Admin brief: enabling the Airside Labs connector
On a company Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot plan, connectors are switched on by a workspace admin, not by the person who found them. This page is written for that admin. If someone sent it to you, everything you need to make the call is below; if you are the person asking, forward this page.
What it is
A set of aviation reference tools an AI assistant can call while answering a question: 6,500 vetted aviation AI use cases by sector and role with their data needs and an EASA AI-level and hazard screen, plus airline, airport and aircraft identity lookups over validated registry data, every answer with its sources. It adds knowledge to the assistant your staff already use. It does not replace it, and it does not see anything else they do in it.
The facts
- Service
- Airside Labs aviation tools, a remote MCP server (Model Context Protocol).
- Endpoint
- https://mcp.airsidelabs.com/mcp (streamable HTTP, stateless, HTTPS only)
- Listed as
- "Airside Labs" in the Claude connector directory; "Airside Aviation Tools" in ChatGPT Plugins.
- Sign-in
- OAuth 2.1 with PKCE. Authorization server: https://auth.airsidelabs.com (operated for us by WorkOS). Google sign-in or email. API keys for clients that cannot sign in.
- Discovery
- https://mcp.airsidelabs.com/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp
- Network
- Outbound HTTPS from the AI application to mcp.airsidelabs.com. Nothing inbound to your network; nothing installed on your devices.
- Access
- Read-only. The tools answer questions from our own reference data. None reads, writes or deletes anything in your systems, files or conversations.
- Cost
- Free Explorer plan, no card. Pro $59 a month, Team $249 a month. Enterprise terms on request.
- Operator
- Airside Labs, Bognor Regis, United Kingdom.
What leaves your workspace
Only the arguments of each tool call: an airport or airline code, a registration, a search phrase, a use-case ID, a date. Not the conversation, not documents, not files. The AI application decides when to call a tool and what to send, under its own privacy terms with you.
For each call we record which account or key made it, the tool name, the outcome, the time, the network address and the client's user agent, plus a monthly count per account. We do not store the content of questions or answers. Two tools are different: the suggestion box and the unmet-need report store what the assistant sends them, exactly as sent, for a person to read. Their descriptions tell the assistant not to send personal data, customer identifiers or conversation history, and the text is length-capped.
Nothing is used to train models and nothing is sold. Sign-in is processed by WorkOS, billing by Stripe, and the service runs on our hosting provider, each under their own agreement with us. Access logs are kept for 30 days. Full detail is in section 13 of the privacy policy and in the terms.
What it is not
- Not real-time or operational data. Reference and registry sources only, each dated in the answer. Not for flight operations or safety decisions.
- Not an agent with permissions. It cannot act on anything; it answers questions.
- Not software to install. It is a hosted endpoint your AI application calls.
- Not a data collector. There is no tracking beyond the per-call record above, and no marketing use of accounts.
How to switch it on
Claude Team and Enterprise
Connectors are enabled for the organisation by an owner or admin, then members add them from Settings, then Connectors. Enable the Airside Labs listing from the directory, or add the endpoint above as a custom connector with no client ID or secret.
ChatGPT Team and Enterprise
Workspace admins control which plugins members can use. Allow Airside Aviation Tools from the Plugins directory, or add the endpoint above as a custom connector.
Microsoft Copilot
Copilot Studio accepts a streamable-HTTP MCP server by URL. Whether makers in your tenant may add one is a Power Platform admin setting.
Anything else that speaks MCP
Point the client at the endpoint. It signs in through the browser on first use, or sends an API key from the account page as an X-Api-Key header.
Menu names in these products change; the constant is the endpoint and the listing names in the facts above.
Want us to brief your admin?
Tell us who runs your workspace and we will send them what they need, answer their security questions, and set up enterprise terms if you want an invoice rather than a card. One email is enough.