How charter quoting software actually works: from enquiry to accepted quote in 3 minutes

Most charter operators have never seen quoting software that's built for them. They've seen FL3XX demos (enterprise, 45-minute sales call), Leon pricing pages (per-aircraft, per-user, plus setup fee), and decided software is not for them.

This article walks through exactly what happens when a charter enquiry arrives in CharterQuote AI — from the inbound message to the client clicking "Accept" — so you can see what quoting software looks like when it's built for a 3-aircraft operator, not a 50-aircraft enterprise.

Step 1: The enquiry arrives

A broker emails you: "Need a quote for YBAF → YSSY, 14 August, 6 pax, prefer King Air or similar. Need response by EOD."

In Excel world: you read the email, open your rate card, look up the distance (Google Maps or a separate distance calculator), find the landing fees for YSSY (another spreadsheet or the airport website), calculate block time, add crew costs, apply your markup, type it all into a Word template, save as PDF, and email it back. 45–90 minutes.

In CharterQuote AI: you open the quote builder, type YBAF as origin and YSSY as destination, select the aircraft from your rate card, enter 6 pax. The system auto-calculates everything else.

Step 2: The pricing engine runs

Behind the scenes, the pricing engine does this:

Distance calculation: haversine great-circle distance between YBAF and YSSY — about 450 nautical miles.
Block time: distance ÷ cruise speed + 5% positioning buffer. For a King Air at 270 kts, that's about 1.7 hours of block time.
Line item calculation: flight time (1.7h × $2,800/h sell rate), landing fees (YBAF + YSSY), ground handling (both airports), crew day rate (1 day), fuel surcharge (4% of flight cost).
Cost and margin: each line shows cost, rate, and margin percentage. Flight time: cost $2,040, sell $4,760, margin +57%. Landing fees: cost $465, sell $581, margin +20%. The total margin is visible before you send.

You see all of this in a clean table. Green means profitable. Red means you're quoting below cost — which shouldn't happen, but if you override a rate manually, the system will show you the consequence.

Step 3: You review and adjust

The auto-calculated quote is a starting point, not a final answer. You can:

Adjust the markup percentage (default is 25%, you can set it per quote)
Override any line item (maybe you know YSSY handling is cheaper this month)
Add custom line items (catering, de-icing, international handling fee)
Add internal notes the client won't see
Select a different aircraft to offer options

This takes about 60 seconds. You're not calculating — you're reviewing and deciding.

Step 4: You send the quote

One click generates a branded quote page with a secure share link. The link is a random 48-character token — unguessable, revocable. The client sees:

Your operator name, logo, and brand colours
The route (YBAF → YSSY), pax count, departure date
The aircraft (registration, type, distance, block time)
Clean line items — no cost column, no margin data
The total price
Your terms and conditions
"Accept" and "Decline" buttons

The client doesn't need to download a PDF, open it, compare it to three other PDFs, and email you back. They view it in their browser, click Accept, and you get a notification in your dashboard.

Step 5: The client accepts

The client clicks "Accept." The quote status changes from "Sent" to "Accepted" in your dashboard. You see the timestamp. The route is now in your history — the next time you quote YBAF→YSSY, you'll see that you've quoted it before, the average price, and the last quote.

If the client declines, the status changes to "Rejected." You can follow up, ask why, or archive the quote.

Step 6: Export (no lock-in)

The accepted quote data exports as CSV or JSON. You import it into your scheduling system, your accounting software, or your CRM. CharterQuote AI doesn't try to be your dispatch tool, your crew roster, or your FTL tracker. It's a quote builder. When the quote is accepted, the data flows to whatever system you already use.

Total time: 3–5 minutes

From enquiry to accepted quote: 3–5 minutes of your time. The pricing engine does the calculation. The share link does the delivery. The online acceptance does the confirmation. You spend your time on the decision — which aircraft, what margin, whether to offer options — not on the arithmetic.

That's what quoting software looks like when it's built for a 3-aircraft operator, not a 50-aircraft enterprise.