CAT Aviation has consolidated its position in Switzerland’s management arena by adding a second Falcon 900EX to its fleet. “With the first one came the second, because of the synergies with the crew, insurance and so on.

“We want to add a further one so we have three additional aircraft under our management in the near future. Since around December the market has been rising very well and we see there is further potential in the market. Some of this is due to the obvious security issues,” said cfo, Patrick Landolt.

The aircraft will mainly be used by its owner, becoming available for around 15 per cent of flight time for the charter market.

Landolt said: “The charter market has been very open to this and I was very surprised how easily we could place it on the market. In the long-range market the 900EX is a very good product. It will fly, for example, from Zurich to Beijing or Zurich to Chicago.

“In fact, most of our flights are to the US. We have also made a few flights to South America, which we can make non-stop from Zurich. It has a stand-up cabin and carries 14 passengers. The seats can be turned into five beds, so it’s perfect for overnight intercontinental flights,” he added.

The company now has a fleet consisting of the two Falcon 900EXs, a Hawker 800 and a Citation II (which is now for sale, after being taken off the AOC).