Eisele Flugdienst has become the first charter operator in Europe to offer the Citation CJ4.

Fred Eisele, chief executive officer of the Stuttgart-based company, accepted the jet in a handover hosted by Atlas Air Service, Cessna's Citation authorised sales representative for Germany, at the Citation Service Centre at Bremen Airport.  

Eisele says: "The CJ4 is the perfect next step to help us expand our operations. We already fly a very successful fleet of Citation CJ1+, CJ2+, CJ3 and Sovereign aircraft, so we know our customers appreciate Cessna's trademark combination of speed, comfort and reliability. Building on that fleet, the additional range, speed, payload and cabin comfort of the CJ4 will allow us to further expand the scope and effectiveness of our charter services throughout the European Union and into Russia.

"Furthermore, the CJ4 shares a common pilot type rating with the other CJs, meaning our CJ pilots are already rated to fly it, so we can integrate the aircraft seamlessly into our fleet and begin charter operations straight away."

The CJ4 is the newest and largest member of the CJ family and is approved for single-pilot operations. The aircraft gained type certification from EASA in May this year. It has a range of 2,002 nautical miles and a top speed of 453 knots.

Manufacturer Cessna has been using all the digital options to promote the aircraft including a video on its YouTube channel, and updates on its Twitter page at #fly_cessna and on its Facebook page.