work before you commit to a retainer.
App and spend inventory
Every app, contract, and invoice line mapped to the business function it supports, with untracked subscriptions and upcoming renewals flagged.
Your three highest-return opportunities
We collect requests from each department, then scope the three changes with the highest expected return against your current systems.
A written roadmap you keep
A 90-day plan with cost and effort estimates, plus a 12-month roadmap. Yours to take to the board, with or without us.
If you sign, month one picks up where discovery ended. If not, the roadmap is yours.
Questions
What it is
Is a fractional CTO and CIO the same as a virtual CIO?
It fills the same seat, and does more. A typical virtual CIO (vCIO) or virtual CTO (vCTO) advises: a roadmap, a vendor shortlist, a monthly meeting. We also do the work, from software development to vendor management and system integration, and at one client that meant a 30% cost takeout on software subscriptions.
How is ForIT different from other managed service providers?
Most managed service providers serve every industry with the same playbook. We work only with airlines and charter operators, and we know FAA Part 135 and 121, CAR 704 and 705, flight operations platforms, crew records and maintenance tracking.
Which operators do you work with?
Operators under FAA Part 135 and 121 and Transport Canada CAR 704 and 705. We are embedded today at Great North Airlines, Connect Airlines and WM Aviation.
Which systems do you work with?
FL3XX, JetInsight, Business Central, QuickBooks, Xero, Ramp, Avinode, CAMP, ForeFlight, SharePoint and Microsoft 365, among others. At Planet Nine Private Air we connected a new flight operations platform to about a dozen systems.
What working with us looks like
How do we start?
With a 30-minute call, then a free two-week discovery. You get an app and spend inventory, your three highest-return opportunities, and a 90-day plan with a 12-month roadmap that is yours to keep.
What does the retainer include?
Technology planning, software development, vendor management and system integration.
How much of a chief information officer's time do we get?
A typical contract is 25% to 33% of a chief information officer's time, or more.
Will you come on site?
Yes. We ask to be on site at least once a month, and travel expenses are passed through to you.
Do you replace our IT person or work with them?
We work with them. Your IT staff and your current vendors stay. We add the planning, software development and integration they do not have time for, and take vendor management off their plate.
Can you also run our day-to-day IT?
Yes. We can run Microsoft 365, the devices and the service desk, month to month.
Money and vendors
What does a fractional CTO and CIO cost?
The retainer starts at $5K/mo, month to month, with 30-day termination.
Are you tied to any vendor?
No. We are vendor agnostic and recommend what fits your operation. We partner only with software we believe in, to get pricing a smaller operator could not get alone: Huntress, for example, sells mostly through partners like us.
Do you resell Microsoft licences?
Yes. We are a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider and resell Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Azure licences. By default we pass half of our reseller discount to you, and the split is negotiable.
Do you make money on what you recommend?
Sometimes, and we always tell you. We disclose every partner relationship, tell you our margin on anything we resell, and explain how we make money on anything we recommend.
Leaving and ownership
What do we keep if we leave?
Everything we built for you: our contracts give you full rights to use it. We are heavy believers in open source, and we are a services company: services are how we make our money.
Security and AI
How do you use AI?
AI does the reading and the typing, and a person approves every result. For crew records, AI reads each licence or medical and proposes the entry, the chief pilot approves it, and only then does it flow to scheduling.
Is our data safe?
We build inside your Microsoft 365 tenant. Changes to it are scripted, logged and blocked until a person confirms them.