Portuguese company Omni, Aviacao

e Tecnologia is expanding. At the

end of February it will start

operating a Saab 2000 as part of

its scheduled commuter operations

for PGA Express.

“We started operating two

BE1900Ds in June 2001 because we

felt that they were very reliable

aircraft,” said marketing and

commercial director, Pedro Caneira.

“There are other aircraft with a

similar kind of capacity, but one thing

that is quite important is to be able

to stand up inside the cabin. The

C and D model of this aircraft both

have the same capacity capabilities,

but on the D model passengers can

stand up. We had customer demand

for this type of cabin.

“When we started operating

these aircraft, it was a completely

new project for us. We based

ourselves in Lisbon and we do nightstops

in Valencia and Bilbao in

Spain,” he said. “We have one

aircraft overnighting at each

destination. Then there are cities that

are served by these aircraft. We

do regular flights to La Coruña,

Bilbao, Valladolid, Valencia and

Malaga. These destinations were

chosen by the client PGA, who wetlease

the two aircraft.

“Very occasionally we do charter

operations with the aircraft and this is

also managed by PGA,” Caneira

continued. “If a flight is cancelled,

PGA might consider doing a private

charter and it does happen, but it’s

quite unusual.”

The aircraft fly every day – from

Sunday through to Saturday on their

scheduled commuter operation

throughout Spain.

“We also operate a fleet

comprising a Learjet 31, two B200s, a

Turbo Commander and a B222 twin

helicopter,” he said.

“We started with one of the B200s

in 2000 and the other in 2002. The

first is based in Portugal and has 13

seats and the other, which is based in

Azores, has six seats.

“With the 13-seat B200, we used to

fly a regional commuter here in

Portugal between Vila Real and

Bragança, which are in the north of

Portugal. This was more-or-less a

public service, it was sponsored by

the government, so we connected the

north-east of Portugal to Lisbon,” he

explained. “We used to fly from

Monday to Friday twice a day, but this

ended last August, so we are now

operating the 13-seater for charter.

“We also operate the other aircraft

in the fleet for charter. We mostly

transport vips and some corporate

business people, but our main

business comes from our private

customers,” Caneira continued.

“For the helicopter we mainly

see business from private customers

and the Learjet has more interest

from corporate clients, but it

varies a lot.”

The B222 twin helicopter can

be configured to undertake

medevac work. The Learjet is also

involved in repatriations, often as

many as 10-15 a year. “It obviously

depends,” he said.

“There are some months where

that service is not required, but others

where there might be several

requests. It is more dedicated to

charter than medevac, but it is fully

configured for when we need it. It has

a spectrum kit which is installed and

it becomes 100 per cent certified for

medevac operations.

“Generally insurance companies,

private companies and some travel

agencies will approach us to charter

the aircraft for medevac work, if they

become aware that a person will

not be able to fly on a commercial

aircraft, or if it is an emergency,”

he explained. “They know that we

are available.”

Private aviation has never been

that prominent in Portugal,

according to Caneira. “It is also a

tough market because the economic

situation of the country is not very

good either,” he said.

“I think it’s a long-term process

trying to bring more people to use

this kind of service. In some cases it’s

competitive with regular airlines, but

our aim is to bring more and more

customers to see the benefits of

chartering an aircraft.

“There are other charter

companies in Portugal which means

more competition for us.”

Omni is also the sole supplier to

the National Emergency Service

providing two EMS helicopters, a Bell

222, based at Tires Airfield, near

Lisbon, and a Bell 430, based in

Oporto, to serve the northern region

of the country.