What Vector is and why we built it

The problem

Most aviation companies meet new people in three ways. They go to trade shows. They wait for word of mouth. Or they buy a cold list and send emails to people who never asked. Shows are costly. Word of mouth is slow. Cold lists are stale and nobody likes them.

In aviation, the useful person to meet is not always a buyer. It can be a partner who sends you work, or a supplier who saves you time. Everyone knows this, but nothing helps you find them.

What Vector does

You enter your website. We read it and work out what you do. You check it, then tell us what you sell and what you buy. Today we send you 3 introductions: a company worth meeting, with the reason.

The companies come from our own data: 21,000+ aviation companies, 463 events in 63 countries and 33,351 exhibitor entries across 267 events.

The reason comes from the data: what the company does, where it is, which events it exhibits at, and why companies like it work with companies like yours. A person checks every introduction before it goes out.

Three kinds of company worth meeting

• Potential customerA potential customer

  A company that could buy what you sell. A parts supplier meets a maintenance shop. A flight school meets an airline.

• PartnerA partner

  A company in the same or a neighbouring trade that you work with rather than compete against. A charter broker meets an operator with empty legs to sell. An FBO meets an FBO in another country. An insurer meets a broker.

• SupplierA supplier

  A company that sells what you told us you buy. A charter operator meets a fuel supplier. A shop meets a parts supplier.

A direct competitor is never offered. A company in your trade and your country, doing the same thing you do, does not appear. Companies in your trade only appear when there is a real way to work together, and the reason says what it is.

Pro: 4 warm introductions a month

Vector Pro is US$899 a year. We introduce you by email to companies worth knowing, only after they say yes. If they say no, you never hear about it and we look for a better fit. The company only sees who you are once it has agreed, and you only get introductions both sides wanted.

Pro opens soon. Early access members get first access at launch pricing. Join Pro early access from the Vector page.

The bigger idea: a business network for aviation

Every aviation company is both a customer and a supplier, and most have partners they could not work without. A maintenance shop buys parts and sells repairs. A charter broker sells flights that operators fly. That is why we ask what you buy, not only what you sell.

The more companies join and tell us what they buy and sell, the better the introductions get for everyone. Over time, Vector becomes a business network for aviation: a place where the right companies find each other, with a reason and a meeting at the end of it.

How we keep it honest

• Public business contacts only. We show the email and phone a company publishes for business, never a person's private address.
• No invented facts. Every line in a reason comes from the company's own page, our event data or the trade rules. If we have nothing to say, we say nothing.
• An introduction is a business fit, not a confirmed request. We never claim a meeting or a sale will happen.
• Any company can ask to be left out. One message to our contact page and we remove it.

Who is behind it

Vector is made by The Flying Engineer, an aviation directory that has been running for 4 to 5 years. Companies, events, exhibitor lists and articles, all in one place, read by people and by AI assistants.

Radu Balas, founder. Ten years in aerospace, then this directory. Questions about Vector? Write to us.