Ameridair, based at Paris le Bourget, purchased its first Falcon 20 four years ago: It has just welcomed a second of the aircraft back from engine retrofit in Geneva. Staying loyal to Dassault seems to be a priority for the company; chief pilot François Minard reports that Ameridair is now looking to invest in a Falcon 50.

"We operate the aircraft through a French company in le Bourget, called Aero Services," he told EBAN. "The Falcon 20s are available for charter when not in use for owners." Minard also reports that a Cessna aircraft might soon be part-owned by Ameridair. "We are looking for little aeroplanes, like the CJ1. I think we will buy a part of the aeroplane with the owners, because my company is growing up."

Ameridair's new Falcon 20 came to France two years ago, and worked for a company in Paris. Soon after, Ameridair bought it and sent it to Geneva for a retrofit and to change the engines and avionics.

"We replaced the avionics with Collins Pro line IV. We are very happy with that. I myself don't fly a lot because I have a lot of pilots, I am the instructor of my pilots. At the beginning it was a little bit difficult to get used to this avionics version, because we are more used to flying with Universal equipment, and most of our aeroplanes were equipped with Universal. But after a short time to get used to the Collins mentality, it is very easy to use the plane.

"It undoubtedly improves safety: The menu inside the FMS, the use of the FMS and the autopilot is better than before, the information is well presented to the pilot," he said.

The new Falcon 20 is flying mostly in Europe. The new engines are TFE 731s of the variant more commonly found on the Falcon 900, and a complete 'transformation' of the aircraft was completed in June. Ameridair says it has not had time to fly all over the world yet, but the first Falcon 20 flies to the Middle East and Africa as well as Europe.

"The new one is scheduled to go to the USA - it has a 2,500nm range with the new engines. More range, more speed. It also has an executive vip interior, DVD system, galley for the stewardess, microwave oven and so on. It is better than our old Falcon 20."

Minard continued: "With that retrofit we get a lot of performance compared to the old one. It has 6,000 hours and is twenty years old, and so they are very clean inside and out. The cabin and structure is quite new. We can expect to go through the next ten or twelve years with nothing to do, and with a good plane with a price less than a Falcon 50, for example."

Minard believes that Ameridair's engine retrofit is a touch of financial genius: "It is possible to save money buying a Falcon 20 and making the retrofit, because the price and the market for a retrofitted aircraft is constant and is higher than the price of the retrofit itself."

For two years business has been "really busy" at Ameridair. Minard says the French market is growing. "I think we are following the US in that French industry and owners are more convinced that it's a good thing for business. For many years in France, industry and private individuals were afraid of getting a bad image. Now they don't care about that because they know that business is better with a private aeroplane.

"And now time-sharing is coming out in Europe. It is a good speed up for the business," said Minard, incidentally echoing what NetJets and the other fractional ownership providers say themselves. "It's making it more popular."\rEBAN wondered out loud if fractional ownership doesn't detract from charterers, and earned an outburst of Gallic expressiveness: "No, no, no! Not at all. The more business flights arrive, the more it will attract business for us, it is like a locomotive."

If such a strong endorsement by a charterer seems surprising, perhaps Minard's revelation that Ameridair will soon be managing "a sort of time-sharing" with its aircraft will come as no surprise. "I say a sort because I have many owners, and sometimes I go to two or three who own one plane. It's not the same as timeshare, it is more vip."