Technology

Posted on October 3, 2017 by staff

Stratajet hires Secret Escapes CTO

Technology

Private jet discovery platform Stratajet has strengthened its tech offering with the appointment of Donovan Frew as chief technology officer.

Formerly the CTO of Secret Escapes, Frew joins to continue the development of Stratajet’s platform which allows customers direct access to the private jet marketplace.

Working closely alongside founder Jonny Nicol, Frew’s remit is to build the technical infrastructure capable of aligning the platform’s capabilities with business strategy.

“There are very few industries left that are still doing things today the same way they did it 25 years ago. Unfortunately this is largely the case for private aviation,” said Frew.

“Many start-ups talk about disruption but what Stratajet is doing is truly unique and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be a part of the company’s aspirations to build on its initial success.”

Frew has forged an impressive 20-year career as a software engineer and technology leader. He has a Masters in Software Engineering from the University of York and has worked in a range of industries including telecommunications, criminal intelligence analysis and, latterly, travel and hospitality.

Prior to Stratajet, he spent six years at Secret Escapes, where he built and led the technology team, tackling the challenges of a high growth business.

He successfully grew the platform’s customer base thirty-fold and drove entry into 20+ new markets.

Nicol added: “With a technology as advanced as Stratajet’s, we need someone of Donovan’s significant expertise to keep the platform at the forefront of the private jet industry.

“His knowledge of software development, coupled with his experience in the travel industry, sees him perfectly positioned to drive our technology strategy in our mission to fundamentally change the way people travel.”

Stratajet is the only private jet booking platform that uses advanced technology to display accurate costs of available aircraft.

This technology has streamlined private jet travel, giving fliers the simplest means of instantly comparing and booking from a range of aircraft.

Frew will work alongside Stratajet’s dedicated data researchers whose job it is to keep the data in the platform’s algorithms up-to-date.