Rani Awad

INTERVIEW| ROBERT MOLSBERGEN
A conversation with Robert Molsbergen, President EJM
and COO NetJets Global Aircraft Management
When the big
get bigger...
While growth in the rest of
the world stutters along,
the US economy has
recovered to the point
where the US Federal Reserve
is now contemplating
introducing rate increases again. There are
still problems, but real incomes are rising, albeit
slowly, and GDP growth is looking reasonable.
Not surprisingly, therefore, Executive Jet Management
(EJM), the world’s biggest aircraft management
company, is expanding its US sales team.
EJM President Robert Molsbergen talked to
EVA about the company’s expansion plans in the
US and in Europe. “Over the last several months we
have added quite a number of sales people in the
field, both for our managed aircraft activities and
on charter operations. What we are looking for from
this is a very active and expanded deal flow and
there are already signs that this is coming to fruition.
Our pipeline is very strong and we are taking
on aircraft at a healthy rate,” he comments.
EJM’s focus has long been on the larger cabin
aircraft, but Molsbergen reckons that the company
is also seeing rising demand in the US for
small and medium aircraft. “It looks as if business
aviation is getting back to a healthy mix
of large and smaller cabined aircraft, instead of
sales being dominated solely by long-range jets.
It is pleasing to see what looks like a continuing
trend of increased sales in the mid- and smallcabin
categories as well as continued strength in
the large cabin sector,” he comments.
Models such as Citation XLS and XLS Plus
and Lear 75s are coming back into the mix, while
EJM has also signed management deals recently
for G500s and G550s plus two Gulfstream 650s.
The total fl eet under management, excluding the
NetJets fl eet, now totals 224, making EJM the
biggest operator in the US.
The company’s scale and the feedback among
the owner communities that this generates helps
to keep the prospect list healthy, but Molsbergen
points out that EJM still has to work hard to
convince prospects that they will get the kind of
personal attention they are looking for. “People
worry about our size and whether they will have
the relationship they are looking for. Our job is to
ensure that we treat each account as a personal
relationship,” he says.
This is achieved by appointing dedicated representatives
to each customer. “The client gets
a dedicated team on all aspects, from billing to
maintenance, to owner services, pilot support
and training support. Personalisation is essential
because every account is different and there is
always a bespoke element that needs to be managed
in detail,” he comments.
68 International | Autumn 2015