ForeFlight’s Future: What Boeing’s Sale Means for Pilots
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In a significant shakeup within the digital aviation landscape, Boeing has announced the sale of several of its Digital Aviation Solutions assets—including ForeFlight Mobile, Jeppesen, AerData, and OzRunways—to Thoma Bravo, a prominent software investment firm. The $10.55 billion all-cash deal is expected to close by the end of 2025, pending regulatory approval.
While ownership is changing, ForeFlight users shouldn’t expect major disruptions. According to Boeing, the deal includes principles for ongoing collaboration and data sharing to ensure operational continuity. Thoma Bravo, known for supporting software companies with strategic investment and operational best practices, appears positioned to continue growing ForeFlight’s industry-leading platform.
What This Means for Pilots
For pilots who rely on ForeFlight for everything from preflight planning to in-flight resources, this transition raises understandable questions. Will the app remain the same? Will subscriptions be affected?
The short answer: business as usual—for now. ForeFlight’s existing development team is expected to remain in place, and the app will continue to be supported on the platforms pilots know and trust. Given Thoma Bravo’s track record, many in the industry are optimistic this move could accelerate ForeFlight’s innovation roadmap.
It’s business as usual for now with ForeFlight’s existing development team is expected to remain in place.
At iPad Pilot News, ForeFlight has long been a cornerstone of our content and instructional resources. That’s why we’re proud to reaffirm that Sporty’s will continue to offer ForeFlight Mobile subscriptions on Sportys.com, making it easy for pilots to renew or upgrade without interruption.
In addition, Sporty’s exclusive training course, Flying with ForeFlight, remains the leading resource for mastering the app. With step-by-step video instruction, real-world scenarios, and now lifetime access included, the course is more valuable than ever for both new and experienced users.
Whether you’re just getting started with ForeFlight or looking to refine your skills with the latest features, this comprehensive training is designed to keep you ahead of the curve—regardless of who owns the platform.
Looking Ahead
This sale represents more than just a change in corporate structure—it’s a signal of the increasing importance of digital tools in the aviation space. As the technology evolves, we’ll continue to monitor the impact and provide pilots with the training, updates, and tools they need to stay proficient and safe.
You can paint a rosy picture all you want, but the track record of Private Equity buying Aviation companies has been horrendous for us users. Take the acquisition of Hartzell as a perfect example. Once they were acquired, prices jumped significantly. I expect the same here. These Private Equity companies are only in it for the returns to their investors. That’s it!!
The other concerning point I noticed is that in the announcement from Boeing, ForeFlight was not even mentioned. Only Jeppesen. Very disconcerting…
Joe, Agreed. Our experience with Hartzell was significantly worse post acquisition. $ 50k for a new composite prop that had numerous paint defects, even after multiple attempts to repair and a factory return. Paint qc ? Small details get dropped when the focus changes. None of this leadership are proud to be a pilot…all Stanford, San Fran., PE / VC / tech. FF was good while it lasted.
I have a backup iPad and an iPhone as a third backup. I also have a backup for FF, in the form of Garmin Pilot. Be prepared, as the Boy Scouts say.
Spot on. If anyone thinks a quality tool and customer service being sold to private equity is going to benefit the tool, staff, and customers… you’re dead wrong. I really hope ForeFlight is a rare exception…
It’s not money for the investors It’s the greedy hogs that run the organization that get the money
I’ve been personally involved in the sale and acquisition of several companies by private equity firms. None of them – zero – were good for company employees or customers. Private equity typically wants to accelerate short-term profitability at the expense of long-term investment and goodwill. Sporty’s would do well to look a little harder at this before spending its own credibility on endorsing changes that are very unlikely to improve pilot experience. As it is, I’m starting to look for alternatives to FF.
Remember the movie saying: “Greed is Good” said the VC before carving up Blue Star Airlines. The VCs just want to buy a business, carve it up, resell it – then rinse and repeat. VCs profit and everyone else loses.
What folks are not understanding is that while the private equity company bought ForeFlight, etc. from Boeing, what actually happens is that ForeFlight, etc. are now burdened financially to the tune of $10.6 Billion. That is a huge financial burden and will ultimately result in substantially higher subscription costs or financial failure.
I believe something around $8B of that is Jepp. ForeFlight is probably valued more around $1-1.5B.
I agree with the above comments. However, the good news is there are a number of quality competitors in the market today that current customers can transition to if (when) subscription costs rise and/or product quality declines. Toma Bravo’s acquisition of ForeFlight is concerning more for the quality staff that work there then for its customer base. They can and will migrate to other EFB platforms when the application’s competitive value declines.
Maybe we will get better Windows and possibly Android support? Just hoping.
I’ve only been flying for 5 years, but I do a lot of hours in my plane. At first I compared Garmin pilot to forflight. Despite the fact that I have an all Garmin panel, I went with foreflight simply because it was easier to use and more intuitive. This would be the ideal time for Garmin to step up and make their products easier and more intuitive to use. I’m afraid every time a private equity gets involved with purchasing a company. Most of them they just try to build them up fast and then sell them again and that’s the end of it. I don’t see a bright future with this purchase. I hope I’m wrong.
All this extends from Boeing’s other problem areas — too numerous to list here — that negatively affected its stock valuation. It’s best that Boeing jettison ForeFlight now — before Wall Street corporate raiders carves it up into a million pieces and sells it at fire-sale prices.
Disturbing message about Boeing’s plane business. Recurring corporate death spiral when profitable and growing businesses are sold to be reinvested in money losing legacy operations.
Why did Boeing buy ForeFlight to begin with? And now why are they selling it?
For a company with such deep roots in aviationTo take two highly popular products like ForeFlight and Jeppesen and do nothing with them but turn them around and sell them is disgraceful. It has the mindset of cutting corners matching that of the 737 max.
I find it amazing that a company of Boeings size cannot continue to maintain a straight stable course in business. One which brought them to their current size and status. They should never have bought Jeppesen and ForeFlight to begin with.
Don’t they know what business they’re in. Idiots.
Focus focus focus.