Silesia Air is a charter company that has been operating in the Czech Republic for the past three years. Last summer, the company acquired a Cessna 560. Until that point, the company owned a Cessna 421, but updated its aircraft after identifying a need to bring better aircraft and a better service to the aviation market in Eastern Europe.

EBAN talked with company manager, Tomas Karhanek, to find out more about the business aviation market in that part of Europe.

“Our company is, I would say, one of the leading companies in the field of air ambulance in the Czech Republic,” he said. “We started this service with the Cessna 421, providing flight services for our daughter company Ambu Air, the Czech Republic’s sole independent air ambulance company, and following acquisition of the Cessna 560, we have extended our sphere of operations dramatically.

“We have now installed two stretchers in the 560, so the actual missions are much more effective with the jet aircraft.

“We can now fly much farther, so we have reached a major strategic goal with this new acquisition.

“We chose the Cessna 560 because it was the best aircraft for our operational requirements. We found that there was a good compromise between the actual cost of the aircraft and its performance. The majority of our customers are in Europe and wish to fly to other European destinations. The 560 can easily reach any destination in Europe, so it meets our requirements perfectly.

“We didn’t feel the need for an aircraft capable of longer distances, which is actually something that we feel the need for now,” he continued. “Our company has done a couple of very long range flights recently. We definitely have decided as a company to carry on with business jets only. Now we are basically trying to rethink the fleet and we are trying to work out which aircraft to run alongside the 560,” he explained.

According to Karhanek, Silesia Air is evaluating a number of smaller and larger executive jets to improve its current fleet. A decision will be made as to the exact fleet mix in the very near future.

“Our most notable medical repatriation happened when we flew a seriously wounded patient who did not have the proper medical insurance,” he said. “His family decided to organise and pay for the air ambulance themselves. Later this proved to be a decision which saved his life.”

He continued: “It’s obviously a very stressful situation when you get an injured or seriously ill patient onboard. This is when we are in

our element.”

Calls for vip charter and air ambulance operations can happen out of the blue, but the aircraft can be reconfigured in one hour. There is space for two patients requiring stretcher transportation. It is supported with oxygen and with electric power for the instruments that the medical team carry. Flights for medevac are always accompanied by a fully trained medical crew. There is one doctor and one nurse for

each mission.

“Our 560 is normally in an eight-seat configuration, with one jump-seat,” he said. “We also have a configuration for nine seats including one jump-seat. We use the eight-seat version for longer trips. We are obviously also able to decrease

the number of seats inside the aircraft, to enhance space within the cabin and improve passenger comfort,” he continued.

“We usually serve cold catering onboard. Our normal mode of operation is without a flight attendant but should our passengers request services, or should we feel it necessary to provide it, we can arrange for a flight attendant to be present. They help to serve our customers with the usual variety of hot and cold drinks, alcoholic beverages, as well as food. A hot meal can be served; even without any heating element onboard, we can keep the food hot.”

Karhanek believes that the charter market in Eastern Europe is heavily under-developed. Silesia Air says it is trying to fill that gap in the market. In order to bridge that gap, the company has already formed a marketing

and sales cooperation with the Austrian business aviation specialist and air charter broker, Aviation Business Consulting.

“I think that when the 10 new countries join the EU in May, new transportation possibilities will open up,” he said. “We will be allowed to operate abroad. This certainly

will lead to the broadening of the charter market.

“We have relocated from our old base in the north-east of the Czech Republic to Prague Airport,”

he explained.

“We are serviced by Aviation Service Handling, which is a new company there as well, taking care of our private jets. The better facility and service is definitely a step forward for our business.”