Italy’s Delta Aerotaxi seems to be going from strength to strength. As well as recently acquiring a

new Citation X, ordering a new Falcon 2000 and seven Citation Mustangs, it has recently had a brand new general aviation terminal built at Florence airport.

Chief pilot Carlo Panerai said: “This is the first and only general aviation terminal in Florence. It is located on the west side of the airfield. The old one was just a sort of shack that we used for seven years, with great satisfaction I must add, but it is completely different to this new one.

“I am embarrassed that we stayed in it for so long, but when you are in Rome, as they say, you must do as the Romans do,” he said.

Panerai was keen to talk about the new facility’s amenities: “We have a lobby where the pilots can check in and they have a briefing room, which is fully automated so that they can get weather information,” he said.

“At the moment we’ve got two stations – there will eventually be three when the terminal is completely finished.” The company is currently in the process of moving everything into the new building. “There are two separate lounges for snoozing, watching TV or just relaxing. We also have a meeting room, which is available upon request and we have computers, projectors and everything else people would need in order to hold conferences, for example,” he said.

Delta Aerotaxi has built the terminal on the west side of the airport, because this was the location designated by the authorities to be the general aviation area. The east side is dedicated to the commercial airlines. Panerai is confident that the company will not encounter any competition at its new base. “I don’t think any other companies will build here, because the land is very limited. The airport itself does not exceed the two million-passenger mark anyway,” he said, “therefore, according to European law, a second handler would not be allowed in. It’s quite small; it’s a city airport.”

World current affairs seem to be having an impact on the aviation market. Panerai told us about the company’s slightly unusual year so far. “This year has been a weird year. Normally our peak months are May, June and July, with a level-off in August and then September and October are fairly normal,” he said. “We have experienced the worst year in our history this year in terms of movements and we have observed the size of the aircraft shrink down to an average of 10 tonnes, as opposed to an average of 25 tonnes last year.” Panerai believes that it may have something to do with US market: “I think it has to do with the Americans – they fly the big birds, the GIV, the Global Express and similar aircraft. We haven’t seen many of those this year,” he said. “Now in September, we’re seeing a lot of them, but I’m not sure why. It may well have something to do with terrorism, political issues or the SARS outbreak – it could be a combination of things,” he concluded.

Speed was the primary reason behind the decision to add a new Citation X to the fleet. Panerai explained about the company’s relationship with Cessna. “We have been with the Cessna family for a long, long time. We have bought, on average, one Cessna aircraft every other year in the last 15 years, so we have become quite involved with them,” he said. “After the Excel, it was a natural choice to go to the X. With the mission lengths that we fly, we felt that even though the X has a smaller cabin compared to a Challenger or a Falcon, this would be compensated by the speed of the aircraft. That turned out to be true on flights over 1,000 miles.” Panerai told us about the actual speed of the aircraft: “We fly at 520 knots all the time and that’s a very high speed compared to other aeroplanes. Even with fast flying aircraft like Falcons, we still operate at about 100 knots faster,” he said. “It flies at Mach 92 – that’s 92 per cent of the speed of sound. Just a little faster and you would be supersonic, but obviously you can’t do that at the moment!” said Panerai.

As long as customers are more interested in speed, than a spacious interior, Panerai believes that the Citation X is perfect. “Customers have mixed emotions about this aircraft – people love it and people hate it. The sporty type of customer who doesn’t care about plush, roomy or lavish interiors, they love it because of the speed,” he said. “But some people just like the space; they prefer the idea of a big cabin so that they can have plenty of room.”

The longest flight that Delta Aerotaxi has flown so far with the Citation X is a six-hour mission to Kazakhstan; it was also the furthest destination at 3,000 miles. Panerai told us about how quickly the time can go when you are travelling on a charter flight: “The average time onboard is between one and a half to four hours; it’s really not that much. We have an excellent service onboard with vip catering, flight attendants, hot and cold beverages, Champagne, fine wines, movies and an internet connection – so I think that the time really does fly by,” he said.

Business customers and professional people are the biggest customers for this aircraft. Panerai spoke about some of the missions that have been flown: “We’ve flown missions throughout the Middle East; Dubai, Sudan, Lagos, Nigeria and Ghana – to name only a few locations,” he said.

The company expects to fly 500 hours per year in the Citation X.

We asked Panerai about the other new aircraft currently on order and why it had been chosen by Delta Aerotaxi. “When it comes to the Falcon 2000, it was the cabin size that really appealed to me. Also, in my opinion, the quality of the aerodynamics of the French manufacturers is second to none,” he said. “We expect to take delivery of the 2000 within the next few months.”