Balonklub – a platform for booking and buying balloon flights

Introduction

Balonklub is a digital platform for managing and selling hot-air balloon sightseeing flights. The goal of the project was to create a modern online system that lets customers easily buy tickets or reserve a seat on scheduled flights, while giving the operator tools for managing, planning and analysing operations.

The platform connects a public part intended for customers with an internal back-office system for managing flights, bookings and business data. The whole process – from offering a flight to evaluating it – can be managed in one integrated environment.

Technologically, the solution is built on a combination of Laravel, WordPress, React and Angular, with each technology playing a specific role within the system.

Project goals

The main goal of the project was to create a complete platform that:

• lets customers easily buy tickets for sightseeing flights
• offers seat reservations for specific scheduled dates
• gives the operator tools for managing flights and bookings
• offers analytics for tracking sales and capacity utilisation
• makes it easy to manage content and marketing information

The ability to extend the system with new features was another important aspect.

Solution architecture

The Balonklub platform was designed as a multi-layer application with a separate public part and an internal administration interface.

Backend – Laravel

The core of the system's application logic is built on the Laravel framework, which powers the server side of the platform. The backend is responsible for:

• managing flights and their dates
• managing bookings and ticket purchases
• integrating payment processes
• providing an API for the frontend applications

Laravel enables efficient management of business logic and secure transaction processing.

Public part – WordPress and React

The public part of the platform combines WordPress as a content system with React as an application layer for interactive features.

WordPress is used mainly for:

• managing marketing content
• publishing information about flights and locations
• managing articles and other customer information
• SEO optimisation

React powers the dynamic parts of the application, such as selecting and booking a flight, buying tickets and displaying available dates. This combination cleanly separates the content and application layers of the system.