One year after starting charter operations with a single Citation Excel, Swiss Executive Aviation says its first twelve months of business have been particularly successful. The business was started by Gunter Knall and Mauricio Dellocchio. Knall told EBAN: “We are very happy with our first year. We are a new company in quite a tough market and we’ve had a really good start due to the fact that we didn’t begin at point zero.

“We already had a number of clients and contacts who we’ve built up from years in the business.”

The tough market to which Knall alludes has been caused by increasingly low charter prices. He explained: “It’s difficult to compete with a price level which is always going down. You have to calculate very narrow margins and they’re getting smaller all the time.

“My feeling is that there are more and more private owners on the market who are increasingly prepared to lower their prices in order to

have their aircraft in the air, and thereby gain some return on

their investments.”

Despite the presence of more corporate aircraft and in particular more Citation Excels, Swiss Executive says it has remained profitable because of a few clients who fly a large numbers of hours. “We have three or four customers who fly more than 150 hours each so this, coupled with ad hoc charters, gives us a satisfactory income,” said Knall.

Last year, Swiss Executive’s Excel flew roughly 500 hours, making use of its 2,000nm range all across Europe and into parts of North Africa. This summer, Spain has been a particularly popular destination.

In order to supplement the income gained from the Excel, Swiss Executive also has its eyes on a Gulfstream IV which a private client is currently looking to place on its management books. Commercial director Mauricio Dellocchio explained that a decision had to be made recently, between the 604, the Falcon 2000 and the GIV.

He said: “We both like the Falcon and the Challenger but the GIV provides that little bit more range that the client needs for his trips. And with the market as confused as it is at present, you can get a GIV for pretty much the same price as a Falcon 2000 and a Challenger 604. With the economy as depressed as it is, prices have come down a lot.

Once the deal goes through, Dellocchio says he expects the GIV to do slightly fewer charter hours than the Excel – somewhere in the region of 300 to 400 per year.

Swiss Executive’s long-term plan is to have five or six aircraft on its books, and to this end is already negotiating possible management contracts for another Excel and a Falcon 2000. “We’re not in a hurry,” said Dellocchio. “For us it is more important that we provide a Swiss quality standard which in my opinion, the country lost a long time ago. Our aim is to regain this standard for our customers.”

In addition to its charter work, the company brokers mid to long range aircraft from other operators in Europe with whom special agreements have been made. Said Dellocchio: “Due to our extensive long-term experience in this field, we are able to provide our clientele with very advantageous rates.”