The only A319CJ to have entered service in the UK has completed its first charter mission. European Business Air News spoke to Steve Wells, commercial manager for Twinjet Aircraft Sales, regarding world response to its availability for charter.\rWells said: "We've already conducted one flight and the other flight commences next week. While both are for a major entertainment company, flying two different female celebrities, the first flight was over a 10-day period and covered in the region of seven or eight European cities including Paris, Dublin, Madrid and Cologne. We carried up to 28 passengers with varying loads, and many of the departures were after midnight."\r"We've since noticed that several other requests have come in for January, February and March, 2000, all of a very similar nature. They are through various brokers so I don't know whether they are the same companies but certainly it has made its mark."\rOne particular advantage the customer receives with the A319CJ, says Luton-based Twinjet, is the ability to take off after midnight, due to its compliance with Stage III noise regulations. Wells said: "We don't have the problem with noise restrictions that they've had before with older type aircraft so its a great advantage, particularly if the customer is involved in late night shows, for example."\r"Another advantage is the storage space. With regard to the trip that we are conducting next week, I have provided all the hold dimensions so that the client can actually build the set equipment to go in through the doorway and fit in the hold. "They'll use the aircraft as a moving hotel for a week, leaving equipment and belongings onboard, if necessary." \rOnce in the aircraft, Twinjet says the configuration is flexible enough to suit the customer's needs. Wells explained: "While the celebrity always appears to be in one of the front two cabins, the next tier of management in the other cabin and the entourage further towards the back, they all have ample freedom to mingle. \r"They seem to have enjoyed the fact that they have a separate area for themselves but are still in contact with everybody else."\rAt this early stage, Twinjet is quick to remind us that its A319CJ is far from revealing its full potential. Wells said: "So far, we've only conducted short flights with the client, one to two hours in general, so we haven't seen its long-range capability being used yet."\rAs well as the interest from the entertainment market, Twinjet has also dealt with enquiries from foreign governments. He told EBAN: "I think, with the plane as it stands at the moment, most business will be from an entertainment and foreign government source. We seem to have had a lot of requests for that. \r"I am 100 per cent sure that UK government work will follow in due course - we've certainly made some quotations for various trips - but at the moment, most of the requests for this type of work have been for flights to African states.\r"Cost-wise, we're still way way above some of the old 727s that are being touted around Africa. However, it's a matter of perceptions. I believe there's a Far East government delegation doing a tour of Africa early next year and as far as I'm aware, they stipulate the requirement for an aircraft to be less than five years old. Clearly, that puts us in the forerunning there."\rWith regard to a special millennium trip for the A319CJ, Twinjet hasn't received any interest yet but that may still change, says Wells.\r"The market was fairly well booked up in the middle of the summer when, of course, we didn't have the AOC. So we weren't actively marketing at that stage but there's still some interest there and bookings can still be made at the last minute."\rJohn Keeble, Twinjet's marketing director, added that a large part of Twinjet's success lies in the fact that the company chooses staff carefully, boasting as it does, a long tradition in the business of corporate flying. \rHe told EBAN: "We are in the habit of employing bright, clued-up people and in meal service terms, for example, we've developed a grazing system whereby we don't necessarily produce a formal dinner straight after a client's concert or presentation. If they don't want to feel hemmed in, we can do burgers and dogs just as well as we can do Dover sole."\rTwinjet's A319CJ was completed in a configuration with three cabin areas; aft there are 24 first class reclining seats and forward there are two lounge areas with double divans. The aircraft has individual in-flight entertainment equipment allowing each passenger to choose from a library of 200 DVDs. \rIt has an operational range of eight hours non-stop, bringing New York, Moscow and Dubai within reach of Luton, and from next spring the aircraft's range will be extended to 5,000 nautical miles, enabling a non-stop flight to Los Angeles.