Ex-director of Skyhopper Limited, Steve Westlake, has formed a company called European Skytime, based at Gloucestershire airport. The company has a portfolio of 400 aircraft operated for public transport by nearly 150 operators, and says it is a dedicated marketing and sales organisation aiming to bring new business to the private charter market.

"European Skytime is essentially a charter agency. We are dedicated to getting people into the industry, we are not here to poach customers from other brokers and operators," commented Westlake.

The pool of aircraft is divided into nine categories from single turbine helicopters through to long-range business jets. Under a contractual programme called the 'Flight Commitment Scheme', European Skytime will guarantee availability of an aircraft from a chosen category, given 24 hours notice.

Westlake said: "There are a lot of people who want to fly fewer hours but have more flexibility. For example, they may want 20 hours a year in various bizjets, 20 hours a year in various size helicopters and the same in a turboprop for when they need to get into smaller airfields.

"Our philosophy is to tempt people away from the main international airports and towards their regional or local airports to fly in a privately chartered aircraft.

"There are many people looking at fractional schemes but a number of them need to dip their toes in this sector before making a serious commitment. We have many clients who are currently using the lower end of the service who we believe will graduate onto bigger aircraft, given time."

Flightpool.co.uk, the company's recently established website, went online on July 3. "Flightpool allows small businesses and individuals to get together and share an aircraft for flights from their local airport."

The minimum commitment required for the flight commitment scheme is £12,000 per year. A rate is charged per occupied hour for each category and includes landing/ handling fees. "We see our sales and marketing schemes as the thin end of possibly the largest aviation funnel in Europe," Westlake concluded.