We are coming to the end of 2020. What a year it has been. It is, of course, an understatement to say it has been extremely challenging for everyone. The aviation industry has suffered the greatest crisis that we have ever seen, with thousands of jobs lost, severe damage to traveller confidence, quarantine requirements that have made operational planning almost impossible and such huge reductions in global flight activity. And saddest of all, of course, the grief that has been felt by so many with the loss of loved ones.
In the face of all this disruption and sadness I could not be prouder both of the Osprey team and also to be part of the aviation industry.
For any organisation, such momentous events necessitate a critical review of strategy, and we are no different. And, whilst traumatic, such a reset can help to remind us all why we do what we do, an important reflection from time to time. In the face of all this disruption and sadness I could not be prouder both of the Osprey team and also to be part of the aviation industry, which has responded to this trauma with such resilience, community spirit and kindness. It was in this vein that, when it was clear that the pandemic was going to have such a significant impact on the industry, we took the decision to be as altruistic as possible in order to support airlines, business jet operators and cargo carriers through such difficult times. Whilst this clearly raised commercial challenges, it has also been hugely rewarding. We launched Osprey:Open in March this year with the intention of providing the whole industry with a baseline of aviation security and risk management data without the barriers of corporate procurement and financial outlay. It was also the ideal platform to provide a one-stop shop for the industry to access not only aviation security data for any country or airport globally, but data on the pandemic, NOTAMs and other advisories relating to conflict zones and COVID-19, flight traffic statistics, and bio-security and safety information. Being able to provide, completely free of charge, a service that would be industry leading as a paid for service, supporting the industry in understanding the environment during a period of significant resource challenges has been one of our greatest achievements. We will continue to do this whilst the pandemic remains a challenge for the industry. The only fight we have had with :Open has been disbelief that such a valuable service is being provided for free!
It has also been great to be able to support the industry through other medium like webinars, a series of which we conducted with Emirates Group Security, and also with our world-leading analysts supporting academic and thought-leadership work such as that done by PAX for Peace.
Our platforms have developed to deliver ever more useful and usable tools to support truly systematic risk management.
Aside from :Open, and despite the environment, we continue to grow in every area. The team has doubled in size in the last 12 months, with massive leaps forward in technology and data science. Our platforms have developed to deliver ever more useful and usable tools to support truly systematic risk management, integration with operations. We have moved into fantastic new offices, where we are looking forward to welcoming visitors and holding events as soon as possible.
No one is an island, and it is the broader Osprey community that makes this all possible. We all would like to express our most sincere thanks to our clients for believing in what we are doing, to our partners, including RocketRoute, Air Support A/S and Crisis24/Drum Cussac who have supported our innovation, and particularly our partners for :Open, EBAA, BBGA, Hive Aero, A4E and WingX. Thank you all for making such a commitment to supporting the industry.
2021 is an opportunity for us to grow again in a way that is kinder, more community focused and altruistic. I hope that we take that opportunity.
Looking ahead to 2021, whilst there is a long way to go to recover from such significant disruption and change, I firmly believe that the light is now visible at the end of the tunnel. Developments in rapid testing and, of course, the approval of a number of potential vaccines heralds the start of the climb back to a high capacity aviation industry. For this reason alone 2021 looks exciting, and it is also an opportunity for us to grow again in a way that is kinder, more community focused and altruistic. I hope that we take that opportunity.
Finally, from me personally, a heartfelt and most sincere thank you to all the Osprey team for everything they have done this year. Never have I worked with a more inspiring and committed group of people who, working together, are achieving amazing things and making a tangible difference in keeping everyone as safe as possible when travelling by air.
It just leaves me to wish everyone a safe, healthy and happy Christmas, with the best of wishes for 2021.
Andrew
