On the day that Stuttgart charterer Industrieflug gained an AOC for its new CJ2 – October 18 – chief pilot Michael Hoeck called EBAN from Manchester in the UK to explain his first impressions of the aircraft. He had just arrived after the company’s first charter flight in the new jet.

Hoeck said: “The aircraft is really good. I’ve flown a Citation II and V before, and it’s much quieter, has much better heating and cooling systems, and obviously the avionics are very good.

“The passengers just loved the interior and the quietness. It’s configured for six passengers and we have the large galley instead of the seventh passenger seat.”

The aircraft’s first passengers included the head of a company based in the Manchester area. Previously, he had used Industrieflug’s King Air 200 for business flights. Said Hoeck: “The King Air we operate was built in 1994 so it’s much quieter than the older models. That said, we felt we needed a jet and obviously there’s a big difference between the King Air and the CJ2.”

This is the not the first time Industrieflug has turned its attention to a jet aircraft. Back in 1995, the company ordered a Premier I but because of the delays in its production, is likely not to continue with the order. Said Hoeck: “We’re not sure what we’ll do but we’ve still got the contract at the moment.

“The figures are getting increasingly worse with regard to this new aeroplane. They now want to use something like a 4,000 foot runway instead of the 3,000 feet they predicted in the first place. We

most probably won’t take it but it’s not definite.

“The problem, in my opinion, is that no one really cares about the aircraft and they [Raytheon] try to do too many things at once. Instead of trying to produce the Horizon and the Hawker 450 as well, they should just bring the Premier I to the market, make it good and then move on to the next one. That’s definitely something Cessna does a lot better – bringing good aircraft to market, on time.”

With regard to the current state of the charter market, Hoeck said: “It’s down the drain for the time being – that’s something we have in common with all the other charterers in Stuttgart. Clearly it has much to do with September 11 and the ensuing war in Afghanistan but I feel that for the jets at least, charter operators are starting to get bookings again, so we have some sort of recovery.”

Before the events of September 11, Hoeck says business had been good. He said: “By way of a comparison, last September we did 70 hours on the King Air and this year we did 27. It all came to a screaming halt. We had six or seven cancellations directly after the hit and things were generally very calm.” In Hoeck’s opinion people are still not flying a great deal, more because of finances than fear.

He said: ”I think it’s because a lot of businesses are afraid of spending money right now. They don’t know how things will develop with the war and they have instigated a policy of wait and see. It’s similar with the airlines – they’re flying around quite empty.

“We shouldn’t forget that we have some sort of recession at the moment.”