By way of a short addendum to the UK regional review which appeared in our last issue, a further four companies have submitted entries and are featured below. We begin with Oxford Aerocharter which operates a Citation Jet, a Citation Ultra and a Citation Excel from its operating base at Oxford Airport charged at £1,400, £1,600, and £2,600 per flying hour respectively. The company offers ad-hoc, corporate and vip operations and also boasts hangarage facilities at its base.

The company’s general plans for the future involve expansion and fleet increases which is endorsed

by the anticipated arrival of an Excel in February.

Charter manager Richard Birch believes that UK charter will grow during the coming year due to aviation security. He reports an increase in flying hours for Oxford Aerocharter over the last year and expects the same trend for the coming twelve months.

The success of the business, according to Birch, depends upon the quality of its service and demand for its aircraft types.

Twinjet Aircraft Sales operates its one Airbus A319CJ (charged at approximately $9,500 per hour) for corporate, Government and head of state flights. The company is based at Luton where it has company headquarters, operations, engineering and crew facilities.

On the horizon for the company is the addition of a challenger 604 to its AOC from April 2002. On the subject of future plans, commercial director Stephen Wells said: “We plan to steadily increase the number of aircraft under Twinjet management and expand the company into associated areas of aircraft operation.

Hours flown by Twinjet in the last year remained the same and Wells predicts that this will continue over the coming year. As for the UK as a whole, he expects no significant growth for the future twelve months.

As is surprisingly often the case, the company's most recent unusual flight request involved canine passengers, said Wells: “We had a serious request to carry five large Alsatian dogs from Malaga to Sydney.”

AD Aviation is based at Liverpool Airport, Manchester and Dublin. The company uses a Citation I and Citation II for 24-hour corporate and private charter and also offers brokerage. A second Citation II is expected to join the fleet in May 2002 and another is expected later in the year.

Operations manager Tracy Shaw told EBAN: “With our expansion to three aircraft and into Dublin, we will be able to offer the same tailored service to our Irish customers.”

The company boasts passenger handling, executive lounge, secure car park, vip catering, transport and conference facilities at its main operating base. Added Shaw: “Both aircraft are hangered and handled by Liverpool Aviation Services. This is a brand new facility for General Aviation at Liverpool Airport which includes secure parking, conference facilities, transport, executive passenger lounge and reception.”

Shaw expanded on AD Aviation’s future: “We hope to expand our core of regular and ad-hoc travellers, continuing to provide them with a safe, efficient and reliable service 24-hours a day.”

The company’s number of hours flown has increased steadily over the past two years, the growth will continue, according to Shaw, with a move to a 24-hour base at Liverpool, extra crew and the new aircraft.

On the reasons behind the success, she said: “Our success has grown due to a professional and friendly attitude towards both customers and brokers, added to a safe, reliable and confidential service, this has resulted in a large amount of repeat business.”

Shaw also expects positive things for the UK scene: “More people are coming to realise that private aircraft charter offers a fast and cost-effective way to do business around the UK and Europe.”

Signature Aircraft Charter’s main operating base for jets is London Luton, and for helicopters is

Denham and Blackbushe. Luton’s facilities include FBO and maintenance facilities and a jet charter team. Denham offers helicopter charter and maintenance.

The company’s fleet comprises one F900EX, one F2000, one GIV, three HS125 Hawkers, five Sikorsky S76s, one Agusta A109E Power, four AS355s and one MD 900 Explorer. Charging rates are tailored quotes for each operation.

The corporate flight operator is currently negotiating on a major new hangar and a Falcon 2000 has just been added to the fleet.

Last year the company’s number of hours flown decreased due to a fleet reduction caused by aircraft sales. Next year it expects hours to increase in a per aircraft basis. Plans for the future involve expansion of the charter fleet and an increase in the managed fleet.