Prior to an extensive design review, VisionAire secured ten orders for its new Vantage business jets in Europe. VisionAire has two firm customers for the new aircraft in each of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, France and the UK. "Our target market in Europe is basically the same as in the US, small to medium sized companies with revenues between US$5 million and US$500 million," said Jorge Perez, vp of marketing at VisionAire. \rOne of the UK companies purchasing a Vantage is the tele-communications operator and network builder The Convergence Group. It has been expanding since 1991 into new markets in Italy, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus. The Vantage will be put to work ferrying people and equipment between the Mediterranean and the UK. "We have previously been operating a Twin Seneca, which is an excellent workhorse, but it is slow and not pressurised," said Alan Robinson, Convergence Group's ceo. "Vantage identified a sound hole in the business market. Prior to the Vantage, buyers could only choose between a twin piston aircraft for around US$1 million, or something like a Citation in the $4-5 million bracket." \rAccording to Robinson, the Vantage is an attractive buy not only because it offers speed and economy: "I sat on the VisionAire advisory board for two years. Jim (Rice, VisionAire's chairman) runs a very good management team," he said. "They were very open and never conducted closed shop manu-facturing. The advisory board had a lot of input on things like seating and instrumentation." \rThe Vantage's comprehensive design review could push its price tag over the US$2 million mark, according to Robinson. However, he believes that the result is a better aeroplane, and provided the first Vantage lives up to expectations, he said he will consider purchasing further aircraft from VisionAire. "After the general aviation depression of the 1980s, we are beginning to see fast developments in the industry," commented Robinson.