What Happened to ForeFlight in 2026: A Dated Timeline

By Vincent Wu, founder of Ascent EFB. Last updated August 28, 2026.

TL;DR: Boeing agreed on April 22, 2025 to sell Jeppesen and ForeFlight to private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $10.55 billion. The deal closed October 31, 2025 and the business relaunched as Jeppesen ForeFlight. Layoffs followed on January 14, 2026, confirmed by the company, which called the numbers circulating on social media "misleading and overstated." Prices rose in February 2026. A ChatGPT connector shipped as an open preview in July 2026. Here is the dated record, source on every line.

What happened to ForeFlight in 2026?

Boeing sold ForeFlight and Jeppesen to private equity firm Thoma Bravo in a $10.55 billion deal that closed October 31, 2025. The new company laid off staff on January 14, 2026, raised subscription prices in February 2026, and launched a ChatGPT connector in July 2026. ForeFlight disputed the reported layoff numbers.

Why I wrote this

I build a competing app, so start there. Ascent EFB is my product and you should read all of this with that in mind.

I wrote it because I went looking for a plain dated record and could not find one. Plenty of long forum threads, plenty of write-ups of single events, nothing with the whole sequence in order. So: no gloating, a source on every line, community reaction left as quotes, unverified things marked as such.

The timeline

The sale

Boeing announced on April 22, 2025 that it had agreed to sell parts of its Digital Aviation Solutions business, including Jeppesen, ForeFlight, AerData and OzRunways, to Thoma Bravo for $10.55 billion in cash. It closed October 31, 2025, and on November 3 Thoma Bravo announced Jeppesen ForeFlight as a standalone company in Denver and San Francisco, led by Brad Surak, who had run the business at Boeing.

That release says the plan out loud. It describes AI as a cornerstone of the strategy, quotes Surak on the aim to "move faster, think bigger, and innovate," and has the Thoma Bravo partners talking about organic growth and M&A.

January 2026: the layoffs

Layoffs happened on January 14, 2026, in a company-wide email. The Air Current reported on January 16 that Surak's email told employees "automation and AI are changing how aviation software is built and scaled, and we must continue to modernize how we work so we can deliver at the level our customers expect."

The next day a post titled "ForeFlight fires half its staff" hit r/flying and ran to 877 upvotes and 357 comments. Percentages got thrown around in that thread and elsewhere on social media. None of them came from the company, none of them are verified, and I am not going to reprint them here.

ForeFlight confirmed the layoffs and pushed back on the numbers. Flying reported on January 16, 2026 that the company said it had made changes to "streamline our operating model," that the percentages circulating in media were "misleading and overstated," and that affected staff were supported with severance and benefits. It published no figure of its own.

So the honest state of the record: layoffs on January 14, confirmed. The size, not confirmed by anyone. "Half" is a social media number the company disputes and no verified figure has appeared since, so I am not going to repeat it as fact.

The same day, r/flying opened a second thread: "So are we all switching to Garmin Pilot now?" 461 upvotes, 392 comments.

February 2026: the price increase

Prices went up in February 2026. The r/Foreflight thread documenting it is titled "After the recent layoffs, ForeFlight increases subscription prices." That is the thread title, and the linking of the two events is that poster's framing, not mine. I have seen nothing from the company connecting them.

What I can verify: ForeFlight's published personal pricing, read from foreflight.com/pricing on August 28, 2026, is $130 Starter, $260 Essential and $390 Premium per year. That page also carries a notice saying "We've updated our subscription plan names, but the prices and features remain exactly the same as before."

The pre-increase numbers are harder. I could not find the old prices published on a ForeFlight page, and I am not going to reprint figures from third party trackers I cannot verify. What I can point at is a pilot on Pilots of America writing that the $250 tier went to $260. That is his account of his own renewal, in the thread linked below.

That thread, started May 14, 2026, is the best single read on how this landed. Quoted as written, attributed to that thread:

"The $250 version just went up to $260. As much as I like the profile view, I downgraded to the $130 version."

"At Foreflight's current rate of increases you can expect to pay $15,000 over a normal pilot's life time for this over priced product."

"I think the market is ripe for a good EFB to come along and make FF a thing of the past like Google did to Altavista."

Three pilots on one forum, not a survey. The pattern across the thread is that people were mostly not leaving. They were moving down a tier and staying.

July 2026: the ChatGPT connector

On July 1, 2026 Jeppesen ForeFlight announced a set of AI features. The one that got attention was the AI Connector, which links ForeFlight Mobile to a pilot's own ChatGPT account over MCP so ChatGPT can pull flight plans, aircraft profiles, logbook, performance data and weather.

ForeFlight published a post on July 8, 2026 and labelled it Open Preview. Their own words: "This product is brand new and our team is actively building, testing, and improving it. You may notice changes between sessions."

Later that month, r/flying ran a thread titled "PSA - Do not blindly trust ForeFlight's ChatGPT Connector," 146 upvotes and 137 comments. I am giving you the title and the link rather than a summary, because I have not verified the claims made in it.

What is verified and what is not

Our app. Included so you know exactly whose page you are reading.

What the options are now

Calmly, with the bias declared.

Stay and move down a tier. This is what most of the Pilots of America thread did. $130 buys Starter, per foreflight.com/pricing read August 28, 2026. If you are on ForeFlight for the depth of the instrument toolset, price the lower tier before you move apps.

Garmin Pilot. The obvious like for like, and the one r/flying named in its thread title. Garmin publishes US Standard and US Premium tiers. Reading Garmin's published US plan catalog on August 8, 2026 put them at $109.99 and $209.98, though that page sits behind a login now, so check it yourself.

Free apps. FltPlan Go and Avare cost nothing, and for charts and a moving map on a backup device that is a real answer.

Ascent EFB, which is mine. iPhone and iPad, $59.99 the first year and $89.99 a year after, one plan with nothing held back: 3D terrain, geo-referenced FAA VFR Sectionals and Terminal Area Charts, IFR Enroute Low, High and Area, the full weather stack, live traffic, airport info and taxi diagrams, all cached for offline. What it does not have: no weight and balance, no Android, US and FAA charts only, and an August 2026 launch date instead of years of depth. If you fly instrument approaches and want own-ship drawn on the chart, ForeFlight has that above the Starter tier and I do not.

3D terrain is the thing we built the app around. It works with no signal.

One thing worth saying: none of the events above tell you whether the app still works for you. They tell you who owns it and what it costs, which is a different question. For the cost side I wrote how much an EFB costs in 2026, with a wider list in ForeFlight alternatives in 2026. For the framework rather than the prices, read how to choose an EFB. If you got here wondering who I am, what Ascent EFB is.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns ForeFlight now?

Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm. It bought Jeppesen, ForeFlight, AerData and OzRunways from Boeing in a $10.55 billion all cash deal announced April 22, 2025 and closed October 31, 2025. The business trades as Jeppesen ForeFlight.

Did ForeFlight lay off half its staff?

Layoffs happened on January 14, 2026 and the company confirmed them. The "half" figure came from social media. Flying reported on January 16, 2026 that the company called the circulating percentages "misleading and overstated" and published no number of its own. No verified figure exists.

How much does ForeFlight cost in 2026?

$130 Starter, $260 Essential and $390 Premium per year, read from foreflight.com/pricing on August 28, 2026. Prices rose in February 2026.

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Written by Vincent Wu, founder of Ascent EFB at Geospatios. Ascent competes with ForeFlight, so verify everything here. Deal terms from Boeing's press release of April 22, 2025 and Thoma Bravo's of November 3, 2025. Layoff confirmation and the "misleading and overstated" wording from Flying, January 16, 2026; the CEO email quote from The Air Current, January 16, 2026. ForeFlight plan names and prices read from foreflight.com/pricing on August 28, 2026. AI Connector wording from ForeFlight's blog post of July 8, 2026. Garmin Pilot US prices from Garmin's published US plan catalog read August 8, 2026. Community quotes belong to the threads linked above. Any EFB is a supplemental aid to situational awareness. Final authority rests with the pilot in command.