Dublin-based Airlink Airways has taken delivery of a Learjet 31A, which recently completed its first revenue flight for the company, and is expecting to acquire a second before the end of the year.

Operations manager Ray Mills told EBAN: “We chose the Learjet 31A because of its speed and we

actually got a good deal on it. We saw it was operating in Europe and we were in the market for a jet; we

saw the machine, liked it and the deal went from there.”

Airlink also operates a Piper Chieftain and Cessna 340 and has been outsourcing a jet for the past year from other operators, which encouraged the company to purchase the Learjet 31A.

“We built up enough business to justify having a jet of our own,” said Mills. “We’re doing somewhere around 350 to 400 jet charter flight hours per year. With the advent of our own aircraft here we hope to increase that significantly.”

The company had previously considered acquiring a Cessna Citation but opted for the Learjet 31A when it appeared on the market. “We did the costing and compared it with the Citations for the sort of runs we are doing,” said Mills. “It’s ideal for flights in and out of mid-Europe and to Eastern Europe; there is quite a lot of business out of Ireland to those areas and to places like Malaga and Faro.”

Airlink is hoping to take delivery of a second Learjet before the end of the year and is considering the purchase of a Citation to corner the area of the market which is not covered by the Learjet.

“One of the advantages of the Citation is that it will go into airfields that the Learjet won’t go into,” Mills added, “like London City where, with the advent of an FBO there and the introduction of business aircraft, I reckon there’s a lot of business to be had out of Dublin for flights in and out of London City but unfortunately the Lear cannot do that.”

Mills is hoping that the company will build on its success with the new aircraft, which will support its ad hoc charter flight service and regular client base. “We secured the JAR OPS licence last October so we’re building from there – I don’t think we’ve done too badly since then,” he concluded.