A stretcher-equipped Super King Air 200 is about to enter charter service in the South West of England, owned and flown by Capital Aviation.

Operations manager Lisa Humphries has already dispatched pilots for training and expects the aircraft to be at work early in June. She believes that there will be significant demand for the turboprop from the outset, based on soundings taken from prospective customers and air charter brokers. "Everyone says there is a need for another King Air for charter, and there is no other one in the South West on an AOC," she said.

It will be based at Filton airport, near Bristol, which is a BAe Systems factory site now looking to expand its other aviation activities. Capital is currently the only business operator at Filton, but considers the base to be ideally located just ten minutes from the centre of Bristol. The quiet nature of the airport means that clients can gain access to the aircraft very quickly, while still benefiting from the long runway, ILS and good motorway connections.

Capital's fleet until now has comprised two Chieftains, two Cessna 421s, one Cessna 404 Titan, and the company reports that these fly for between four and six companies a day, seven days a week. They are also used as freighters, air ambulances and for transplant flights.

Last month a Cessna 310 was added to the fleet, and this is permanently based in Jersey. Capital has managed a Citation I for the past eighteen months on behalf of a private owner, and is keen to develop this aspect of the business too.

The Super King Air has been at Plymouth Executive for maintenance prior to entering service, and is to be fitted with a basic AvFab stretcher kit for transporting sick passengers. At the end of this year it will be painted into Capital colours, having already received its trademark vip registration, G-KVIP.

Capital Aviation was established in 1991 by husband and wife team, Lisa and chief pilot Malcolm Humphries, and began by flying a Cessna 421 owned by the chairman of a steel company. Other aircraft followed, along with a regular contract to link the BAe factory sites at Filton and Chester. Now Lisa believes that the future lies in turboprops. She told EBAN that the aircraft will break even at between 300 and 400 hours of flying per year, and that she is confident of achieving at least this. "There is a big market for ambulance work," she said.