Ineke Obma-Bruyn has taken over the failing Executive Flight Service’s facilities – which she sold two years ago – and rebranded it as Emerald Flight Service. “It didn’t work out for the gentleman who I sold the company to. I felt he made the name so bad that it was better to simply change it,” she explained.

Obma-Bruyn had previously built up the company over more than a decade and says she was so annoyed to see the company run down, that she wrote into a newspaper to vent her anger. “I was having a break from the industry. I really didn’t want to work anymore but when I saw what had happened, I had to come back,” she said.

The FBO is based at Dusseldorf Airport, which Obma-Bruyn says caters very well for business aviation: “I rent the premises from the airport and we’re in a very good location. Once the company starts re-establishing itself, I will be looking to move back into aircraft management and I want to attract back my old customers.” The general manager joked that she had no plans for a second retirement in the near future.