Sales broker TSH One is offering another two aircraft for both dry and wet leasing, after recently expanded its services. Company president Thierry S. Huguenin explained the move: “We previously concentrated on brokering aircraft sales, but moved into leasing because many of our clients had asked for the option to lease an aircraft before buying it. The addition of the Lear 35 and 55 to our books is a response to the increased demand for this service.” TSH One operates from offices in both Miami and Geneva, the latter having opened in March this year to allow the company a direct link with its European customers.

“I’ve been selling aircraft for nearly ten years. Originally the company sold smaller aircraft but over time it graduated to concentrating solely on jets and turboprops,” said Huguenin. The company works closely with German charterers FAI Air Service, which owns all of the aircraft currently offered by TSH One. The fleet includes a Citation I and II (which are leased out at present), a Citation V, Lear 35A and a Lear 55.

Huguenin explained: “We dry lease on contracts ranging from three months to two years. This arrangement hands the operating of the aircraft completely in the hands of the client, for a monthly fee.” The company said that the wet leasing arrangement is basically a long term charter, whereby it still manages the aircraft and provides the crew et al . When the aircraft are not in action, FAI houses them at its own hangar facilities based in Nuremberg, where the company is JAR OPS1 and JAR 145 approved.

The Citation I is currently leased to a businessman based in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, who has taken advantage of the ‘suck it and see’ method. Huguenin said: “I think the business aviation market is building up in Eastern Europe and I foresee a great deal of business coming from that direction.” The company is also in talks with several European clients, in an effort to persuade owners to lease their aircraft when not in use. Huguenin added: “In Europe we have quite a high demand for dry lease because its a very flexible system. The clients are generally operators themselves rather than corporates, who use this supplementary service to try out an aircraft before purchase.”

Although THS One is not Citation specific, it has acquired a reputation for dealing with Citations. “We started by brokering Citations and then it became more appealing for Citation owners to list their aircraft with us, because we had a reputation for dealing with the aircraft. Nevertheless we now offer the Lear 35 and 55 and I have recently sold a Beech C90A, so it’s not simply Citations that we work with.”

The diversification by the company has opened up a new market in contrast to the currently stagnant sales market. Huguenin admitted: “It has been tough to persuade potential buyers to make an offer, because they have been waiting until the market bottomed out. I do however believe that people now feel that prices have reached their lowest point, so a little more activity is occurring.”

Customers come from both Europe and the US, and being in the position to assess both markets, the company has found that the slow down in the US sales market has knocked onto the European market. Huguenin added: “The used market has also been hit by an increase in the production of new aircraft, although I do feel the prices of used aircraft are more realistic today than they were a year ago.”