242 by Stansted News Limited

ISSUE 242

NOVEMBER 2013

Lufttransport extends all-weather capability to the Arctic

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Austrian operator IJM has added another Falcon 900 to its ‘large and homogenous’ Falcon fleet, along with a Learjet 40XR. Md Robert Schmölzer (left) feels this has been a memorable year for the Vienna-based company while ceo Felix Feller, also pictured, praises his ‘motivated’ staff for successfully integrating the aircraft. For the full story see page 7.

IJM expansion is ongoing as Falcon roster grows

Spirited BK-117 makes the trek to Mali for medical missions Irish headquartered Starlite Aviation recently added a BK-117 helicopter to its fleet, which is being used on contract with the European Union Training Mission (EUTM) in Mali. The operator took delivery of the aircraft in Germany and the Starlite crew of chief pilot Monster Wilkins, Steve Lodge and Harry Rice were given the task of transporting it to Mali. Wilkins reports on the ferry flight: “The job was to fetch the company’s BK-117 helicopter in Baden-Baden, Germany, and ferry it to Bamako in Mali for use as a HEMS aircraft for the EUTM. This was not exactly a hardship!” The aircraft had to be de-registered from Germany and put onto a South African registration. Upon completion, and once the insurance was in place, Wilkins flew a few circuits at BadenBaden to familiarise himself with the aircraft. He says of the 117: “This is a spirited twin-engine machine with plenty of performance. Her only downfall is short range, so the length of ferry flight legs had to be worked out rather carefully.”

Monster Wilkins was the chief pilot for Starlite’s Mali mission and relished the challenge. He says that the BK-117 delivers plenty of performance, despite short range.

After two weeks in Baden-Baden the crew was ready. Lodge received his type rating and they set off. Lyon, France provided the first refuelling stop, before another stop at Beziers and then a

crossing into Spain’s Costa Brava. From Valencia and Almeria the team then headed to Morocco and on to Casablanca. The route also took in Senegal before making it to Mali, with 3,000 nautical miles travelled in five days and 29 hours of flying. Upon arrival, the crew joined up with the Starlite team working on contract for EUTM in Mali. Two more pilots received type ratings on the BK-117 and route checks were carried out, along with a check ride for a co-pilot on the Puma. Starlite deploys two HEMS helicopters for EUTM in Mali, and Wilkins describes a recent flight which occurred during the crew’s time in Bamako: “Our Puma 330J was tasked to pick up a motorcyclist who had fallen off his bike with no helmet and was in a poor way. We picked him up at a level field 2 hospital on the banks of the Niger River at Koulikoro and successfully transported him in the specially equipped HEMS aircraft. “It was a fitting end to our journey to deliver an additional HEMS helicopter to Mali.”

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Norwegian operator Lufttransport AS will be able to perform allweather search and rescue missions in the Arctic, after awarding HeliOne a contract to upgrade and modify two Eurocopter AS332L1s. As a result, from 2014, Lufttransport says it will be responsible for operating the most northern AWSAR operation in the world, based in Svalbard, Norway. The conditions at 78 degrees north are extreme, with round-theclock winter darkness, and there will be a dependence upon this service in what is a large operating area. The all-weather capability of the AS332L1 aircraft is said to be a critical element to mission success. Hans Arne Jensen, director of business development for Lufttransport, cited Heli-One’s engineering prowess and SAR expertise as key elements of the winning bid for the contract: “The two AS332L1s are undergoing an essential modification programme in order to comply with our requirements, and Heli-One engineering has provided us with access to solutions derived from their unique knowledge in modification of helicopters used for SAR operations to the most dangerous and challenging areas on earth,” he says. The modified aircraft are scheduled to begin operations in the spring of 2014 from Svalbard, which is midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The Heli-One upgrades include EuroNav moving map systems, forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera systems, automatic identification system (AIS) transponders and Goodrich dual hoists, along with more than a dozen other modifications. Jensen explains the importance of investing in not one but two Super Pumas: “Having two identical helicopters will allow for comprehensive training, redundancy and reassurance to the decision makers prior to and during missions. “We anticipate over 70 SAR missions a year. Our biggest challenge remains one of human nature: teamwork. We are working hard on ensuring that all personnel act together, learning from experience to help develop everything, right up to those who deploy on land via snow scooter.”

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NOVEMBER 2013 3

EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS

Publisher and editor: .......... David Wright Reporter: .............................. Tom Ryder Designer: .............................. Chris Carr Advertising manager: .......... Mark Ranger Subscriptions: ................ Janet Edwards Send news submissions to Tom Ryder: newsdesk@ebanmagazine.com or call +44 1279 714506 European Business Air News, 134 South Street, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, CM23 3BQ England. Telephone: +44 1279 714505 Fax: +44 1279 714519 www.ebanmagazine.com European Business Air News (USPS 009091) is published eleven times each year, monthly except January, by Stansted News Limited, 134 South Street, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire CM23 3BQ, England. Periodicals postage paid at Rahway, N.J. Postmaster: Send address changes to Stansted News Limited c/o Mercury Airfreight International Ltd., 365 Blair Road, Avenel, New Jersey 07001. Company registered in England no. 2224522. Printed by Sterling. ISSN number: 0959-1311.

Qatar Executive crew members with a company Global 5000 in Abu Dhabi.

Qatar offers discreet comfort aboard third 5000 Qatar Executive has taken delivery of a Global 5000 Vision in response to what it describes as a continuous demand for luxury travel in the Middle East. The addition expands the operator’s owned Bombardier fleet to seven jets: three Global 5000s, three Challenger 605s and one Global XRS. Ceo Akbar Al Baker said: “Our new Global 5000 Vision perfectly matches

the requirements of the global travelling elite, who are looking for maximum travel flexibility and refined tailor-made service. With its extended range, the jet delivers our customers to their final destination faster than any other aircraft in this class while they enjoy the perks which come with travelling on a state-ofthe-art executive jet.” Aircraft features include a two-

Private Sky meets Moscow charter demand with Ireland’s first Global 6000 Private Sky has acquired a new aircraft type for its fleet, a Global 6000. Having been delivered in late September to the operator’s Shannon facility, the aircraft will be based at Vnukovo airport, Moscow. Accountable manager Ray Mills highlights the difficulty of operating from Shannon and explains that the move to Russia was far more viable: “We used to have aircraft based (in Shannon) but due to the downturn we locate primarily in London and Moscow, because that’s where the business is. I’d love to have an aircraft based here but the way things are at the moment, business isn’t coming out of Ireland. I hope it will return.” Initial handling for the delivery at Shannon was undertaken by

Quintessentially Handling. Mills says he received an approach: “We were taking delivery and they asked if we could give them the chance to do the handling, which we did. I know the individual involved and I gave him the opportunity.” Private Sky’s fleet is mixed: “We have, starting from the bottom, a Citation XLS, a Learjet 60, a Falcon 900EX, a Challenger 850, and the Global Express. We took delivery of the Express two weeks ago, new from Montreal. We’ve had to do some training here in Shannon so we’ve probably done about 30 hours training, and it is now online. “The performance has been excellent. It’s a lovely aircraft, a great performer,” Mills says.

cabin configuration with a separate galley, allowing confidentiality and discreet service. Up to 13 passengers can be carried, with fully flat beds available for each. While the forward cabin allows sufficient space for up to eight passengers, with a four-place conference table, the rear cabin has two single seats, a private aft lavatory and a three-person divan that can be

transformed into a double bed. The entertainment and communications system onboard is said to be particularly impressive, including iPods at every seat to control cabin features such as cooling, mood lighting and sound system, two large HD screens, Blu-ray disk system, satellite telephone, printer capabilities and fast airborne internet.

EBAN is available by postal subscription for eleven issues. Simply send your credit card details and authority for UK£40 within Europe (UK£70 outside Europe) to our subscriptions department, or call +44 (0)1279 714505. EBAN is sent without charge to qualifying business aviation professionals. Please visit the EBAN web site to apply. The opinions expressed by authors and contributors to European Business Air News are not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. Articles appearing in European Business Air News may not be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the publisher. European Business Air News is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or artwork.

Argus gold rating gives Elite Jet stamp of approval for safety Elite Jet, which is operated by Johannesburg-based Medair Charter, has achieved a gold rating from Argus. It says it is one of only two companies in Africa to qualify for the gold-level accreditation. “This speaks volumes about the importance of safety for our Elite Jet’s Greg Ermes is delighted that the company in general and, more company’s attention to safety has been rewarded. specifically, the ways in which our

pilots take care of their passengers on every flight,” says sales and marketing manager Greg Ermes. Elite Jet has been built on the combined knowledge and experience of the directors of Medair Charter, which operates an air ambulance service and started Elite Jet to offer vip charter services in 2005.

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EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS

LEA has Greece in mind for further fleet expansion London Executive Aviation has taken over the management of a Citation XLS to be based in Athens, Greece. The aircraft used to be with a Greek operator, however LEA reports that the operator is no longer trading. Md George Galanopoulos says: “We took the aircraft over firstly because we knew the owners as part of an existing relationship, and because we think an aircraft like this, in that part of the world, could be useful. It has been very busy and has been flying quite a lot this summer, and we hope to continue in this manner going forward into the autumn and winter.” Galanopoulos does admit that the Greek market is a little quiet at the moment, but is confident that business in the Balkans, along with the Middle East and Israel, will make up for that: “It has limited competition in that part of the world because there are not many aircraft there. We are running mainly vip and business, and some of it is leisure as well in the summer,” he explains. The aircraft seems to be a logical progression: “There are no new features here. It is a 2007 XLS with a nine-seat configuration. It has satcom – more or less a standard XLS really. It is not going to change what we do significantly. All it means is that if we have customers that are in the area for a period of time – the Greek islands have been popular this year – we can serve them there for interisland transfers, or bring them back to the south of France or the UK. “We’re exploring the market now

LEA ceo Patrick Margetson-Rushmore (left) with Kimon Daniidis, business development manager based at the Athens office, which opened in June, and md George Galanopoulos.

we have the office in Athens, which opened in June. We’re looking for other opportunities and to manage more aircraft. We’re hoping in the next 12 months we’ll have one or two more aircraft added.” LEA is also experiencing an upsurge in enquiries for flights to the 22nd Olympic Winter Games 2014 in

Sochi, Russia. Over the summer period, from May to September 2013 inclusive, it liaised with several brokers and owners to provide quotes and discuss the logistics of attending the Games. In the months of August and September alone, its commercial department prepared more than 50 quotes for customers.

Speaking in reference to Sochi, Galanopoulos says: “During the summer, quote requests for flights to Sochi gained real momentum. With the Winter Olympics less than five months away, our clients are thinking about the next big event to attend. We’ve been discussing drop-offs, pick-ups and short stays in the

Olympic host resort on the Black Sea, where there is going to be plenty to keep our clients entertained. “We have also had some special requests for people looking to enjoy Valentine’s Day as part of their journey to the city.” “The spacious designs and costeffective long-distance cruising capabilities of our Legacys and Challenger 300 make them ideal for travel to and from Sochi, in Russia’s far south west.” In addition, the operator has added a new destination to its European portfolio. LEA’s Phenom 300 is now operating flights to and from La Môle Saint-Tropez airport in the French region of Provence-AlpesCôte d’Azur. Galanopoulos remarks: “The gateway to the Côte d’Azur, La Môle Saint-Tropez airport has, until now, been used by very few private charter flights due to the short runway, but it is ideal for our Phenom 300. Previously, clients had no choice but to travel to Saint-Tropez via CannesMandelieu airport or Toulon SaintTropez airport, followed by ground transport – clearly far from ideal. “The Embraer Phenom 300 is tailor-made for this environment and can fly four passengers into SaintTropez and seven passengers from the airport to London. Our crews are trained and cleared for operations into the airport. In obtaining this new destination, LEA is even better positioned to serve the French market.”

Pilot recreates historic flight with Phoenix on her tail Phoenix Aviation, based in Nairobi, Kenya, will use one of its Cessna Caravans as the ‘chase plane’ to follow Tracey Curtis-Taylor in her Boeing Stearman biplane on a solo journey from Cape Town, South Africa, to Goodwood, UK, to commemorate the same journey carried out 85 years earlier by pilot Lady Heath. In 1928, Mary Heath made front page news around the world as the first pilot, male or female, to fly an open-cockpit biplane from Cape Town to London. “Phoenix Aviation is delighted to help Tracey and her team succeed in this exciting but very challenging adventure,” says Ingrid Strahammer, vp of marketing for Phoenix. The ‘Flying Spirit of Artemis’ is the open cockpit plane Curtis-Taylor will be using. She will be exposed to the elements and the flight represents a formidable physical and

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Tracey Curtis-Taylor will fly a 7,000 mile journey with Phoenix Aviation tailing her. Photo: Justin de Reuck.

logistical challenge. The cockpit and wings of the biplane will be fitted with cameras and a film crew in the chase plane will follow her throughout her journey. In all, Curtis-Taylor will cover 7,000 miles in 32 legs over six weeks in an aircraft designed in the 1930s, with a top speed of 85 mph.

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EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS

ProPilots will help uphold Air Lloydâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flawless safety record German operator and flight training organisation Air Lloyd will be using ProPilots 3D animation technology to further its helicopter missions, including flight training and aerial work. The company says it will be the launch customer of the ProPilots product and that it will also use it for the recurrent training of commercial pilots. ProPilots as a company is able to assist with the training of private pilots, as well as having affiliation with flying schools and air operators, of which Air Lloyd is one. The software is able to simulate emergency scenarios visually using text, graphics and animation. Air Lloyd has been in business for more than 50 years and has been carrying out flight training since the 1970s. Flight operations manager Helmut Appelfeller outlines the benefits:

Air Lloydâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Helmut Appelfeller appreciates ProPilots technology that simulates safety scenarios.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;ProPilots gives you 3D animations, and these are used to explain the background of failures or things that can happen in the aviation business. This will be very helpful because we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have this kind of product before. Now itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on the market, and it is very good.â&#x20AC;?

Air Lloyd has stayed accident free in its 50 years without the use of ProPilots. However, Appelfeller says the product will be key in maintaining this excellent safety record: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The operation itself will be more or less the same in the future, as the ProPilots technology will not influence our acquisitions or operations. We can put this technology into any future acquisitions. The product will give you a general idea of the things that can happen in the aviation business.â&#x20AC;? The technology is based on an R22 and an EC120, due to these types being the most common training helicopters in the world. It can also be transferred to other rotary types, such as a Robinson 44 or Super Puma. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s whiteout or brownout you are in it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter, the technology is always the same,â&#x20AC;? Appelfeller concludes.

Inaer France wins regional SAMU contract Inaer France has been successful in its bid for the contract to operate SAMU (emergency medical assistance) helicopters in the Provence-Alpes-CĂ´te dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Azur region. The regional contract is the first of its kind for the French Ministry of Health. The company will introduce five EC135 helicopters from January 2014 for hospitals in Marseille, Avignon, Toulon, Nice and Gap. The Marseille helicopter will be a 24-hour service, and the others will be 12 hours. The bases at Marseille and Avignon will be sub-leased to MontBlanc Helicopters. Inaer flies only helicopters equipped with autopilot, and is said to be the only private operator in France certified for night vision goggles. This contract allows it to demonstrate that such technology can be implemented at reasonable costs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Managing multiple bases as a regional platform is a way of cutting costs and optimising services for different hospitals to provide a better service,â&#x20AC;? states md FrĂŠdĂŠric Goig. An EC135 T2+ will now be added to the fleet, bringing the number of EMS dedicated aircraft to eight.

FrĂŠdĂŠric Goig, Inaer France md, will devote five EC135s to the contract.

AfBAA founder and chairman Tarek Ragheb underscored the importance of organisations across the industry in developing the burgeoning business aviation sector in Africa.

AfBAAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first regional symposium suggests Africa is ready to step up The African Business Aviation Association welcomed an audience of 126 delegates from 76 companies at its inaugural regional symposium at the end of September. The meeting was held at La Mamounia Hotel, Marrakech, and attracted a mix of international and African business aviation stakeholders from across the industry spectrum. Importantly, government representatives were on hand to contribute, including Abdenbi Manar, general director of Moroccoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CAA. The need for wide-ranging engagement was recognised as a paramount theme. AfBAA founder and chairman Tarek Ragheb said during his opening address: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Business aviation will be the vehicle that will improve economies and

social structure in the region, but it is not possible to change anything without participation.â&#x20AC;? Symposium attendees included representatives from the OEM, FBO, financial, legal, operator, flight support and safety sectors. Achuzie Ezenagu, md of Nigerian Toucan Aviation, declared: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Africa is open for business,â&#x20AC;? while Ragheb proposed that the creation of AfBAA general standards to tackle challenges head-on would be valuable. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With the participation and support of stakeholders, combined with consistency and transparency from the industry, we can begin to define standards for safety and education that will support future African growth and sustainably develop the industry,â&#x20AC;? he said.

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6 NOVEMBER 2013

EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS

Dubai show is key opportunity to showcase EAG’s Falcons

K5 invests in XRS in light of tried and tested Global

Empire Aviation Group has taken on two Falcon 900DX aircraft which will be based in Africa. It will officially launch them, as well as displaying its aircraft sales and management services, at the Dubai Air Show. Among these services is a smart app which allows owners to check the status of their aircraft and obtain flight, route and destination information. It has been a promising year for the group. In 2013 EAG has added three aircraft to its managed fleet, sold three jets, and its team has grown to 120 staff. The fleet now spans the Middle East and Africa, and the recent additions will bolster the African wing. The company now has around 23 business jets under management across these regions, as well as in India. Paras Dhamecha, executive director, says: “This Dubai Air Show will be a very special occasion when it

is hosted for the first time at the new Dubai World Central airport. It comes at an exciting time for Empire Aviation Group and allows us to present our full portfolio of aviation services at the event, while entertaining owners, clients, partners and guests at our dedicated pavilion. This has been a very strong year for us in the Middle East.” Dhamecha also highlights the importance of the Falcon additions in light of a demand for larger aircraft: “We brought the two Falcon 900s under management in September and October 2013 and they are very active, operating on European and African sectors. “They reflect the trend among our managed fleet owners for large body aircraft and this is also driving our growth, as we expand to meet the requirements of operating these types of longer range business jets.”

Retailer takes vip Bell 429 while another enters service for National Grid UK discount retailer TJ Morris has taken delivery of a vip-configured Bell 429 which it will use to transport owner Tom Morris around the country for store visits. Morris says he made the decision based on the size of the passenger cabin and that the performance so far has been excellent: “We have an AS350 so the main feature we needed was a twin,” he explains. “We can make more visits to stores now as we are less weather restricted.” Morris will be able to take advantage of the Bell 429’s IFR capability, certified for single or dual pilot operations, to maximise situational awareness and reduce pilot workload during corporate missions. The company reveals it was attracted by the speed, range and hover performance, as well as comfort and cost management. It offers a fully-integrated glass cockpit, advanced drive system and WAAS navigation. Additional safety features include a collective mounted throttle, damage tolerant hub and rotor system, and energy attenuating seats. The company is currently constructing a £105m distribution centre in Amesbury and is looking to grow the business to over 700 stores in the next four years. The latest aircraft will also allow Morris to survey potential sites for new stores. Another Bell 429 in the UK is now fully operational for National Grid.

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The aircraft was delivered to the utility company for the inspection and maintenance of power lines, and received EASA-certified customisations at Bell’s European headquarters in Prague. These modifications included an operator workstation in the cabin of the aircraft with a SkyQuest 20” HD display, MX-10 control unit, HD nano flash recorder, USB hub ports and keyboard. “We chose the Bell 429 as it met all the stringent criteria required for our multi-task operations,” says Mike Hannon, overhead lines field support manager at National Grid. “We tasked Bell with supplying an aircraft customised to provide our crew with a unique operating environment, all within challenging timescales. This is a fantastic product that has exceeded our expectations.”

Tom Morris will be able to make more visits to his UK-wide stores as the Bell 429 is less restricted by the weather.

Birmingham Airport’s development director Will Heynes (left) congratulates Eurojet Aviation managing director Graeme Campbell on the company’s award as best handling agent/FBO at the BACA Awards 2013. The Citation XLS+ can be seen in the background.

XLS+ proves popular with yacht owners Eurojet Aviation says that the new Citation XLS+ which is it managing has enjoyed a healthy number of charters over the summer months. The aircraft has one of the largest cabins in its class and can accommodate up to eight passengers, with wi-fi and fully reclining seats. The rest of Eurojet’s mixed fleet is comprised of Citation Bravos, Excels and XLS aircraft. Some of these models are owned while some are managed. Md Graeme Campbell enthuses about the latest aircraft: “With its combination of cabin size, range and reliability, the XLS+ is one of the most popular private jets available and is well suited to the European market. It has performed extremely well and is popular with passengers and industry professionals. The aircraft was a regular visitor to the popular yacht and second-home locations during the summer months, and we are now preparing for a busy winter ski season.”

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In addition, the industry recognised Eurojet Aviation’s services at the BACA excellence awards in London’s Guildhall. The company’s business aviation centre in Birmingham, UK, which includes 41,000 sq ft hangarage and full service FBO, was named as the best handling agent/FBO at the event. Campbell reflects on this: “In addition to growing our aircraft fleet, we are delighted to have received this globally-recognised award from BACA. We are constantly looking at ways to improve our client services to offer the highest standards of travel. To have received this endorsement from the world’s largest network for the air charter market just 18 months after opening at Birmingham is a tribute to the dedication and hard work of all our staff. “We are now actively focusing on avenues to expand our FBO network and are working with a range of partners to explore acquisition opportunities in the UK and Europe.”

Erik Scheidt, director of German operator K5-Aviation, reveals that his company has added a Global XRS to its fleet, on the back of a successful spell with a Global Express: “We already have one aircraft which is flying very well and which is chartered out quite a lot. We just saw the need to increase the fleet,” he says. Scheidt explains that range was at the forefront of the operator’s needs when selecting this aircraft. Having received it at the beginning of August, the XRS has been running for a couple of months and is performing very well: “Things are exactly as expected, because it’s doing the same job as the first aircraft. “The one we had previously was a straight Global Express, a normal one. We saw the need to have a newer aircraft available for charter also. Our operation is only vip charter. While the Express was running pure vip charter, the XRS is an owner and charter aircraft.” K5-Aviation has added an ACJ as well, and now has two ACJs with a third ordered for next year. Scheidt says that although these different models are not assigned to different functions, for clients who require something bigger, the Airbus is available. “The newly added Airbus has slightly less range but is still a long-range aircraft. It also provides a bigger cabin which can fly bigger groups. We fly 18 passengers on the ACJ versus 14 on the Global,” Scheidt continues. “We received ETOPS 180 certification for the Airbus in the middle of the year. ” The company has added a number of personnel to account for this increase in operational size, including pilots and ground staff. The roster also contains staff from Augsburg Airways, which ceased operations in October. The next ACJ will go into completion at the beginning of 2014, and K5-Aviation is due to receive the green aircraft in February, with a view to entering service at the beginning of 2015. “We are doing the full range of operations, meaning that we purchase aircraft for clients, we do the outfitting, and later on the entry into service and operation of the aircraft as well as charter for managed aircraft,” Scheidt remarks.

Erik Scheidt saw the need to increase the K5-Aviation fleet.

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EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS

10-year-old IJM makes two additions to managed fleet International Jet Management has added two more aircraft to its managed fleet. The company, which operates from Vienna, is now running an additional Falcon 900 and a Learjet 40XR. Both aircraft are registered in Austria. “We are very happy about these additions to our fleet, especially as we already operate both aircraft types. IJM is very proud of its large and homogenous Falcon 900 fleet, and we are very happy to enlarge our Learjet fleet as well,” says ceo and founder Felix Feller (see front page picture). “Thanks to our motivated and experienced staff at our headquarters in Vienna, it was very easy to integrate these aircraft into our fleet. We are committed to fulfilling the high expectations of the owners of these aircraft, and the efficient and fast implementation into the fleet was the first successful proof of this,” he adds. Both aircraft are available for charter flights and will be promoted through the company’s charter partner, AC Aviation Charter in

Zurich, Switzerland. IJM also manages Isle of Manregistered aircraft alongside the Austrian ones. The latest addition to the M register fleet is a Global Express, which IJM has taken over as of November. The operator has obtained the management of four additional aircraft during the last five months. Bernhard Wipfler, sales director, adds: “The market feedback for our services is extremely positive. However, we are very keen to keep the high service quality standard rather than growing too fast. This is very important for us in order to offer the best possible service for our valued existing aircraft management clients.” Managing director Robert Schmölzer sums up the success of 2013 so far: “We are satisfied with the way the year has developed for us, and we are confident we will welcome one or more aircraft to join our fleet by the end of 2013. We anticipate we will be in a position to announce more exciting news when we celebrate our 10-year anniversary in November.”

Paul and Justine Murphy onboard a Multiflight Citation Excel with baby Seth. The operator says that it covered every eventuality to ensure Seth’s safety and stability on the flight following his operation.

Multiflight carries baby boy home following life-changing operation Yorkshire-based operator Multiflight answered a plea for help from the mother of a baby with Erb’s Palsy, and flew the baby and his parents home to Palma, Majorca, after a crucial procedure at Leeds hospital. Mother Justine Murphy wrote to Multiflight with the support of the Erb’s Palsy Group, a UK-based organisation supporting families affected by the condition, requesting the company’s help following nerve graft surgery on her son Seth. Seth’s condition affects the movement, sensation and function of his right shoulder, arm and hand. This condition is likely to be life-long

and will leave him with a significant deficit in the functional use of his right arm. Seth’s care was transferred from Majorca where the family live, to a specialist centre in Leeds. Following an assessment in September he was booked in for nerve graft surgery, and it was deemed imperative that this surgery was undertaken as soon as possible in order that some function might return to the arm. “After surgery he will be in a lot of pain, and we need to keep him flat and as comfortable as possible,” Justine wrote in a letter to Multiflight. “This means being able to have him laid in his cot opposed to causing

him discomfort in our arms on a commercial flight, or being strapped into a car seat which just won’t be viable as his top half must stay rigid so as not to affect the work that will have been done with his nerve graft. He will also be tender as his legs will be strapped up from where they remove the spare nerves from.” The flight took place on a company-owned Citation Excel. Miles Beecham, Multiflight director, says: “We were moved by Seth’s story and wanted to help if we possibly could. We are delighted that we were able to assist in giving baby Seth the best possible chance of recovery.”

Chris Mann is pleased that his Squirrels can accommodate up to six passengers, and deems them ideal for sightseeing flights.

Squirrels fit the bill for sightseeing over London and film work The London Helicopter is using two AS350 Squirrels to conduct sightseeing missions. Managing director Chris Mann says that aside from the EC130, the Squirrel is the most suitable aircraft for this task: “We have added the dual front left seat modification to carry up to six passengers on each trip, so it is very cost effective. All seats face forwards with unobstructed views, and the Squirrel can be used for lifting, filming and other utility missions when not on sightseeing duties,” he says. Mann remarks that the Squirrels’ performance so far has been excellent, and he adds that, although the company may have chosen the EC130 if money were no object, the AS350 is the best machine for its purpose, possessing versatility and capability. London Helicopter Centres, the AOC holder and a 50 per cent stakeholder in The London Helicopter, will have many uses for the Squirrels. In

addition to sightseeing over London, corporate charter and filming will also be carried out. The latest Squirrels are expected to fulfill lifting and other utility work in the months ahead, particularly when London Helicopter Centres’ amalgamation into the British International Helicopters brand is complete. The Squirrels are a trusted aircraft for Mann: “We have been using the AS350 for many years on sightseeing trips. What’s new about these two aircraft is the six passenger capability to support our new venture at the Barclays London Heliport at Battersea,” he says. “Sightseeing tends to be a couples and family choice, so the ability to carry three couples or a family of six is a great bonus.” Mann believes that in order to manage an ever increasing demand for sightseeing flights from both Battersea and Redhill, a further aircraft will be added to the fleet within the next 12 months.

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IN OUR NEXT ISSUE Regional review of business charter: UK Finance: funding options and innovations PUBLISHED DECEMBER 12

8 NOVEMBER 2013

EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS

O P E R AT I O N S N E W S . . . ExecuJet Africa earns accreditations ExecuJet Africa has been awarded the Flight Safety Foundation Basic Aviation Risk Standard accreditation and the National Air Transportation Association Safety 1st ground rating. The company met the requirements of an audit carried out by HART Aviation Services for the BARS certification.

ASB extends capabilities Air Service Basel has recently extended its EASA Part 145 maintenance organisation approval. It is now authorised to provide extensive line maintenance services to Falcon 900/EX/EASy and Falcon 2000/EX/EASy series aircraft, as well as line maintenance to the entire Pilatus PC-12 aircraft series, and the Cessna 550 Bravo and 560 XL/XLS.

Shannon FBO building nears completion Air Elite Network has added Quintessentially Aviation Handling at Shannon airport, Ireland, to its network. Though the FBO is already operational and providing full ground services to aircraft, the construction of terminal facilities is ongoing and slated for completion in December 2013.

times the normal cash back on fuel purchases. For the time being, the deal is only available to US card holders.

Rockwell Collins unveils EVS-3000 Rockwell Collins has released its high fidelity EVS-3000 enhanced vision system, including a proprietary multi-spectral EVS sensor that significantly improves detection of outside terrain, hazards and obstacles in lowvisibility conditions caused by weather phenomena such as fog.

Jeppesen improves route optimisation Jeppesen has introduced new features for its FlitePlan Online solution for business aviation operators. These include a CFMU validation and multiple scenario analysis functionality. Recently cleared routes now provide operators with flexible, optimal routing options and higher flight plan filing acceptance rates. This route optimisation ability seeks to reduce overall fuel consumption and simplifies the overall flight planning process for operators.

Rockwell Collins map is lighter Airshow 500, the first 3D moving map system for light business jets, has been launched by Rockwell Collins. It comes fully loaded with highly detailed worldwide maps and many other standard features, including passenger-selectable languages and settings adjustable any time, anywhere. The Airshow 500 has been designed as a lighter-weight dropin replacement for the Airshow 410 and is compatible with an interactive iPad app.

Bombardier targets 605 maintenance costs

Air BP vp north America David Wade with Robert Walters, business development manager at London Biggin Hill.

Biggin Hill is first site for reward card Air BP has unveiled its first ever loyalty product for general aviation customers, the Sterling Reward prepaid visa card. London Biggin Hill airport has been selected as the first site to offer special rewards on the card, with holders able to receive ten

Bombardier has announced its Challenger 605 MAX programme, which is designed to further reduce direct maintenance costs associated with in-service Challenger 605s. The manufacturer vows to replace key components with the latest configurations that meet the baseline operational level of the current production model. The intention of this is to improve dispatch availability, significantly reduce DMCs, increase component mean time between unscheduled removals, lower no-fault-found rates and improve customer experience.

Blink has a uniform fleet of Mustangs, with an average sector length of one hour and 20 minutes.

VLJs provide cut-price option for clients, yet operators must still meet midsize costs ME & MY AIRCRAFT Very light jets The very light jet sector is considered by many a niche market and has been fraught with controversy since its inception. Tim Barber of Jet Brokers Europe has questioned whether the sector exists at all: “There is lots of debate as to whether it actually exists, or whether it’s just a light jet with a short range. A few people such as Blink are making the VLJ market work for them, and there are plenty of people who have tried it, failed and are getting out of it,” he says. It can, at times, be troublesome to find a significant profit margin through these means: “When you’ve got your fixed costs, the costs to your pilots and so on, they are the same for a VLJ as with a larger aircraft with more capacity and it’s hard to get a return,” Barber says. “From an owner’s point of view, if you want a relatively low-cost way to

Meadow Meats’ Kobus Dicks (left) with Ken Ross from Eclipse Aviation. Dicks says his VLJ is a significant improvement on his former King Air 90.

get from A to B in a private environment, I can see the immense benefit of that, as long as you’re not looking to go too far. Transferring that into the corporate business charter market is more challenging, however.” As to operators themselves, EBAN initially spoke to GlobeAir ceo Bernhard Fragner, a specialist VLJ operator that is conducting an operation comprised entirely of Citation Mustangs. He confirms how

the motivation for clientele to enter this market switched: “The main driver for the decision to jump on this VLJ business was driven by the idea that we might convince new entrants into this service, so maybe convincing people from first class to jump on very light jets on ad hoc charter, and also to maybe open up the product range to the bottom. This was the driver,” he remarks. “The idea was to come from business class into VLJ but I would say that this didn’t actually happen at all. It was only the drop down that ended up happening.” GlobeAir began operations at a time that was financially fraught: “We started out straight after the crash started in 2008 and we got our AOC. We began operations in September 2008, literally a couple of days after the Lehman brothers story went around the world, so it was a tough first half a year I would say, but we have learnt over the last five years that slowly the aircraft – in our case the Citation Mustang – was accepted by the market more and more, and people were becoming more price conscious, so downgrading was then the slogan of the last five years.”

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Fragner is pleased with the economics of the Mustang and currently has 11 in operation. He also affirms that the market is picking up but that this recovery is very much a gradual one: “We are still having to take steady steps. If you look at the movement data and published data from our industry, it is still a declining market, year-on-year it is declining. But the Mustang business and the VLJ business is still growing, so we want to keep adding aircraft stepby-step, and gain more and more market share. “We think there is still a lot to catch, mainly focusing on the clients coming down from midsize in Europe, this is the biggest group. The cost savings are definitely significant and this is our unique selling point.” Cameron Ogden of Blink also operates a fleet of Citation Mustangs, and claims that this type was the first VLJ to be certified in Europe. “The Eclipse was at the time unable to certify and the Phenom was some months off,” he says. Blink operates its VLJs in a panEuropean business model, and professes to offer some of the lowest jet prices on the market to a customer base that is broker as well as end-user orientated. It was founded on an air taxi type model, and Blink achieves this through the use of a single type fleet, like the low cost airlines, and receives the benefits and savings associated with this. Ogden says that despite the savings, the Mustang does not have long range: “The aircraft’s main sweet spot is around an hour and 20 minutes, that is the average sector time across all of our flights,” he continues. “But if you take the entirety of the data within CFMU, for European flights, the average flight time is about an hour and 20 minutes. That’s why the aircraft is fundamentally at the sweet spot. The average passenger load in Europe is 1.9. The aircraft we operate is the four seater aircraft and that is why I think it has become so popular recently. It’s an aircraft that does what it says on the tin.” Ogden believes that the VLJ market is very much an ‘existent’ one: “For me there is a clear difference between a larger Citation and a Mustang. There is a difference in price in the charter market and there is a difference in the way the aircraft is maintained in terms of the simplicity. The fact that they put ‘very’ on the front of it is a way of distinguishing another category. You are getting a different product when you get on a Mustang versus getting on a CJ2. There is obviously similarity between a CJ2 and a Mustang, but it’s just slightly shorter.” According to CMFU data, VLJ activity is up 12 or 13 per cent this year, with Blink perhaps up as much as about 19-20 per cent.

ME & MY AIRCRAFT Very light jets

Blink’s recently promoted captain Simon Kipling at the controls of a Mustang.

The Citation Mustang is certainly prevalent in the VLJ market, and not exclusively to the operators already cited. The aircraft type is generally regarded as a reliable product from a highly reputable manufacturer. Claus Hable of Wings4Us confirms this, saying that he is satisfied with the maintenance support offered and very impressed with the Mustang’s dispatch reliability and operating capability. Hable does, however, feel that the market is practically saturated with this model and for that reason the aircraft is not holding its value. “Too many Mustangs have been placed in the market by Cessna, discounting them heavily,” he says. Patrick Margetson-Rushmore of London Executive Aviation also

“The idea was to come from business class into VLJ but I would say that this didn’t happen at all” Bernhard Fragner operates the Mustang, with his fleet including four of Cessna’s very light jets. He is also very satisfied across the board with the product and praises the aircraft’s reliability once more. He does, however, remark that he has encountered difficulty on occasions when trying to charter the Mustang as his clients usually prefer to travel in a bigger aircraft. A longer cabin is his most desired upgrade, and the company will in future be able to turn to the Citation M2 to fill this purpose, perhaps leading to less VLJ charter for LEA. Fragner of GlobeAir would like to see his Mustangs offer more range and payload, but is nonetheless content with their operational ability. He is not a great admirer of the speedbrakes or generators on the aircraft, and desirable upgrades include a G1000 SafeTaxi and a satphone. Ogden is also satisfied in all areas with his six Mustangs, and believes

Champagne: It is all smiles for Dominiek Deman and Luc Olivier (left and right), sales directors for Abelag, Belgium, pictured with head of sales for Abelag France Sébastien Dequenne, at the delivery of a Falcon 2000EX earlier this year. However, the company has departed from the VLJ market, and has released each of its three Phenom 100.

GlobeAir ceo Bernhard Fragner launched his company amid the financial crisis of 2008. Five years on and the operator is flourishing, operating 11 Citation Mustangs.

the simple maintenance programme is the best thing about the aircraft. However, like Fragner, he feels the aircraft can be let down by its payload and range. A desirable upgrade is replacing the PW615 engines for PW617, as seen in the Phenom 100. In his opinion the Mustang aircraft is still the ‘best in its class,’ bearing in mind the purchase cost. SaxonAir’s Christopher Mace has a company-owned Mustang and also jointly manages another aircraft of this type with Catreus. He says his company has enjoyed very good support from Marshall Aviation Services at Cambridge, but has had issues with manufacturer support when confronted with an AOG situation. Mace is satisfied with the dispatch reliability but says the aircraft type has a few notorious problems not rectified by Cessna and that “these will eventually come around if you operate them long enough.” He feels the cabin is a little small but says that the passengers quite like it nonetheless, and there is also plenty of baggage space available considering the size of the aircraft. According to Mace the Mustang represents good value, and he says that there is always a place in the market for the entry level jet when dealing with lower passenger numbers. Fuel burn is considered to be minimal, with a low MTOW of less than four tonnes. Mace feels that despite these advantages, the manufacturer has failed to deal ‘head on’ with several known Mustang faults, and says that a more proactive approach is needed to combat this. SaxonAir has a mixed fleet and Mace says that his Mustangs complement the varying aircraft types which range from turboprops to mid size jets; the entry level VLJ sits in between these categories. Embraer’s Phenom 100 positions itself as the Mustang’s direct rival. One operator which flies the type is Flyjet of Poland. Operations executive Pawel Chorzelski says that maintenance support in respect of its Phenom 100 has been ‘very accurate’ and on time, and after five months of flying the company has enjoyed 100 per cent dispach reliability. Being situated in Poland, the Phenom is very good when compared to a Mustang because of the extra range it offers, especially to Mediterranean sea locations. Chorzelski believes that landing distances are very good, and payload compared with other VLJs is also favourable. The cabin is also well appointed: “We get a roomy cabin with nice interior that most people say is better than a CJ2 while having a much lower price per hour,” says Chorzelski. He adds that the cabin and luggage area size is the best thing about the aircraft but does point out

that the lack of a fifth certified seat is a disadvantage. A desired upgrade is to have coffee and hot water in heated tanks, as well as more storage space. Flyjet says that across the board the Phenom is exceeding its expectations, and that due to the high tail, big cabin and ‘big look’ the aircraft has more of a light jet than very light jet feel about it. The height of the aircraft is similar

to that of Flyjet’s Learjet 60XR and it is equipped with a closed toilet at the back which is said to give more privacy than that offered in the Mustang. Yet not all operators are enthusiastic about the Phenom 100’s performance. Abelag used to operate three Phenom 100s, but the Belgian company no longer runs any of them. Sales manager Luc Olivier explains the reasons why: “The Phenom is a good aircraft when it comes to the question of reliability; on that front we have nothing bad to say about it. The problem we found is that it was very limited – you have to make your calculations correctly,” he says. “It is entering the market of the CJ1 and CJ2. It’s not adding value to that market, it’s just competing in it.” Olivier highlights the challenges faced by operators who fly this type of aircraft, as it must still be flown with two pilots along with the documentation this entails. When all checks have been made, only four passenger seats are available and additionally the Phenom 100 needs a lot of runway length, he says. Continued on next page

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AIRCRAFT NEWS... Gulfstream extends Prestige coverage Gulfstream is expanding the role of commercial sales representative Prestige Jet to handle Gulfstream aircraft transactions in France as well as Italy and Switzerland.

Latitude prototype to fly early in 2014 Cessna’s Citation Latitude is on schedule for its first prototype flight in the first quarter of 2014. An enhanced mock-up was on display throughout NBAA in Las Vegas and featured an informational gallery in the aft portion of the cabin, showing programme highlights marking the Latitude’s progression towards its first prototype take off.

Bell displays 429WLG Bell put the Bell 429WLG on show for the first time at the NBAA show. The aircraft is an upgrade to the Bell 429 and features wheeled landing gear in place of traditional skids. The helicopter’s ability to land in a range of environments and conditions gives operators of all mission profiles additional flexibility. Its taxiing capability means it can reposition in limited spaces and situations that require ground taxi to gain closer access to FBOs.

business and general aviation customers. The suite includes travel safety and security assistance in addition to the medical safety programme already available to new Beechcraft owners.

PC-24 sales and service put in place Pilatus has formally established a sales and service network for its upcoming PC-24 twin-jet. Authorised Pilatus centres have been appointed for selling and servicing the PC-24 and include facilities in Botswana and the factory facility in Stans.

Beechcraft offers medical safety Beechcraft believes it has become the first airframe manufacturer to provide MedAire’s complete suite of medical and travel safety services on all new aircraft delivered to

Very light jets

Bombardier celebrates 50 years of Learjet Bombardier celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Learjet at this year’s NBAA conference and exhibition in Las Vegas. It presented a line-up of business jets, including the Learjet 75, Challenger 300, Challenger 605 and Global 6000 jets, alongside the Learjet 23 aircraft, the first of its type.

Bristow’s first AW189 flies The first production AW189 helicopter has performed its maiden flight. The aircraft is expected to be delivered to Bristow by the end of the year for offshore transport in the North Sea, with operational readiness planned in early 2014.

Cameron Ogden of Blink feels that the VLJ market is clearly defined, with the Mustang setting itself apart from larger Citations such as the CJ2.

Embraer introduces Lineage 1000E Embraer has revealed its Lineage 1000E jet. It is to be the manufacturer’s largest executive jet and carries up to 19 passengers in five cabin zones. The aircraft is equipped with an electronic flyby-wire flight control system. It is expected to operate well at restrictive airports like Aspen and Teterboro, where destinations as far as Vancouver, Quito or Los Angeles will be within reach. Steep approach capability enables access to London City too.

ME & MY AIRCRAFT

The Gulfstream flight crew for the G650’s around-the-world record. From left are Tom Horne, Bud Ball, Eric Parker, Ross Oetjen and John McGrath.

G650 sets round-the-world record A Gulfstream G650 has completed the fastest westbound, around-theworld flight for a non-supersonic aircraft. It circled the globe in 41 hours, seven minutes, establishing a world record in its class. The G650 left San Diego’s Brown Field municipal airport and, after crossing most of the Pacific Ocean, landed at Guam in 10 hours, 29 minutes. It then covered the second leg, Guam to Dubai World Central, in 10 hours. The third leg, Dubai to Cape Verde, took eight hours and 52 minutes, with the final leg back to Brown Field lasting 10 hours, 10 minutes.

A GlobeAir Mustang mid-flight. Continued from previous page

Abelag feels that the Mustangs have saturated the bottom end of the charter market. The involvement of brokers in negotiating deals has made margins even narrower, resulting in the bottom end being ‘killed off’. Olivier also remarks that the costs faced by the operator are very similar in a Phenom 100 to those for a larger CJ2: “If you look at the total operating cost of the aircraft and put the CJ2 next to the Phenom 100, there is not a lot of difference at the end of the day. Landing charges are about the same, handling charges are about the same and the cost of the two pilots sitting in front is exactly the same whether they are sitting in the Phenom 100 or the CJ2. “I think the aircraft is more aimed at the pilot-owner market, but that’s a different ball game in Europe compared with the US,” he adds.

“I really wouldn’t invest in another aircraft. I don’t need anything bigger. Kobus Dicks

High-spec Falcon 5X unveiled Dassault has released its biggest and most advanced Falcon jet. The Falcon 5X has the latest flight control system, new aerodynamics and numerous other technologies previously pioneered in Dassault’s military programmes. The 16-passenger aircraft will have a range of 5,200 nm, connecting Los Angeles with London, Sao Paulo with Chicago, Johannesburg with Geneva or Paris with Beijing. To be priced at about $45m in 2013 dollars, the Falcon 5X is expected to make its first flight in the first quarter of 2015 and to achieve certification before the end of 2016.

There are several operating faults that Olivier feels Embraer needs to rectify: “The runway length is one of the problems, the braking system is a delicate area, and also if you start using the Phenom 100 for a lot of charter flying, the interior of the aircraft is very nice, but it is very delicate. It’s beautiful to have a lovely big luggage bay at the back, but you do need to make your calculations correctly with that aircraft if you do not want to run into trouble. “I’m not sure that commercially

they are the best thing you can buy.” Another aircraft which sits in the VLJ category is the Eclipse, and EBAN spoke at length with Eclipse owneroperator Kobus Dicks of Meadow Meats, Cape Town, about his opinions on its performance and suitability: “We signed the agreement for the Eclipse in January, and then they had to fly a pilot over. The aircraft was in South Africa already from an Air Force defence show in October last year,” Dicks explains. “I saw it and initially I didn’t really show much interest. In January I looked at it again and we signed the agreement on condition that they would send someone from the States to South Africa, because nobody had a rating on it. That was probably middle of February. I went to the States in March to do my training at Simcom in Orlando, and then they sent a pilot with me in April.” Despite the lengthy process to get the project off the ground, Meadow Meats has not looked back since: “The performance has been unbelievable. Honestly it is much better than we expected. We are normally maximum three up, we climb to 37,000 ft directly. The cruise is 360 knots and burns 380-400 lbs of fuel, which is less than the King Air 90 did. It’s an absolute pleasure, it really is, I’m very happy with it. Meadow Meats operated the King Air 90 and Dicks had never flown in a private business jet before. “Its closest competitor is probably the Mustang, but this aircraft is 10 to 20 knots faster, with much lower fuel burn. It goes into short strips – to me it’s absolutely the perfect aircraft. There is obviously the limitation that we can’t go on to a grass surface, which is where I’d often like to land, but there is a huge saving for us on fuel and maintenance compared to a King Air 90. “Last summer the maximum we had was 27,000 ft with the King Air 90 and at this height you were just stuck in the weather continuously. With the Eclipse we can fly above the weather, 3,000-4,000 ft above it. This aircraft is comfortable at 37,000,” he adds. The aircraft is well suited to transporting Meadow Meats staff

from base to base: “I live in Cape Town and we have four abbatoir branches spread across the country. The furthest one is 730 miles from Cape Town, and the closest is 510. So it’s a proper distance. Flying back to Cape Town at night, this aircraft is about an hour quicker than the King Air was. Previously it had been a long trip, three and a half hours, especially after a hard day. The Eclipse flies to Cape Town in two and a half hours, and the other way you can do it in about one hour 55, to two hours. It’s a massive saving.” Along with its base to base capability, the Eclipse is especially well adapted to flying into Dicks’ Cape Town headquarters: “This is definitely a single pilot aircraft. It’s an easy aircraft to fly and it’s got a beautiful system. Going in to Cape Town this time of year it’s always raining and low cloud, but this is such a joy to fly. It is also very safe – I can’t think of many aircraft that are safer than this. The single engine performance is unbelievable. Dicks believes that the aircraft is well suited to the region for businessmen: “I definitely believe there is a market for quite a few of them. And they come in cheap too, compared with a Mustang or Phenom 100. Your only other option is a TBM 850, but that is a lot slower and still a single engine.”

“The cost of the two pilots is exactly the same whether they are in the Phenom 100 or the CJ2” Luc Olivier

Dicks doesn’t envisage any reason to change: “I really wouldn’t invest in another aircraft. I don’t need to. I don’t need anything bigger and I’m not going to fly cheaper in any other aircraft. I’ve probably got another 15 years of flying left in me, and I don’t see why this aircraft can’t last that.” It seems that although VLJs did not achieve their anticipated market, customers that have dropped down find using these aircraft an economically sound, viable option. Positioned between light jets and turboprops, especially in the case of owner-operators like Kobus Dicks, they are ideally suited to their function. It remains to be seen whether or not new entrants into the business aviation sector will find their way in via VLJs, with some staff at Eclipse forecasting that personal, private travel is where the industry is headed. Yet even if this does not materialise, the appeal of the very light jet is widespread, the state of the market is healthy, and a return to the stability pre-2008 seems more of an achievable reality than in the past couple of years. ■

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EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS

Despite many calls for infrastructure, the Turkish outlook is decidedly rosy Turkey is now establishing a growing presence in the European business aviation market, and has been a regular talking point for the industry’s major players. This was never more evident than at the recent regional forum of the European Business Aviation Association, which was held in Istanbul in early October. EBAA ceo Fabio Gamba said that holding a meeting in Turkey was “long overdue,” while EBAA president Brian Humphries remarked that the region is a “pocket of excitement.” In many respects it seems that Turkey is a highly favourable environment to conduct business, as operators are treated to tax exemptions on purchases and fuel – uncommon in the EU. The statistics back up these sentiments, as Turkey has had a 29.6 per cent growth in traffic between 2008 and 2012, while in Europe as a whole traffic decreased by 5.4 per cent. There has been an additional 4.5 per cent growth between 2012 and 2013 in Turkey, according to Eurocontrol. Since 2004 there has been a 172.9 per cent rise in the number of business jets operating in Turkey. As can be seen from the graph below, provided by WingX, while the number of business aviation departures in most of Europe has remained stagnant or worsened since the recession, Turkey has had net growth of 3.1 per cent, higher than any other European nation. Turkey occupies a highly strategic position, acting as a bridge between the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Indeed its major city Istanbul straddles the continents of Europe and Asia, and the city pair route between Istanbul and Izmir is the second busiest in Europe. With these promising figures in mind, EBAN spoke to a number of Turkish operators to see if the numbers really do add up.

“Sea-plane operations and helicopter operations are still very immature” Panjet, formerly trading as Pan Aviation, has held an AOC in Turkey since 2003 and from May 2012 onwards it has owned and operated a Citation Bravo. With company headquarters located in Ankara, it has its own hangar and runs commercial business, corporate and charter flights to and from Turkey, with common routes taking in Russia, Ukraine, Iraq and other neighbouring regions. The Bravo can accommodate up to four passengers for a distance of 1,300nm. Director of ground operations Mehmet Yilmaz says that the light jet is in very good condition and has been well-maintained since the beginning. In addition, he was keen to praise his ‘widely experienced’ staff. Redstar has previously operated helicopters but is now focusing on fixed wing operations with its Jetstream 32, which it has used to perform air ambulance flights. “We feel we have been doing a very good job and we have increased our flights by 30 per cent when compared to the previous year,” says project department manager Emre Dursun. “We have been developing relationships with some of the

TURKEY REGIONAL REVIEW

Swan Aviation is branching out into Kazakhstan, under the leadership of chairman Mehmet Yuksel Hocaoglu (second from right), Mustafa Gungordu, Gurcan Dogru and Meric Gokhan Hocaoglu.

MNG Jet general manager Ugur Kalkan spoke with optimism about Turkey’s growth prospects at the EBAA regional forum in Istanbul.

operators in Europe for missions that we cannot use our own aircraft for due to the range. We are looking towards areas such as Libya too.” Dursun’s company has been operating the current aircraft since 2005, and there have been no other acquisitions of late. He feels that business aviation facilities in Turkey are underdeveloped: “Turkey is a large country when compared to many European countries, with a huge population, but the aviation development is not quite there yet. The number of airports is increasing but the majority of them are still not working on a 24-hour basis, which is of course crucial for emergency operations. “As a helicopter operator, we realised that there is not a great number of helipads, even in Istanbul. We are still struggling to build the infrastructure to capture the growth we are seeing in Turkey. This is the

major challenge we are facing.” Dursun also points out that under current regulations, operators are stuck between the rulings of EASA and local regulations. On one hand there are Turkish CAA requirements, and on the other hand there are internal organisations asking operators to maintain EASA requirements. At times it can be difficult to know which rule to follow, as and when CAA audits arise: “Sometimes EASA is much more restrictive than the Turkish authority and sometimes Turkish regulations are giving completely different advice,” he explains. The company undertook an unusual air ambulance call in recent months, when it was commissioned to fly a patient in Turkey who was discharged from hospital after initial progress. The team had to move this patient to Bosnia-Herzegovina, but on their way they received a call to say that another patient in Albania had just had an accident and needed to go for treatment in Turkey, as provisions in Albania were not sufficient to give the patient proper treatment. When the aircraft was about to land in Bosnia-Herzegovina, it had to divert to Albania to pick up the second patient and come back to Turkey at very short notice. Redstar also looked after a highly contagious tuberculosis patient who was stuck in Baghdad and had to be moved. In light of numerous missions in locations such as Iraq and Libya, the team says it always expects the unexpected.

Despite encouraging growth projections for Turkey, Dursun predicts that the boom has almost reached its saturation point: “If you really look into the figures, you will see that the growth is coming to this point. If you have a population of 75 million in Turkey and are just introducing them to all the possibilities of business aviation, you will have a growth in the number of

passengers but this should not necessarily be interpreted as growth as such. Of course there’s a growth in numbers, but when you look and analyse it in detail, you have to see that it will be interpreted as coming to a normal level. “We will see if there really is growth in Turkey after two or three years, when the market comes to a stage where we will be able to make a better judgement.” A significant increase in aircraft numbers is necessary to facilitate true growth, according to Dursun: “Out of the 50 helicopters, 20 are used by the Ministry of Health, so if you deduct them you end up with 30 helicopters. This is almost nothing for somewhere with a geography like Turkey’s,” he concludes. MNG Jet is based at Ataturk airport, Istanbul, and claims that its business jets account for eight per cent of the Turkish market. It was officially founded in 2008 with one jet, and has increased its fleet to nine, including a Challenger 601, an XLS, a new Global 5000 and two Hawker 800XP. It also has a Challenger 300 and Challenger 850, and general manager Ugur Kalkan remarks that this fleet composition is typically ‘Turkish.’ Since 2009 the operator has Continued on next page

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A This graph from WingX is a pertinent illustration of the way Turkey has rallied while other nations have been stuck in the economic mire. The region now has 3.1 per cent market share and growth 2008-2012 has exceeded 70 per cent. Only the Ukraine comes close to this figure in the same period.

12 NOVEMBER 2013

EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS

w w w. c h a r t e r b r o k e r. a e r o PrivateFly expands its German wing PrivateFly has added Sebastian Buchholz to its 24-hour Germanspeaking flight team, along with existing team member Davide Paladino. Buchholz is a passionate private pilot. Rachel Bennett has joined PrivateFlyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital marketing team, in order to develop its German web site content. Ceo Adam Twidell says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;PrivateFlyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s combination of innovative technology with an expert team has a great deal to offer todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s German private jet customer.â&#x20AC;?

Accreditation and taxation on the BACA agenda BACA is to hold its next training session at the Baltic Exchange in London on 26 November. Topics for discussion will include whether there should be an accreditation system for charter brokers, how the Tour Operators Margin Scheme (TOMS) will affect charter flights, along with a debate over the consistency of treatment charter passengers receive from the UK Border Agency. Speaking at the event will be BACA chairman Tony Coe and ceo of BBGA Marc Bailey. To book a place, visit the BACA website or contact marketing executive Markham Jackson at marketingexec@baca.org.uk.

enquiries are already being received for flights to and within Brazil for the World Cup next summer. Commercial jets director Matt Purton says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The competition will have matches in 12 different cities, with distances of up to 3,000 kilometres to contend with. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a long coach ride! Chartering aircraft is often the most sensible way to travel from one match to the next. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our local office in SĂŁo Paulo will help us coordinate everything on the ground when the tournament kicks off.â&#x20AC;?

Kevelair seeks to branch out in Africa Having organised a number of charters from south America to the Middle East in September and October, Kevelair is now turning its attention to Africa. Commercial manager Fabrice Mandon says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since March, requests have been coming, mainly from the eastern part of Africa, for several types of flight. These might be oil workers flying to their base, or incentive and business aviation for companies choosing a quicker way to reach their destination. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kevelairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal is to grow into this market, which is from our point of view the second fastest one after south and central America.â&#x20AC;?

LunaJets maintains promising growth LunaJets of Switzerland has seen a double digit growth in 2013, with more than 1,200 flights organised this year. Ceo Eymeric Segard remarks: â&#x20AC;&#x153;2013 has been an incredible year so far. With our new office, we will be able to keep up the high level of service quality and flexibility that LunaJets is acknowledged for among its European clients.â&#x20AC;?

RS add Lyritis to the team Elie Hanna heads up private jets at ACSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dubai office.

ACS promotes Hanna Air Charter Service has announced the promotion of Elie Hanna to director of private jets at its Dubai office. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Elie is a prime example of the kind of dedicated and passionate person we want at ACS,â&#x20AC;? remarks deputy md Justin Bowman. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Over the past few years he has built on his existing industry reputation as a knowledgeable and serviceoriented professional and developed into an exemplary candidate for a directorial role.â&#x20AC;? The broker has revealed that

German broker RS Flight Service has appointed Michael Lyritis as a new regional manager. He will be based in Greece and brings more than 20 years of experience in travel and tourism.

Skyline has seen its fair share of improvised scenarios, including forced helicopter landings on soccer fields. Vp of Skyline Group Candas Erkan Ozdogu (second from right) is seen here with general manager of Skyline Transportation captain Adnan Koc, general manager of Skyline training Onur Baylan, and director of sales Onur Sakallioglu. Continued from previous page

enjoyed stable growth. According to Kalkan, the Turkish economy has several main drivers, notably construction, automotive production and tourism. In terms of construction, Kalkan counts 80 countries that Turkey is now winning contracts from, mainly in Russiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surrounding regions. He says that despite the strength of the Turkish automotive sector, car manufacturers are not yet using his services. He reports an annual growth of six per cent in the last few years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Turkish government has had several flights on business jets with Turkish businessmen to raise the profile of our industry. The main area is the Middle East, and Africa has

Business aviation in Turkey by the numbers 54 business aviation airports Major business aviation airports* 1. Istanbul Ataturk 2. Ankara Esenboga 3. Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International 4. Antalya 5. Izmir Adnan Menderes

LTBA LTAC

IST ESB

LTFJ LTAI LTBJ

SAW AYT ADB

* ranked by the number of handler, charter, maintenance, sales and training organisations based at each.

Smart strikes a chord with musicians

80 business charter operators

Smart Aviation has secured several pan-European music tours of late. Sales director Matthew Savage comments: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Organising a major tour with tight deadlines isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t for the faint-hearted. Smartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team have over 100 years combined experience in airline operations and this has seen us secure new music industry clients who trust us with their charter arrangements.â&#x20AC;?

Leading fixed-wing charter operators**

Column sponsored by

Global Broker Programme

1. TK JET by Tarkim Aviation 2. Swan Aviation 3. Setair 4. Palmali Air 5. BonAir Havacilik

Leading helicopter charter operators** 1. Kocoglu Aviation/Sky Line 2. Guneydogu Havacilik Isletmesi 3. THK Gokcen Aviation 4. Sancak Air 5. Kaan Air ** ranked by number of aircraft for charter

business aircraft maintenance organisations

Leading maintenance companies*** 1. Sky Line 2. Emair Aviation 3. Top Servis Havacilik 4. Genel Havacilik/General Aviation Center 5. MNG Jet Maintenance

Leading TRTO training companies*** 1. Sancak Air 2. Sky Line *** ranked by number of aircraft types covered

PROMOTING PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS IN AIR CHARTER BROKERAGE

WWW.BACA.ORG.UK

THE BALTIC AIR CHARTER ASSOCIATION

business aircraft on TC 250 the Turkish register Data extracted from the Handbook of Business Aviation, and the EBAN reader roster.

been popular over the last two or three years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;More Turkish businessmen are discovering the value of their time, but the other real value is the privacy. Turkish businessmen want to be private, they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to display themselves in terminals.â&#x20AC;? There has been an increase in traffic in major cities like Ankara, Antalya and Izmir, in addition to Istanbul. Airports can be difficult to access though. Kalkan says that, on average, Turkish businessmen are making four flights a week â&#x20AC;&#x201C; two business round trips. He doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see see this increasing, as people wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be flying every day. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My expectation though is that the number of business jets will increase, so we will have a capacity increase and the number of flights will also increase.â&#x20AC;? Aircraft size in Turkey is another interesting aspect to the market. Kalkan asserts that small size aircraft owners are replacing with mid-size models, the mid-size fleet is now getting super mid-size, and there is more activity with large aircraft. He outlines the projections and goals for the coming years: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The target of the Turkish government is to become the top maintenance and aviation training country before 2023. This will be the 100th anniversary of the Turkish republic.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;As a helicopter operator ... we are still struggling to build infrastructure to capture the growth in Turkeyâ&#x20AC;? Kalkan feels that the authorities are giving support to operators in the country: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We cannot say the authorities are not helping us. If you want to import an aircraft to Turkey, there is no tax for the import. If you sell an aircraft, there is no VAT at 18 per cent, you are exempted. If you are flying out of Turkey the fuel is also exempt from taxes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have been operating from Ataturk airport for three years and last year we had 800 departures. Of course you need to co-ordinate the slot times 24 hours before your departure, which is difficult. But we are surviving, and there is a plan to make a dedicated business airport, but they asked us to be patient. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is certainly enough infrastructure, with a business jet growth rate of 173 per cent since 2004. The Istanbul traffic growth in the last four years was 30 per cent. We would like it to be better but we have learnt to live with these inherent problems, and we are still operating.â&#x20AC;? He also lays out the plans for MNG

TURKEY REGIONAL REVIEW over the next 12 months: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Next year we will add at least four or five aircraft to our fleet. I also anticipate that there will be growth for traffic between Europe and Turkey.â&#x20AC;? Swan Aviation has added two Falcon 2000S in the last 12 months and has also started a company in Kazakhstan, now called Swan Aviation LLP. In addition, it is on the verge of acquiring one helicopter and one turboprop for EMS operations, with chairman Mehmet YĂźksel Hocaoglu revealing that this will surely take place by the end of the year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Falcons have been performing really well, I cannot complain. They are very reliable aircraft, and we have no issues. Customers are happy with their performance,â&#x20AC;? comments Hocaoglu. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The helicopter we have is a vvip Sikorsky S76C++, so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just for privately flying the owner. We charter it once in a while but he is occupying hours most of the time, so we rarely charter it. The one coming will be a dedicated helicopter for EMS ops.â&#x20AC;? Hocaoglu says that every flight is an unusual one but he does pick out a particularly notable scenario: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We did one flight out of Moscow where there was an icing issue, but the crew managed it and it was ok. It was right after takeoff: one of the slots on one side of the aircraft didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t roll up, and they had to return back with the slots down to Moscow airport. There was a huge chunk of ice piled up.â&#x20AC;? The crew were able to resolve the issue: â&#x20AC;&#x153;They landed back at the airport and other than that everything was pretty much normal. In that instance the crew just managed what they are trained for. A pilot is trained for it and should be able to do this, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what you expect. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just an exception because you do something that you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t normally do. We usually have straightforward flights with nothing exceptional!â&#x20AC;? Swan Aviation is optimistic about the future of the business aviation market in Turkey: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The potential for Turkey is very positive. The true figures are not quite as high as people have told us, and letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s be honest and say not everything is rosy. But it will expand,â&#x20AC;? adds Hocaoglu. He nonetheless warns of the limitations: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;If you are operating a helicopter in Turkey, there are a very limited number of helipads and heliports. All the other areas are uncontrolled landing zones. Especially for medevac operations, you have to use what is available to you. There is a sick person and you have to get them out of there. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A couple of years ago I had an

NOVEMBER 2013 13

EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS

operation to my home town, and there was no place to land so we had to land in the middle of a stadium. They said the stadium was going to be available. It was empty when we landed, but 30 minutes later a bunch of soccer players came in. They didn’t understand that to relocate the helicopter costs money, and somebody has to pay for it. I got the approval before but they didn’t let us stay there.” Hocaoglu believes that certain aspects of Turkish aviation are still very much in their infancy: “Seaplane operations and helicopter operations are still very immature – they are new, in fact. But since there is such a demand, there is no chance of anything but improvement. “Years ago, when helicopter operations started in England and in the US, I don’t think that things were any different. The problem here is, now we already know their experiences, we should adapt faster. We shouldn’t wait another 50 years. “There are good intentions and I think it will happen very shortly, because things are changing tremendously here.” Skyline says that it has been the pioneer for the EMS business in Turkey. In 2008 the group was awarded a five-year turnkey contract with the Ministry of Health. Including its flight school it has flown 35,000 flight hours and believes it has saved 17,000 lives. As such, official EMS services were carried out for the first time using 19 helicopters across the region. This contract concluded in August 2013, and since that time the group has been reshaped. At the height of its operation Skyline had a combination of 31 jets and helicopters on its AOC. Six helicopters have been sold since the end of the Ministry contract, and currently there are 25 aircraft under its AOC. Candaş Erkan Özdoğu, vp of the Skyline group of companies, explains the difficulty the company had in establishing a fledgling HEMS operation: “We had to set up a 19helicopter operation in 15 different cities of Turkey in less than 12 months, and this was in a country where helicopters were almost non-existent. The number of civilian helicopters

TURKEY REGIONAL REVIEW

MNG Jet’s technical and operations team pictured in front of the MNG hangar at Istanbul Ataturk airport.

flying in Turkey was less than 30 and the total number of approved heliports was only 20, and this for a country twice the size of Germany!” The operator was able to take fresh staff on board and manage the job at hand, so that soon Skyline was not only operating its 19 helicopters and two business jets for ambulance services, it became a trusted management company for ten other aircraft owners. It is now an authorised maintenance facility of Bell, Agusta, Eurocopter, Pratt and Whitney Canada and Beechcraft in Turkey. Captain Adnan Koc adds: “For years we performed thousands of missions across all parts of Turkey, sometimes not being able to find a landing strip even in a relatively large village where almost 300 missions have been carried out. We would look for soccer fields for a safe landing.

EBAA ceo Fabio Gamba has described Turkey as an economic powerhouse that can still capitalise fully on the efficiency of business aviation.

“Some problems persist in Turkey for helicopter activities to grow healthily, although the number of approved heliports has now reached over 60. More importantly, the authorities are aware of the needs and everyone expects a faster

Comprehensive data for Turkey online free-of-charge The 2013/14 Handbook of Business Aviation, Europe, Russia, Middle East and Africa edition, was published in May, and gives details of many more Turkish charter operators. It also lists business aviation facilities and services including airports, FBOs and maintenance centres. The details can be accessed online through a search of aircraft operated or the airport bases. For more information please visit www.handbook.aero

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improvement. This will yield a significant increase in the number of civilian helicopters to be used by executives in Turkey.” It seems that despite the optimism, there are still many areas which require improvement if Turkey is to thrive as a major force. EBAN spoke to one operator at the EBAA forum in Istanbul who was less than impressed with the state of affairs in Turkey. This representative, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that regulations and the government are extremely challenging, and that in reality his company cannot fly out of Istanbul airport: “It’s basically closed because of the slots issue. If you want to go to Sabiha Gokcen they have no parking space. If I have an additional aircraft in my fleet now and want to base it in Sabiha, I can no longer do it.

There appears to be some continuing resistance to business aviation in the country: “They don’t want you to base your aircraft there because you are occupying the air traffic. A business aircraft occupies the same airspace as a large aircraft. Then, once you land, you pay to the local airport operators, which are now private, just a tiny bit of money compared to a huge amount of money that the large airline pays, so they don’t want you there. They want more airlines. “One airport is actually ruled by four or five different government entities, and just to get an FBO you have to go through four different organisations, which is impossible now. By today’s Turkish law you cannot have an FBO in Turkey, simple as that, done deal. It’s not even that it is a monopoly, it is simply the complex procedures. Communism stopped 15 years ago and we are still communist in this sense!” The operator summed up by pointing out that no representative from the Turkish government turned up when they were due to speak at the EBAA forum, and that this speaks volumes for the attitude of the authorities in the region. ■

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