Two Challenger 604s have been acquired by German company Hapag-Lloyd Executive. The first of these aircraft arrived in Hannover in the middle of February with the second reaching Düsseldorf a month later. The company is also expecting a Learjet 60 in May.

Chief pilot with Hapag-Lloyd, Lutz Goellnitz, said: “The aircraft were briefly delayed by about a month – it was nothing major, just a few small things like painting.”

The Hannover-based 604 has replaced Hapag-Lloyd’s Astra SP which was also used for charter purposes.

The 604s will be used mainly for charter business but they will also be deployed by the owners Preussag, a large travel agency company.

“We are new in the business with the Challengers, and our first experiences with the aircraft have mostly been travel within Europe from the Hannover base – there are also some flights to the Far East. The Düsseldorf-based Challenger is largely travelling to the US,” reported Goellnitz.

Commenting on the reasons behind the acquisitions, Goellnitz said: “Challenger 604s were chosen for the better comfort for passengers – it has a large and quiet cabin with the possibility for overnight flights which enable passengers to sleep during the journey. The other reason was to provide nonstop flights to the US East Coast.”