Germany’s Stuttgarter Flugdienst (SFD) has recently added a managed Citation Bravo to its fleet of

Cessna aircraft. Works manager and executive director Andreas Mundsinger told EBAN: “We decided to get this Bravo as part of our fleet renewal. We think it is an appropriate jet for us at

the moment.”

The jet has been in service with aircraft operator Kuri Flugdienst since 1999 and SFD hopes to keep it operational for at least the next five to ten years. “The Bravo compliments our existing fleet very well,”

said Mundsinger.

“It has a good range of up to

2,960 km, which is somewhere between the SII and the Citation V. It also has a cruise speed of up to 470 mph and can reach altitudes of

45,000 feet.

“It has seven passenger seats, modern and state-of-the art avionics systems in the cockpit and two Pratt & Whitney PW 530A engines."

Working from Friedrichshafen Airport, the twinjet will predominantly serve the economic regions of Upper Swabia, Lake Constance, Vorarlberg and eastern Switzerland. Said Mundsinger: “It is not an area like the southern parts of Germany near Stuttgart, where

many big companies are based and operate from.

“The businesses are much smaller in these areas and the type of business there varies.

“We both hope and think that there will be a lot of demand in the future, because another problem for Friedrichshafen is that there are not as many scheduled flights as there have been previously.

“It allows much more flexibility and enables customers to fly

to their destinations whenever

they want.”

The Bravo will cost customers 2,280 euros per flight hour, including all costs. The landing fees are approximately 300 euros within Germany and 380 euros for international destinations. Mundsinger maintains that these are competitive prices. “It’s a little under what you would pay for the Citation V, but a little higher than costs for the SII. It’s somewhere in the middle of the two!”

This Citation Bravo is the sixth jet in the SFD fleet and also the sixth Cessna aircraft operated by the company. Why then, are Citations so popular with SFD? Mudsinger explained: “When we started with SFD in 1997, first we had a Citation II, then came an SII, then the V and then the III.

“Operating one product makes it more economical for the crews and maintenance and also for operational reasons,” said the executive director.

As far as plans to operate other manufacturers’ aircraft or to add to the fleet again in the near future, Mundsinger is open-minded. “I don’t know if there is any investor who wants to buy a Lear or a Challenger, but it would be no problem for us to operate these aircraft.

“That said, it would be quite a challenge to promote a Learjet,

for example, to our current

Citation customers.”