Italy's K-Air, which operates six Piaggio P180 Avantis, is evaluating the option of acquiring a new P180 Avanti II. The company says that its business model focuses on air taxi services with 90 per cent of the demand coming from corporate clients and the rest leisure flights.

"We expect to improve our levels of business by further developing the main stream of corporate client services," the company adds. "We regard current prospects as much more promising than two years ago."

The fleet currently consists of two P180 Avantis and P180 Avanti IIs. "The P180 was chosen both for the stand-up cabin and because of the lower impact of operating costs with excellent performances in terms of speed and range."

The Villanova d'Albenga based company says flying activity in 2010 showed a slight recovery compared to the last quarter of 2008 and the full year of 2009. "Our main key performance indicator is represented by flying hours that in 2010 were almost in line with 2007 results."

It says it is happy with its policy to focus operations on the Piaggio P180 utilising a multi base network spanning Milano, Roma, Bologna, Genova and Albenga.

"We expect to increase our business by leveraging our multi-base network which enables us to provide a high quality service without repositioning costs." Despite more buoyant business conditions K-Air says that it is not expanding its staff at present. The company says: "Recruiting is generally performed within our own network. Our pilots are Italian and French. However at the moment we do not have any vacancies to highlight."