In Hamburg, business aviation still lies dormant. Hamburger Air Charter and 'earlybirds' are sister companies who combine to market and operate a Citation Bravo for executive flights, and they claim to be "the only commercial jet company based in the city which can offer a jet certified as per the strong FAR-25 regulations".

Earlybirds was formed six months ago for the marketing of Hamburger Air Charter's Bravo.

The Bravo is the companies' only aircraft - Hamburger started operations in 1993 with turboprops such as Cheyennes. The jet arrived in January 2000, and has flown 600 hours since then, mostly in Europe, north Africa and the Middle East. Built in June, 1998 it is in a seven seat configuration with toilet, and has the option of a stewardess service if required. It is looked after at Jet Aviation.

EBAN spoke to sales and acquisition manager Jan-Patrick Nüske: "Business is not really good, it is difficult here in Hamburg. It is a special market in Germany. For example, in very small cities like Mannheim there is as much business aviation as there is here in Hamburg. We don't know the reason. People don't know enough about the possibilities of business jets."