Adding to its uniform Citation fleet, Vienna’s Bannert Air has recently purchased a Citation II making it the company’s second. The charter broker also manages a Citation I and III, all available on its AOC. “We’ve had one Citation II since 1996, but we’ve been sub-chartering so much over the last 24 months that we felt it was definitely time to double up capacity. Since its introduction the aircraft has worked every day without any ground time, because the business was already there,” said Bannert owner, Rene Popp.

The former Austrian Airlines pilot explained the choice: “The market is growing stronger and stronger

every month, although only for jets. We had considered buying a King Air, but we found that even turboprops are not popular any more.” Consequently, Popp recently sold a Piper Chieftain after business weakened for the aircraft.

“The market generally starts at the Citation II, because sometimes even the Citation I is not accepted. Customers appreciate having more space and the Citation II is about the minimum standard you can

put on the market for frequent use and for good commercial business,” said Popp.

He added: “We searched the market for quite a long time before deciding upon this aircraft. The main problem at the moment seems to be deciding whether to buy an aircraft from abroad or not, as compliance with the new European regulations may require an upgrade.” This Citation II was previously operated by the Swedish airforce, mainly for the Swedish royal family and their guests.

“We equipped it with a new interior; it has a seven-seat arrangement with a centre club configuration. The toilet seat is also certified as a seat, but our company doesn’t offer this. Both our aircraft have a full galley and often we fly our smaller aircraft with a flight attendant, because it’s more important in a smaller aircraft to have someone serving you so that the aircraft doesn’t feel too small,” he added.

Popp predicts that the aircraft will make a number of flights up to places such as Tel Aviv and Beirut.

“People are actually looking for these smaller aircraft, which allow the customer to travel at speed and the right sized cabin for within Europe.” In the future Bannert Air may also be looking into the longer range jets: “We now feel it may be necessary to move to a second manufacturer as well as Cessna.

“There have been more and more requests for long range aircraft, flying to destinations such as Dubai, the United States, Asia and deep into Russia (whilst avoiding fuel stops),” said Popp.