VistaJet goes for the treble chance VistaJet goes for the treble chance

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10 JUNE 2008 EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS Mustangs ride hard to catch buoyant Moscow air taxi demand as western manufacturers target Russia Russia is a country where private aviation can equate to business survival. Nobody sees an easing off in demand for either air taxis or long haul service in the foreseeable future. There is a favourite story, apparently true and unvarnished by legend, about a businessman in the far east of Russia who needed to fly just 400 kilometres north. Because there was no direct flight available his route lay over thousands of kilometres via Moscow and back with the frustrations of delays, cancellations and an overnight stopover. And, when the businessman’s scheduled flight finally approached the destination days later, weather conditions were so bad the aircraft was diverted back to his starting point. That’s why Eugene Andrachnikov, ceo of Dexter Air Taxis, says with quiet understatement and absolute certainty: “There is rapid expansion of business aviation in Russia. We expect that to continue.” There is a telling transport price comparison. Andrachnikov says: “We charge 140 rubles per km per aircraft regardless of the number of passengers on board. If we assume that a group of eight people decides to pay for the trip jointly it means 17.5 rubles per km per each passenger which is lower than 20 to 25 rubles per km for a ground taxi in Moscow.” Dexter Air Taxis already operates PC-12s, is expanding that fleet to more than a dozen, and has signed a fleet management programme with Pratt & Whitney to cover maintenance for eight engines. Significantly Dexter has ordered 20 Citation Mustangs for 2011 delivery. It already operates its PC-12 air taxis on routes ranging up to around 1,000 kilometres and is expanding services into Scandinavia, the Baltic region, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the north Caucases and the former Soviet republics. But Andrachnikov says: “All 20 Mustangs will be allocated across Russia to support the nationwide network we are building. This is still a virgin market but three or four years from now it will be very different.” Key base locations will include St. Petersburg, Rostov and Vladivostock. He adds: “Air-taxi is ideal for point-to-point logistics within Russia, where 90% of air traffic generates through Moscow and St.Petersburg,” says Andrachnikov. Executives with plans to feed the hunger for private aviation in Russia. From left to right: Sergey Reus (Oboronprom general director); Giuseppi Orsi, AgustaWestland ceo; and Aaron Frenkel, Loyd's Investments president. Get Inside Eugene Andrachnikov, ceo of Dexter Air Taxis (right) with Roger Whyte, svp sales and marketing of Cessna celebrate Dexter's order of 20 Mustangs, which will be used to provide air taxi services. Know More. 800.553.8638 +1.315.797.4420 JETNET.COM Worldwide leader in aviation market intelligence. RUSSIA BUSINESS REVIEW “Dexter is a hassle-free and affordable tool for optimising corporate travel budgets.” Says Roger Whyte, svp, sales and marketing for Cessna: “Dexter’s order is a sign of the strength of the business jet market in Eastern Europe, particularly within Russia. We designed the Mustang to be every bit as reliable and robust as any other Citation in the stable, and that makes it quite suitable for the high utilisation operations it will see at Dexter.” Manufacturers are getting ready to produce their aircraft in Russia as well as export to the country in large numbers as soon as permissions and production schedules and order backlogs allow. Cessna expects certification for the Citation Mustang by Russian authorities in early 2010. Eclipse Aviation has received the U.S. government’s go-ahead to export the Eclipse 500 and its components to Russia. Pratt & Whitney also have Canada’s permission to export the PW610F engine to Russia. “These significant milestones are major steps towards establishing an assembly facility in Ulyanovsk, Russia,” Eclipse says. On the helicopter front, Oboronprom Corporation and Agusta Westland envisage a joint production agreement. Andrey Reus, general director, Oboronprom, says: “A joint team of experts is working in order to define how to best implement this project and will select a production site in the European part of Russia. The helicopters produced will be Oleg Shougaley: targeting a market boom. marked both within Russia and CIS area, and, through Agusta Westland, all over the world." Giuseppe Orsi, ceo Agusta Westland, says: “We see the Russian and CIS markets as very important with the potential to generate significant future business opportunities. Already, prior to this agreement, we have won orders for 14 AgustWestland vip-configured helicopters from various Russian customers.” The orders are for five AW119 Ke, five AW109 Power and four Grands. There is also a business opportunity to train pilots for the pent-up demand for private aviation services. Oxford Aviation Academy (OAA) has appointed Oleg Shougaley as regional sales manager for the Baltic and Russia and other CIS countries. Based in Moscow and Stockholm, Oleg’s initial responsibilities include setting up OAA as a registered business entity in Russia as well as representing OAA’s sales efforts within the region. Shougaley confirms: “Today Russia, CIS and Baltic is a booming aviation market.” Russian investors back the Eclipse Roel Piper's European Technology and Investment Research Center (ERITC) says it has recently invested more than US$100 million, mainly from Russian investors, in the Eclipse. Piper says the ‘sky cab fleet model’ is well suited to Europe. ETIRC plans to open Eclipse service centres in southwest, east and northern Europe. Both Russia and Turkey are seen as key markets. However, Russia will also be central to production plans. A Russian assembly plant is planned convenient to the Ulyanovsk- Vostochny airport. Ulyanovsk's aviation complex builds the Antonov An-124 Ruslan and Tupolev Tu-204. There are also engineering schools in relatively close proximity. Piper says: “We Dexter's PC-12s are already veterans in the Russian air taxi arena. Rising demand brings training and development opportunities FACTS Training, a division of AirCare Solutions Group, recently completed its first emergency procedures training exercise in Russia. “Our goal is to be the frontrunner in providing new and challenging training experiences for corporate crewmembers,” says Doug Mykol, ceo, of the AirCare Solutions Group. Corporate and vip transport demand is also generating orders. Five AW119 Kes have been ordered by Russian customers. One will feature a Versace-style interior and be outfitted with a six-seat cabin. But, for now, Dexter, funded by two Russian private equity groups, Industrial Investors and Kaskol, both with strong expertise in the transportation sector, seems to have a head start on most potential business rivals. “Since our first flight in 2006, our Moscow-based operation is the first air taxi in the country offering the intelligent alternative for business travelers,” says Andrachnikov. “The company created an entirely new ‘low cost business aviation’ mode of transportation that complements travel by car, train and traditional air carriers in Russia.” Dexter executives conducted extensive research involving visits to VLJ sites in both North and South America before selecting the Mustang. “We are very happy with our decision,” says Andrachnikov, “and so are the customers who also had an input. There was also the consideration that infrastructure is relatively under-developed and the aircraft needed to be robust.” evaluated potential manufacturing sites based on aviation history, tradition, engineering schools and manufacturing.” Vern Raburn, founder and president of Eclipse Aviation, says the cash hungry start-up is adequately financed and poised to meet the challenge of becoming an internationally-focused company with a global order book.
EUROPEAN BUSINESS AIR NEWS Large charter operators mount big ‘one stop shop’ challenge on the FBO and maintenance fronts There are concerns that the slowdown in the U.S. market will feed through to orders for jets and helicopters and that this will affect the growth of business aviation services. But there are no such worries in Europe and the Middle East where the emphasis is on rapid expansion with the “one-stop shop” approach favoured by many companies and private charter operators among those expanding their own maintenance and handling services. Avitat, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, believes that the European part of its global network of independent FBOs will expand from nine to 14 or 15 in the next 18 months to two years. Members must meet strict standards for safety, service, training and facility amenities to become part of the ExxonMobil Aviation Avitat network which has more than 600 aviation locations worldwide. However that has not discouraged interest and the network’s current growth reflects the continuing high demand for business aviation services in Europe, the Middle East and Russia. Avitats in Dublin, Istanbul, Naples and Nice are among the most recent additions while others in Cologne and Rome are also coming on stream. But as traditional FBO players such as Avitat seek new business, they are facing strong competition from private charter operations that are fast expanding their own FBO facilities and networks as well as their own maintenance operations. The increasing ‘one stop shop’ challenge is being mounted by companies including Gestair, FlyingGroup, Aero- Dienst and Ocean Sky. Gestair expects to start operating its first FBO outside Spain in the near future. Jose Ramon Barriocanal, gm private aviation, says that the company is also setting up a 50:50 joint venture with Iberia to supply executive jet maintenance at Madrid. The company, Gestair Maintenance Support (GMAS) will operate from a new hangar. Gestair’s recently announced joint venture with Assistair at El Prat airport in Barcelona, based at the new corporate aviation terminal, Service providers such as Universal Weather and Aviation are focusing more closely on private aviation according to Pete Lewis. covers two years but may be extended to 2010. “Madrid and Barcelona account for about 80 per cent of business aviation activity in Spain so these agreements are very important,” says Barriocanal. “We only moved into the new facility in March but the company has serviced more than 300 operations and expects to serve more than 60 per cent of the business aviation traffic there this year.” SPECIAL FOCUS: PRIVATE AIRCRAFT SERVICES PremiAir has big plans based on fixed-wing aircraft maintenance at Oxford airport. Pictured are (left) Steve Jones, md, Oxford airport and David McRobert, group md, PremiAir. Barriocanal is assessing potential FBO acquisitions in Europe. Gestair, opening within weeks at Valencia, expects to acquire its first FBO outside Spain in the near future. “We have the largest number of FBOs on the Iberian peninsular and it makes sense to add an international dimension,” says Barriocanal. FlyingGroup of Belgium has acted to bring certainty into its handling operations. Flying Service, one of its companies, has signed an agreement with AviaPartner Belgium which means that FlyingGroup will perform all third party ground handling services at Antwerp until 30 September 2010 when AviaPartner’s handling license expires. Ben Paindavin, marketing director, says: “The agreement enables FlyingGroup to reinforce staff, know how and experience in business aircraft handling. We have good experience as self handler for its fleet of about 20 business aircraft. We expected that FlyingGroup will handle at least 800 third party flights per year at Antwerp.” FlyingGroup will also offer aircraft cleaning, hangarage, EASA Part 145 maintenance and Part-M engineering services on Citations, Falcons and Challengers plus JAR- OPS/EU-OPS compliant flight support services to third parties. Paindavin says: “Antwerp airport is the second base, after Paris Le Bourget, where FlyingGroup provides third party handling activities.” Ocean Sky says its engineers currently service up to 400 aircraft a year. Its ceo Kurosh Tehranchian says: “It is anticipated that this number will increase rapidly by as much as 300 per cent now that our Manchester maintenance facility has become a Bombardier authorised service facility. The facility employs 65 people and is the airport’s only FAL Aviation: reports rising fuel demand. high-end private aviation maintenance operation.” The company’s two hangars cover more than 3,000 square meters and can accommodate four long range jets. Ocean Sky also has a jet maintenance centre at Glasgow Prestwick, a base in London and offices in Manchester, Salzburg, Zurich and Moscow. Phil Maltby, group md for engineering at Ocean Sky, says obtaining the additional aircraft types for our Aircraft Service Facility (ASF) with Bombardier will see a doubling of the 26-strong engineering workforce at the Manchester facility “within the next six to twelve months.” Maltby promised some tough targets for his team. “Many facilities could take three days or more to undertake a scheduled 400 hour check on a Challenger aircraft, we’re aiming to cut that down to less than 24 hours. Because we also operate our own fleet, we know that a jet on the ground isn’t earning any money, so a fast maintenance turnaround is vital. We’d expect to see at least a 50 per cent increase in the throughput of aircraft for maintenance as a result of our enhanced relationship with Bombardier.” Aero-Dienst, one of the largest service providers for business aviation in Europe, is expanding aircraft maintenance, operations, sales and management. It has been appointed as an authorised service centre for the Falcon 900EX and 900EX EASy and its new 3a hangar starts operations in July. The company operates nine aircraft including the recently added Falcon 900EX trijet and Learjet 45 XR were registered in the AOC and it is commissioning a new third hangar to take its total operations area at Nuremberg airport to over some 5,500 square metres. Its 50th anniversary was marked with the ‘Safety of Flight Award Gold’ from the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA). JUNE 2008 11 Phil Maltby: setting tough targets. New charter management team reflects business boom Service providers are also focusing strongly on increasing business from private aviation. Universal Weather and Aviation has created a new charter management team dedicated to providing bespoke services. Pete Lewis, vp trip support services, says: “Anticipating client needs from the charter management industry, and taking into account feedback from clients, we determined that the best way for Universal to meet the evolving needs of our charter management clients was to create a specialised group composed of teams dedicated exclusively to them.” He points out: “Charter management is unique in how it operates and has a high demand for rapid turnaround on aspects including trip cost estimates. Our new CMT integrates key trip support functionality into one team, centralising all trip-critical aspects and related personnel which translates into even greater personalised services and attention.” Preston Hesselgesser, CMT manager, says: “The CMT model has given us a more intimate knowledge of each charter management client's unique preference, and improved the accuracy of data generated as well as our responsiveness and communication with clients.” Some organisations are focusing on developing reputations for regional expertise. “Planning a trip into the Middle East or Africa has always been a difficult experience,” says Mazher Hussain, gm Fliteport. Fliteport, based in Dubai has been established to assist flight operations departments around the world in planning their trips into the Middle East, Asia and Africa region. “We are witnessing an increasing demand for trip planning services,” Hussain adds. “Operations departments are experiencing increasing workloads, and we can assist them in utilising their current resources more effectively. By taking
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VistaJet goes for the treble chance VistaJet goes for the treble chance

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