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Syndik8

Set up your first syndicate

This tutorial walks you through setting up a new syndicate from scratch. By the end, you’ll have a syndicate with one aircraft, a usage rate configured, and an invitation sent to your first member. Plan on about fifteen minutes — most of it is the three-or-four numbers you need to decide on before you start.

Before you begin, have a few pieces of information to hand:

  • The name of your syndicate (anything memorable — “G-ABCD Syndicate” is the suggested pattern).
  • The aircraft’s registration (e.g. G-ABCD), current airframe hours, and home airfield ICAO code.
  • A ballpark usage rate per Hobbs hour, with and without VAT if you care about the distinction. Rates in Syndik8 are always entered without VAT.
  • The email address of the first member you want to invite.

If you don’t have all of this, you can still follow along — anything you omit can be filled in afterwards.

Step 1 — Create the syndicate

Section titled “Step 1 — Create the syndicate”

Open Syndik8 and sign in. On a fresh account, the home screen welcomes you and offers a Get Started button that kicks off the onboarding wizard. Tap it.

Home screen on a fresh account, prompting you to create or join a syndicateHome screen on a fresh account, prompting you to create or join a syndicate

The wizard’s first step is Create Your Group. Fill in:

  • Name — 3 to 50 characters. Short and recognisable beats clever.
  • Description (optional) — a line for the members. Up to 500 characters.

Tap Create Group at the bottom. The “Syndicate created successfully” snackbar confirms the save, and the wizard rolls straight on to Step 2.

Create Your Group screen with name and description fieldsCreate Your Group screen with name and description fields

A couple of things happened behind the scenes: the syndicate got a default member rate called Member (you’ll see it later when you visit Billing Schemes), and you were added as its owner. That’s the only role that can do what comes next.

Step 2 — Add your aircraft

Section titled “Step 2 — Add your aircraft”

Adding an aircraft is mandatory — Syndik8 doesn’t let you leave onboarding without one, because almost everything else (bookings, usage logs, maintenance, billing) is attached to an asset.

The wizard’s Add Aircraft step wants:

  • Name — usually the tail number, e.g. G-ABCD.
  • Registration Number (optional) — the full registration if the name is a nickname.
  • Description (optional) — type, variant, anything useful to other members.
  • Total airframe hours — the current Hobbs or tacho reading. This seeds the meter history; put in what the Hobbs actually shows today.
  • Home Airfield (optional) — the ICAO code of the aircraft’s home base. Landing fees only apply when the arrival airfield doesn’t match this one, so it matters for billing.

Tap Add Aircraft. You’ll see “Asset created successfully” and the wizard moves on. Your new aircraft is now registered to the syndicate — you’ll find it any time under the Assets tab, and it’ll surface on the Dashboard’s next-booking card once someone books it.

Step 3 — Set the usage rate

Section titled “Step 3 — Set the usage rate”

The aircraft exists, but Syndik8 doesn’t yet know what an hour of it costs. Put that in next.

From the Dashboard, go to Syndicate settings → Billing & Rates. Because this is a single-aircraft syndicate, the labels read plainly — Billing, Minimum Usage, Event Fees, and so on, without the Default prefix you’ll see once a second aircraft joins. See Default and per-asset settings for the cascade if that ever happens.

Under Billing, enter:

  • Usage rate — the full rate per Hobbs hour, without VAT. For example, 180 for £180+VAT/hr.
  • Shortfall rate — typically a lower rate applied when a member under-flies against a minimum. Start with the same value as the usage rate if you don’t know yet; you can tune it later.

Under Minimum Usage, you can leave both minimums at 0 for now — zero disables the shortfall entirely, which keeps your first month simple.

Scroll to the bottom to the Per-Scheme Rates table. You’ll see one row for the Member scheme that got created with the syndicate. The effective rate defaults to the base rate — leave it.

Billing & Rates screen showing usage rate, shortfall rate, and the Per-Scheme Rates tableBilling & Rates screen showing usage rate, shortfall rate, and the Per-Scheme Rates table

Tap Save. The rates are live from this moment.

Step 4 — Invite your first member

Section titled “Step 4 — Invite your first member”

Open the syndicate and tap the Members tab. Tap the floating + button in the bottom-right to open the Invite Member screen.

It has more fields than you probably expected — take them one at a time:

  • Role — admin (can finalise, approve, configure) or member (can book, log, see their own balance). Most invites are member.
  • Member Type — the shape of their membership. Leave as the default for a standard equity member.
  • Ownership Share — percentage, if your syndicate is split by equity. Leave 0 if not.
  • Billing Scheme — which rate band they pay on. Syndicate default uses the Member rate you just saw; that’s the right answer for a first invite.
  • Expires In — how long the invite link stays valid.
  • Email (optional) — if filled, Syndik8 sends the invite by email. Either way, you also get a shareable link in the next screen.
  • Welcome Message (optional) — a short note to the invitee.

Tap Generate Invitation. The Invitation Created dialog appears. If you gave an email, the line reads “Invitation sent to {email}. You can also share this link:”. A Copy button puts the link on your clipboard; Share opens the system share sheet on mobile.

Invitation Created dialog with the shareable link, Copy, and Share controlsInvitation Created dialog with the shareable link, Copy, and Share controls

Close the dialog. The invite is now visible under the syndicate’s members section as pending until the invitee accepts.

What you just did

Section titled “What you just did”
  • Created a syndicate — naming it and becoming its owner.
  • Added your first aircraft, with its airframe hours and home airfield.
  • Set a usage rate and shortfall rate the billing engine can apply.
  • Generated an invitation your first member can accept.

Where to go next

Section titled “Where to go next”