COVID-19- It is not business as usual

Andrew Nicholson

CEO

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Andrew Nicholson

CEO

Andrew, CEO, founded Osprey Flight Solutions with the aim of driving a quantum shift in the capabilities available to the industry for security risk management, enabled by a focus on cutting edge computing techniques and data-led risk management. Recognised as a leader in the aviation security arena, Andrew frequently provides expert comment and analysis to the leading international news networks, discussing topical global aviation security issues, as well as being a regular contributor and featured speaker at numerous international industry events. In 2021 Andrew was named a Top 20 Dynamic CEO by The CEO Publication.

After graduating with a degree in engineering, Andrew spent 12 years in the Royal Navy, 6 with UK Special Forces, which included operational tours in all major conflict regions. Leaving the military at the height of the Somali Piracy phenomenon, for 3 years Andrew led the maritime and oil and gas divisions for the largest provider of maritime security in the industry. At the same time, he was a member of the steering committee and subsequent Board of Directors for the only international human rights focused initiative for the security risk management industry.

Andrew moved to International SOS and Control Risks in July 2014 to head up the aviation security team. Realising that the industry’s requirement for risk management support had changed in the wake of the MH17 disaster, Andrew co-founded Osprey, which is now recognised across the industry as the leader in open source risk management data, developing innovative tools to support all operators, no matter their size or resource, in conducting comprehensive and accurate risk management.

We are all dealing with the impact of Covid-19 and at Osprey Flight Solutions it is most definitely NOT business as usual as we actively seek ways in which we can support the industry during this global crisis.

As such, we have immediately developed significant updates within our new platform, Osprey:Open, that are directly related to Covid-19.

The platform continues to be available FREE of charge – please register here: https://open.ospreyfs.net/

A MESSAGE FROM OSPREY FLIGHT SOLUTIONS CEO, ANDREW NICHOLSON

The aviation industry is experiencing the greatest impact on operations in a generation, if not ever, as we all deal with the impact of Covid-19.

Osprey exists to provide the industry with the best risk management data, information and analytics to support your operations and if we were to just ‘cope’ with this situation then we would be lacking. I want to tell you that it is categorically NOT business as usual for us. We have turned on all the taps, called in all the favours, and buckled ourselves in for a hard, fast ride over the coming weeks and months to make sure that we are, every day, improving the support that we can provide.

Our absolute priority is to give you the most accurate reporting that will give you the earliest possible warning that the tide may be turning and that you can start to prepare to resume business.

Significant updates to support the industry

As some of you will know, we recently launched our new platform, Osprey:Open. Registration for :Open continues to be completely free of charge and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Anyone in the industry can register and have access to the best data and analytics in a single interface. So, we have been working around the clock to bring updates to :Open that will help you monitor and make decisions about your operations.

In addition to the standard data sets that are available, we have overlaid covid-19 cases for each country, drawn from W.H.O. reporting, John Hopkins University and CDC.

  • We have visualised cases in graphs for every single country showing the growth and rate of the infection, and showing what stage in the spread of the virus that country is experiencing.
  • We have overlaid all covid-19 related NOTAMs, both those published by any country and those relating to any international airport.
  • We have added all known current travel restrictions for each country

These datasets are all updated as near live time as possible, keeping you absolutely up to date.

If you haven’t yet registered for :Open, please register here for free access.

Here is my plea

We will continue to add more capabilities over the coming days and weeks, but this work would be greatly enhanced if we, as an industry, can collaborate. So here is my plea. If there is something that would help you if it was analysed or visualised, please let us know and we will work tirelessly to get it into the platform, if it is possible. If you have datasets that would support the industry, please don’t be precious about sharing them and we can get them out there for the benefit of everyone. When all this calms down, it is in all our interests to have a fully functioning global aviation system operating as fast as humanly possible.

Stay safe.

Andrew Nicholson

CEO, Osprey Flight Solutions