Tired of the constraints of airline travel, a group of European investors have bought themselves a Falcon 900EX. The aircraft was registered at the end of May and is now being exclusively operated – both for management and charter purposes – by Switzerland’s Cat Aviation.

EBAN spoke to cfo Patrick Landolt at the company’s Zurich base. He said: “The 900EX belongs to a Swiss company called Fast Bird, which the investors set up specifically for this aircraft. The owners have been using the aircraft for no more than half the time and the rest of the time, we have been chartering it out.

“On behalf of the investors, it has already made a wide variety of flights, for example to the States, to Asia, South America and a few European flights.”

Cat Aviation’s relationship with the investor group goes back a long way. When they weren’t using commercial airlines, the group used to charter Cat’s Hawker 800 or Citation.

Said Landolt: “They have known us and flown with us for many years. When they got their Falcon 900EX, they specifically asked if they could join the Cat family.”

Over the past two months, Cat Aviation has carried out charter missions to the US and Africa, almost exclusively for business purposes. Just one customer has used the 900EX for a holiday.

Cat Aviation charges between 8,800 and 9,900 Swiss francs per hour for use of the aircraft; a charge, which Landolt says, is in keeping with the company’s thinking. He said: “We’re not the cheapest but our philosophy is that quality and individuality come first.

“We had all the outfitting done at Jet Aviation’s facility in Basel. You can see the difference between a Littlerock-outfitted aircraft and a Europe-outfitted aircraft.”

Cat’s Falcon 900EX seats up to 14 passengers, with real ‘mattress’ beds for six people. There is a flight attendant on all flights and the aircraft is equipped with a full range of electronic equipment.

Said Landolt: “Our company is now entering a new period. We’re getting another Falcon 900X in November – courtesy of another Swiss company – but that will be primarily a managed aircraft. There will perhaps be a few charters on it.”

Another piece of news is that Cat Aviation will soon have approval from London City to fly the

900EX into its airport. Said Landolt: “We have received information suggesting that London will give

us the okay, hopefully within the next month.”

With regard to the number of Falcon 900EX aircraft available for charter, Landolt said: “Over the last two months, we’ve noticed that there are not many Falcon 900EXs on the charter market. Most of them are private and not available.

“We see it as a luxury aircraft and there are many people who need long-range aircraft from or to very small airfields. In fact, other long-range aircraft don’t have as good performance as the 900EX.

“For example, from Saint Moritz you can fly directly to Recife in Brazil and no other aircraft can do that. Obviously, another great plus of the aircraft is that it has three engines.”

He added: “We’ve noticed that our customers are getting more international with this Falcon. In the past, most of our customers used to be Swiss, German and some English. Now mostly they come in from London and the US. It’s a much more international business.”