Holland’s newest charter company, Air Service Groningen, has started operating flights from Groningen Airport with a Cessna F406 Caravan II.

General manager Marcel Nijmeijer spoke to EBAN about the foundation of the new company. “We were

fired from our former company, so our chief pilot, captain and myself had to find a new company to work for,” said Nijmeijer. “As we were unable to find one, we decided to start our own company.”

Air Service, which acquired its AOC in April, operates a Cessna F406 Caravan II for a private owner, and believes that this is the ideal way to test the water. “With our present arrangement with the owner, we lease the aircraft by the hour,” said Nijmeijer. “It’s a good financial beginning for us because when we’re not flying, we are not paying any costs.

The Caravan II will be used for charter flights, donor organ transportation, other medical flights and sightseeing trips. “There are no scheduled flights; all of our charters are on an ad hoc basis,” he said. “We are hoping for between 20-40 hours of charter per month initially.

“We will be flying the aircraft around Europe. Scandinavia, Germany and France will be our key destinations,” he added.

Two things in particular attracted Air Service to the Caravan II: “Low cost and high speed,” said Nijmeijer. “Without the need for a pressurised cabin, the price is less. It’s ideal for us.

“We would like a King Air B200 but its quite expensive, so we opted for an aircraft that offered good performance at a lower cost,” he continued. “The Caravan II is less expensive than the B200, but better than a Piper Chieftain, for example.”

Air Service is optimistic about its future, with plans for rapid growth. “We are hoping to have a second Caravan II by the end of next month. I hope we can also get a B200 by the end of this year, but it’s unlikely,” Nijmeijer added.

The company has received a warm welcome from its growing number of customers, and hopes to establish a strong reputation as an operator. “Everybody is pleased to see us in business again,” said Nijmeijer. “They like the service we offered with Quick in the last 25 years and we’ll try to offer the same for the next 25 years with our own company.

“We will also be operating

with Dynamic Excel, a company based in Rotterdam and Maastricht,” he added.