Germany’s FAI Airservice is in negotiations with operators from Berlin and Düsseldorf with

regard to the formation of an ‘Executive Alliance.’

Chairman Siegfried Axtmann told EBAN: “We are negotiating with operators who serve areas in which we are currently absent. The goal is to create an ‘Executive Alliance’, similar to the Star Alliance which has been formed in the airline industry.

“The benefit of such an alliance would be that partners can participate in a Europe-wide marketing instrument which will significantly lower the marketing costs of each operator. Only operators who haven’t been direct competitors in the past – because of their location – should join this alliance in order for it to be successful.”

Meanwhile, FAI has extended its charter fleet with the addition of a Learjet 55. The company acquired the aircraft from Munich’s MTM Aviation.

The Learjet 55 will be operated in executive charter service as well as for air ambulance purposes. It can be outfitted with Medflite-Intensive-Care-Unit plus a second stretcher system, allowing the transport of two patients at the same time.

Said Axtmann: “In my opinion, the Learjet 55 is the most economic aircraft you can find in the stand-up cabin class, considering the cost of investment and the cost of operations.

“We thought hard about buying a Citation III but ended up with the Learjet because of the larger

cabin space.”

FAI’s Learjet 55 – which seats seven passengers comfortably – flies nearly every day and recently served the German Telecom team during the Tour de France.

It has also carried out a long-range ambulance mission to Acra in Africa. Axtmann said: “Most of the charter flights will originate in Germany and go to other European countries, to North Africa and to the Near and Middle East.”

FAI is expecting the aircraft to be used fifty per cent of the time for ambulance flights and the other fifty, for executive travel. It can be converted from medevac to vip configuration within one hour.

Axtmann added: “There are a lot of competitors in the market offering flights but only a few of them are really specialised in this business.

By this, I mean only a few have state-of-the-art equipment and medical crews on-call.”

FAI is now thinking about adding a second Learjet 55 to its fleet. If so, it will replace the Learjet 35A recently purchased from the UK. The company currently operates a fleet of five company-owned business jets from its Nuremberg base.