Spanish corporation Rivaflecha SL of Vizcaya inaugurated its air charter franchise BKS Air in April of this year. Based in Bilbao, northern Spain, the charter side of the company operates a Citation II and a Beechcraft C90.

The Citation II was purchased on December 20, 1999 and is configured for eight vip passengers. It arrived in Spain in January this year, and is registered to Rivaflecha. EBAN's Dan Cook spoke to president of the company Pedro Sorao, primarily about the Citation:

"It is used for charter, mostly by business people and for some tourist trips," he said. "It has been on a lot of international trips, to Paris, Italy, Portugal, Germany.

"We started to look a little bit and we decided that the Citation II was a very proven aircraft, very cost-effective. Customers prefer the Citation II, I think, to the Beechcraft C90. It is just as comfortable, and it's faster and it flies higher, hence less turbulence. It is another kind of aeroplane."

Sorao continued: "We are based in Bilbao, and there are no companies there at the moment. We are the only one, so we are beginning to open the market at the moment. I think there is a big market, but it requires effort."

EBAN inquired as to the problems BKS Air faces in tapping into this virgin market: "I think people are maybe scared of the price. So they have to understand that time is price. With this kind of operation you save a lot of time, therefore you save a lot of money. At the same time, on a private aircraft, you can work more than on a regular airline.

"We are starting now to get regular customers," concluded Sorao.