On the face of it, the sale of a Citation II by Nuremberg’s FAI Air Service to a mortgage group in the UK, is just another business jet transaction. However, upon closer inspection,

it becomes clear that the

German company is making a determined shift from Cessna to Bombardier aircraft.

EBAN spoke to Siegfried Axtmann to find out why. FAI’s managing director said: “Two years ago we had only Citations in service – no Learjets whatsoever. However, within the last two years, we’ve replaced two Citations with two Learjets and we are now looking for a third Learjet, which will probably be a Lear 55.”

According to Axtmann, the change has nothing to do with the reliability of the aircraft or issues of customer service. Instead, it surrounds the type of missions FAI is increasingly using the aircraft for.

He explained: “We’re stepping out of the Citation business more and more because our main focus is the air ambulance scene. The Citations are too slow and have too limited range for our medevac requirements, especially when we fly to Africa and the Middle East.

“Our executive operations in Europe are very small now and we are not trying to expand them.”

It is a well-known fact now that there are many executive aircraft operators competing for vip charter market custom, but only relatively few air ambulance specialists picking up the EMS work.

Said Axtmann: “We’ve been in the air ambulance business for 15 years now and everybody knows us. It’s a question of connections and reliability. The insurance industry is very sensitive and if they don’t know you as a long-term specialist in the business, they won’t use you.

“What’s more, in terms of profit margins, you’ve got to remember that there are no significant changes in the basic costs from vip to medevac work, but you can easily produce 80

hours with an air ambulance for

a month. Conversely, it’s quite impossible to produce 80 hours with an executive jet.”

In the last few weeks, FAI’s 12-year-old Lear 35 has returned to the fleet with a new painted exterior and completely new interior. And in the next few weeks, the company’s Lear 55 – which has recently been leased out to Malta’s Eurojet – will be be back on the charter market, also sporting a new paint job.

Said Axtmann: “We missed the Lear 55 while it was out on lease and that is the reason why we didn’t renew the contract. Quite simply, we were unable to cover our needs while it was away – there is a lot of air ambulance work it is being lined up for.”