Mann Air Charter’s recently set-up charter fleet has now started operations from the UK’s Gloucestershire Airport. Under the umbrella of parent company The Mann Organisation, the company operates two Piper PA-31 Navajos and two PA-34 Senecas. Executive chairman Ray Mann said: “We secured our AOC last September and we’re now releasing our fleet of four

to the public. We will basically carry out on-demand flights, which I expect to be to regional UK and northern European destinations for up to eight passengers.”

The aircraft have all been refurbished in the company’s colours and have recently been refitted internally. “Prior to this AOC, the aircraft have been carrying out work for our other subsidiaries. My company [The Mann Organisation] is involved in a number of different areas of business, including TV tube glass re-processing, repair and refurbishment of mobile telephones and the trading of electronic equipment. We came to the conclusion that if private aviation advanced our business, it had the potential to advance other people’s businesses,” said Mann.

We asked the entrepreneur if he had encountered any difficulties starting a business in an industry, in which he didn’t have a great deal of background. He replied: “Not really, because you can always call upon specialists. The most important thing is to run it within regulations and attend to commercial requirements. The business hasn’t changed just because we’re flying aircraft.

“Our market research showed that availability was the key, because in this area there aren’t too many charter services to choose from. Also, they tend to be quite expensive and people are often limited to flying from bigger hubs, which can prove cumbersome.”

Typically the aircraft will be making flights of inside two hours, to destinations including Paris, Düsseldorf and southern parts of Sweden, along with the UK and Ireland. “There’s been a tremendous amount of interest from potential charterers. We were pleased to find that people wanted this service, but weren’t aware that they could have it at an affordable price. When customers look at their real costs, whether it’s individuals or business travellers, it can prove costlier to make an overnight stop-over. Many companies aren’t used to having their aviation on tap and with these smaller aircraft, we can access a number of locations,” said Mann.

The company has found that its host airfield, Gloucestershire Airport, has been very positive about the development of business aviation at the site. “The management here has been very supportive of us and the location is perfectly suited to our operations. It has handling systems, receptions, briefing requirements, hangarage and traffic control.

“In the future we hope to be adding more aircraft and moving some of the charter routes (as they become more regular) to scheduled or semi-scheduled arrangements, so that they become available to everybody,” he added.