Aviation Defense Service (ADS), situated in the south of France, believes it is the only charter company in its hometown of Nimes. The company has a turnover of around FF70 million, of which around FF11 million originates from the corporate charter department.\r We contacted Caroline Allain, charter manager, who told us that the company has a Falcon 10 and a King Air 200 available for vip charter. "A Falcon 20 was the first aircraft that we bought," she said.

"In 1995, when I entered the company, we decided to develop the charter business, so we bought a King Air 200, then in January 1999 we bought a Falcon 10." Both are for vip charter - ADS also flies photography and training missions in its other aircraft.

"The Falcon 10 is certified for up to seven passengers, but I like to limit it to six," she told EBAN, "which is a more vip capacity. The aircraft has leather seats, and a brand new interior dating from February this year."

The Falcon was manufactured in 1975, which means that Allain's department has had to update the aircraft's equipment to account for RVSM and GPWS: "In order not to be limited to low flight level, It is true that every year, at least, we have some upgrading investment to make."

Why, then, did ADS choose the Falcon 10 and not a more modern aircraft, we asked? "We made a marketing survey, and it appeared that the Falcon 10 was more fitting with the local demand of our customers," she explained.

"Because of our location in the south of France, and in Nimes, which has not got very much business and economic activity, our main business is hospital flights for assistance companies such as Mondale. The Falcon is good for this kind of mission, it goes fast; it's small, it's true, but good for hospital flights to Africa, eastern Europe and southern Europe too."

As much as 50 per cent of Aviation Defense Service's charter business is medevac, so the charter department's King Air 200 also has a medical configuration for two stretchers, in addition to its vip seat pattern. It has 10,000 hours on the airframe, and was born in 1981. It has vip configuration for up to nine persons, and the interior was refreshed in May. Both the Falcon and the Beech interiors were done by Air Esthetic of Paris.

Allain observed: "I've reallocated to the south of France, and the big need in charter is to go from the south to the north. Nimes is quiet, and as we are based in Nimes, we work both with medical teams from Marseille and from Montpellier. When we have vip flights, we often ferry to Nice for instance, or Avignon or Marseille.

"The Nimes economic tissue is not very strong, so we often fly to these places when they need aircraft to take vips out," she added.

A big part of the commercial work that Allain does is to explain the concept of private aircraft, because she says it doesn't have a good image amongst business people.

"We have to explain and make examples to them that if we are dealing with a small group of people from the same company, the private aircraft can allow them to go and spend only one day at a plant or meeting, or they can fly customers. We have to explain the commercial benefits," she said.

"I try to get information on the company to know whether they have other aeroplanes somewhere else. If they have needs in moving people, I send them commercial documents and I try to get an appointment, and I take concrete examples, depending on their needs. I give them quotations, and so they are able to compare this kind of travel with their usual, and I have to convince them to take into account the time people can waste."

How easy is this, and how much success have you had? we asked Allain.

"It's pretty hard to convince them. What we realise every day is that when they have used this kind of aircraft once, they really understand the flexibility and when people have a lot of responsibilities, they understand that."

ASD's charter department hopes to buy more aircraft in the future, possibly a different type of aircraft to those already owned. Both the Falcon 10 and the King Air fly about 500 hours a year, according to Allain.

Allain concluded with a word about aircraft maintenance: "It is important as a charter company to have our own maintenance facilities. This means good aircraft availability. I work with other charter companies (we sub charter each other), and the companies do not have their own maintenance people. It's a good benefit for us."