Jet Netherlands has obtained its first AOC, in order to commercially operate a Falcon 50 recently added to its management fleet. The company, which formed in January last year, will offer the aircraft directly to clients and through brokers, including its preferred partner Excellent Air. The four-year-old Falcon was bought from Lisbon's Heliavia via Dassault.

“The owner hired us to do an investigation to see which aircraft would most suit his needs for the best price. The trips he will be making are all long range (around seven or eight hours), so we wanted an aircraft without any ETOPS limitations. He is also only travelling with a maximum of four people, which doesn’t necessitate a wide-bodied aircraft.

“Our client had owned in the past, so he was aware of which configuration best suited his needs. This model is a nine-seat aircraft with four club seating at the front,” said company director Willem de Kruif.

The Falcon 50 will be offered out to charter for around 500 hours a year, while the owner will use it for long haul flights totalling around 300 hours a year. “The aircraft is very competitive for long range flights. It’s considerably cheaper than the Falcon 900 and 2000 and this makes it interesting for the commercial market.

“It’s already done quite a few trips around Europe, even though July and August are traditionally slow months. We have quite a few options out also for long range flights, mainly to the US and Far East,” he added.

The aircraft has already attracted some important customers: “Through our own network we recently performed our first royal flight for the Dutch Royal Family.

This matches our ambition to be a very high-end operator in the region,” said de Kruif.

Jet Netherlands is now looking to expand on its management contracts, as well as increasing

its participation in maintenance. “We are a young company but we have very experienced people working here.

“We have a number of ideas and plans, but are focussed on developing one after another. The aim is to grow, preferably with high-end jets, but we have also defined a definite need in the mid-range sector,” he said.