CQC Aeronautics has launched AERefinery airport operational planning software, which combines five separate airport planning functions, weather history, project impact modelling, obstacle tracking, airfield infrastructure analysis and project management, into a single dashboard. The Houston-based aviation technology firm says the tool is aimed at airport operators, planners, engineers and consultants who currently juggle disconnected spreadsheets and services to assess how construction, closures or new obstacles will affect flight operations.
AERefinery is a web-based, subscription software-as-a-service platform, built by CQC Aeronautics and announced on 14 September 2026, according to Airport Improvement. The company has not published pricing, so buyers will need to go direct to CQC for a quote and an implementation timeline before assuming any figure.
What the platform actually does
The five linked modules are: historical weather intelligence covering temperature, wind, runway utilisation, visibility and precipitation; project impact analysis for runway closures, taxiway rehabilitation, NAVAID relocation and construction activity; obstacle intelligence for protected surfaces and proposed development; airfield infrastructure analysis covering runway geometry, visual guidance and navigational aids; and a project management dashboard tracking schedules, phasing and documentation across active and proposed works.
CQC president and chief executive Emily Trout said the platform lets airports “take a true analysis-driven approach to operations” by modelling airside alternatives and their effect on aircraft performance in one place, and described AERefinery as the first platform to help airports share data with stakeholders through PIXM, the Performance Information Exchange Model.
Who this actually helps
The obvious buyer is an airport running a live capital programme, where runway or taxiway work, new NAVAIDs or obstacle changes need to be modelled against flight performance before contractors move in. That maps directly onto the projects tracked in the biggest airport capital programmes of 2026-27, where design and construction decisions are being made now and rework later is expensive.
It also sits alongside the wider shift toward centralised, data-driven operations planning that airports such as those covered in CVG and Munich Airport’s agentic AI pilots are testing, though AERefinery is a planning and engineering tool rather than a real-time operations agent. Airports already investing in airfield sensing, such as the sites in the FAA’s surface surveillance rollout, may see the clearest fit, since obstacle and infrastructure data from those systems feeds the kind of modelling AERefinery is built to run.
Smaller airports without an in-house engineering team, or those without a capital project in motion, will get less immediate return. The platform is priced and scoped for planners and consultants managing live infrastructure change, not for day-to-day terminal or landside operations.
The takeaway
Airports with an active or upcoming airfield project should ask CQC Aeronautics for a scope and cost proposal now, before design decisions are locked, and should specifically ask how AERefinery’s PIXM data-sharing compares with whatever stakeholder coordination process is already in use for the programme.
