Greenwich, CT, April 25, 2005 - Megadata Corporation (OTC: MDTA) announced today that every Fixed Base Operator (FBO) and several corporate flight departments at Westchester County Air;port (HPN) have contracted for PASSUR web-based flight information tools, including PASSUR Portal™, PASSUR Pulse™ and PASSUR inSight™. The products will be used to support more efficient marketing of services, better customer service through accurate live information, and instant information sharing and communications with airport operations, which is also using the PASSUR tools.
"In the past, reaching our potential customers for fuel sales and other services was hit and miss, time consuming, and not cost effective - we had to go through four or five steps with multiple products and subscriptions," said Mike Dolphin, President of Avitat Westchester. "PASSUR Pulse is a new tool to market our services with much greater accuracy, quicker, and at a lower cost - it will pay for itself in no time. We're even displaying Portal on a big screen for our customers, so they have the most accurate flight status available." "All of our customers have noticed our new display and how accurate the ETAs are; it's changed the way we do business," added Todd Dolphin, Manager of Avitat Westchester's customer service department.
"During the first two weeks of operation, we gained two CL604 customers through the utilization of PASSUR Pulse," said Gene Condreras of Panorama Westchester FBO. "The data generated by this product is far superior to any marketing tool offered to FBOs that I have seen in the past twenty-six years of operation."
"The package is a 'one-stop shop' for so many critical information needs," said Bill Weaver and Mike Mason of Westair FBO. "We can no longer imagine doing business without it."
"The instant information about airfield conditions available on Portal is critical for us, because we service both airline and corporate customers, and off-base tenants as well," said Brian Ciambra of Skyport FBO. "We now feel we have the kind of direct access to information that previously only airlines had."
"We have been users of PASSUR flight information products for several years to help manage operations and noise, so we know the value of these tools," said Joel Russell, Manager of Westchester County Airport. "The airport is now participating in the PASSUR Portal communication system. We believe this system will allow the airport to deliver timely and useful information to our tenants and users."
""The Westchester County Airport community is leading the way in the corporate aviation sector; they understand the need for instant communication and actionable information," said Jim Barry, Megadata President and CEO. "Since we currently work with over 40 airports and 30 airlines, and our radar network covers over 60 airports, we believe we've established the foundation to quickly expedite this collaborative process throughout the country at all GA and mixed-use airports. As we've previously stated, our market opportunity comes from fulfilling customers' needs for a single source of accurate, timely, hard-to-get information," continued Jim Barry. "This applies to corporate aviation as much as to airlines and airports, to which we have traditionally sold."
Other customers for the PASSUR suite of products at HPN include numerous corporate flight departments based at the airport.
Megadata also announced today that it is launching its Corporate Aviation Program, and hiring Tom O'Halloran as Director of Corporate Aviation. "Tom's a great addition to our team - he thoroughly understands corporate aviation, is a driver and leader, and has a vision for how Megadata can serve the future needs of this growing market segment," said Jim Barry. Tom is a Gulfstream and Challenger pilot and will continue to fly while with Megadata. A former United Airlines Boeing 767 pilot, Tom was a combat helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army serving in Iraq and Central America. Tom received his B.S. in aeronautical science from Embry-Riddle University and is a graduate of the elite Aviation Safety Program at the University of Southern California.
PASSUR Portal is at the heart of the PASSUR Collaborative Decision Making approach, providing an instant, live snapshot of vital operational information on a "web dashboard" of multiple information sets derived from the one-of-a-kind PASSUR database, and tools for instant information sharing and communication among all users. Portal is the main access point for all other PASSUR web services.
PASSUR Pulse gives aviation organizations access to the most complete, accurate and timely activity reports based on the PASSUR database of flight information, including detailed owner/operator information.
PASSUR inSight is the only web-based flight following program that combines national en route flight tracking with precision, terminal-area tracking from the PASSUR network of radar, along with a next-generation graphics engine for real-motion tracking and aircraft movement and the renowned PASSUR ETA.
About Megadata:
Megadata owns and operates PASSUR™, a national network of multiple, live flight information sources feeding a single, integrated database that is becoming the de facto standard of independent, complete, timely, and accurate information for the aviation industry. It includes the unique network of PASSUR radar installations in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia. The company's principal business is the delivery of flight information, application software, and web-delivered collaborative decision tools to the aviation industry and organizations that serve, or are served, by the aviation industry. Megadata distributes its products through a direct sales force, and through premier aviation decision-support technology firms.
The forward-looking statements in this news release relating to management's expectations and beliefs are based on preliminary information and management assumptions. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a wide range of risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ in material respects, including those related to customer needs, budgetary constraints, competitive pressures, the success of airline trials, the profitable use of the Company's owned PASSURs located at major airports, the Company's maintenance of above average quality of its product and services, as well as potential regulatory changes. Further information regarding factors that could affect the Company's results is contained in the Company's SEC filings, including the October 31, 2004 Form 10-K and January 31, 2005 Form 10-Q.