What Would The World Miss if AirHub Didn’t Exist?

Would you run an airline with spreadsheets and sticky notes? That’s the question AirHub forced the drone industry to confront. In this story, we look at how AirHub came to be what nearly broke it, the gaps it was built to close and the standards it refuses to compromise. We spoke with their team to understand the path they’ve taken and the one they’re still carving out.

Building Structure From Chaos

In 2017, Stephan van Vuren and Thomas Brinkmann, the Co-CEOs and Co-founders of AirHub came at the same problem from opposite ends of the runway. Drone adoption was rising, but the operations were chaotic. Teams were stuck managing flights with one tool, compliance in another, maintenance somewhere else, and mission planning in yet another. Van Vuren, a commercial pilot and expert in drone regulation brought deep aviation and regulatory knowledge to the table. Brinkmann, a seasoned software entrepreneur who had just sold his mobile payments company MyOrder to Rabobank saw the need for software that could unify all those moving parts. 

Together, they built AirHub, an intuitive, secure, and scalable drone operations platform that integrates compliance, fleet management, mission planning, and livestreaming into one seamless system. The goal? Replace scattered tools with a system that works under pressure, especially for industries like public safety, critical infrastructure, and security.

Solving the Right Problem

Before AirHub, drone teams operated in silos, burdened by clunky user interfaces and scattered processes. For first responders and infrastructure inspectors, the stakes were too high for that kind of friction. Every delay increased risk.

So, they built AirHub with User Experience (UX) at its core. The platform is tailored for large, distributed teams that need real-time clarity and control. But great UX alone isn’t enough. Drone operations generate sensitive data, and that data needs to be secure. With Brinkmann’s experience in secure mobile transactions, strong data protection was built in from the start.

Without AirHub, the world would still be watching teams juggle tools, risking non-compliance, and losing time they couldn’t afford to lose. The company closed that gap not just with clean design but with deep, aviation-level discipline.

A Rocky Start, A Steady Belief

It wasn’t all smooth flying. AirHub launched at a time when drones were still seen as fancy toys for hobbyists. Enterprise use was experimental at best.

"The first two years were tough," they shared. "It was all pitching, convincing, and explaining. We had the vision, but the market just wasn’t there yet. Stephan and Thomas had many conversations back then, asking ourselves: Is this really going to happen?” 

Despite doubts, they kept building. When adoption finally picked up especially in public safety and critical infrastructure AirHub was already equipped with the tools teams needed. They never stopped building for the future they believed in.

Raising the Standard

Belgium Police Live Operations

From the start, AirHub set out to bring aviation-grade thinking into drone operations. "Most drone programs wouldn’t pass basic airline safety standards," Stephan pointed out. That’s where they pushed the conversation: drones should be managed with the same rigor as airlines. “After all, flying drones is aviation. Just unmanned.” he said.

Hardware was improving, but the industry lacked operational structure. AirHub helped shift that focus from specs to systems. They raised the bar, especially for companies scaling their fleets without aviation backgrounds. That might have worked when flying one or two drones, but as operations scale, the risks grow. Without proper systems and oversight, safety becomes a serious concern. With clients like Dubai Police running drone programs as professionally as commercial airlines, AirHub’s approach is now setting benchmarks.

Killing the Spreadsheet

Digital Checklist on the Remote Controller

Ask any pilot what they used before AirHub, and chances are they’ll say: spreadsheets and clipboards. Logbooks. Handwritten notes. Fragmented files.

AirHub erased all that.

AirHub eliminated the cumbersome “pilot flight logbook sheet”, a nightmare of manually updated flight logs, drone stats, maintenance records, and pilot certifications. For first responders, every second counts, and the last thing they need during a critical mission is paperwork or scattered data. The platform automates compliance, centralizes all operational data, and provides real-time insights so teams can focus on the mission, not the admin. Pilots can now complete their Before- and After-Flight Checklists entirely digitally, directly on the drone’s remote controller.

Saving Time, Proving Value

Sharing Live Video Stream

The platform isn’t just about saving clicks; it’s about saving hours and, in some cases, serious money. One public safety client saw an 80% drop in admin time after switching to AirHub. "Wait, this just paid for itself five times over," they said after just one inspection cycle. They were managing a large drone fleet with spreadsheets and emails, spending hours each week on flight logs, compliance, and maintenance tracking. Less time on paperwork meant more time flying, more value from their drone program, and a more responsive team in the field.

Hidden Strengths

Digital Flight Logbook

While many users rave about fleet management and livestreaming, AirHub has silent strengths worth noting. Their real-time situational awareness tool quietly integrates airspace restrictions and weather conditions (even the KP-Index, which measures geomagnetic activity that can interfere with GPS signals) right into the workflow. Every flight automatically logs that data, a small touch that prevents big mistakes. It’s the kind of feature you don’t notice until it saves you.

Culture and Myths

Inside the team, there’s a running joke: every time someone says, “This is just a small tweak,” it usually turns into a two-week development sprint. Now, whenever someone mentions a "small tweak," someone else immediately calls out, “See you next sprint!” It’s funny, but it reflects their culture of care. Even minor changes are treated with the weight they deserve because the product supports high-stakes operations.

Everyone knows Van Vuren’s pilot mindset shows up at every step especially in his insistence on triple-checking compliance before takeoff. His team jokes that he treats every drone launch like it’s a commercial flight. But that obsessive attention to regulation is also what earns the trust of clients in high-risk sectors. Brinkmann, on the other hand, is the idea engine. He can dream up features for days but he’s also the one who reins it all in. He constantly tests concepts with customers to ensure the company builds the right tools at the right time. Of course, competitors have their digs too. Some say AirHub’s platform is overkill, too ambitious, too complete. But that’s exactly the point. By bringing everything into one intuitive, beautifully designed interface, they help clients do more, with less chaos. The industry might call it “too much.” Their customers call it exactly what they need.

AirHub also pushes back against the idea that drone operations at scale can be done without robust software. The industry’s hype around “easy drone use” often ignores the reality: managing compliance, safety, and scalability is complex, especially as fleets grow and use cases become more critical. Through smart automation, intuitive design and Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven features, they make complex operations feel simple, without cutting corners. Making it look easy is only possible when the underlying system is rock solid.

If AirHub Disappeared Tomorrow

According to Thomas and Stephan, “the one thing the world would absolutely miss if this company disappeared tomorrow is the path toward a future where drones are seamlessly integrated into society not as gadgets, but as trusted tools for public safety, emergency response, and critical infrastructure. Without AirHub, that future risks being chaotic, unsafe, and fragmented. We bring the structure, intuitive user experience, and enterprise-grade security needed to manage drone operations at scale. As a passionate European company, we hold ourselves to the highest standards of safety, design, and data protection, because when lives are on the line, every detail matters.”