Solid Handling is branching into the charter market with the creation of a new executive charter service office, under the name Solid Executive, based at Niederrhein, Germany. It is due to begin operating in August.

The aim is to provide a business charter service that includes all handling services at Niederrhein and, if the venture is deemed profitable, the company will become a separate GmbH and base aircraft there for the sole use of Solid Executive. The company will use the AOC of charter operator Solid Air, based at Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Solid Handling and Executive md Rob de Man said: “We have always had the idea that a general office at Niederrhein will give a more win-win situation.

“The creation of Solid Executive is a logical step based on ideas from the past and my wish to fly and earn money doing so. Niederrhein is a new airport with no general aviation so Solid Executive, as a subsidiary of Solid Handling, will provide a very efficient and effective service.”

The company will operate flights on an ad hoc basis, but aims to have a client base for regular flights. “We will try to have some structure – we are looking for firms who are regularly flying out from the Düsseldorf area,” said de Man.

“In Germany a lot of big companies have their own aircraft, whereas that’s not so common in Holland. There is a lot of demand based on turboprops.”

The company, which will operate alongside Solid Handling at Niederrhein with backup from Solid Air, currently has access to a Cessna CJ2, Bravo, 650 and a Falcon 20. If demand rises for turboprop flights, it will look into acquiring a King Air 200 or 350.

“My goal is to base a Citation here and, in the future, a turboprop aircraft,” he commented. “We

will hope for 300 to 350 hours of charter flight for each aircraft per year. The other aircraft will be based at Eindhoven.”

De Man believes that the German charter market is strong enough to support new operators and is hoping that Solid will be successful at the small Niederrhein airport. “I think we will be able to break into the market because we also have the handling agency and our private airline,” he said. “It’s a young airport so everything is new and everyone is enthusiastic, and the infrastructure here is very good for the future.

“We have to grow with the airport, in general aviation terms. Also, Monchengladbach is nearby and the runway is too short for 747s so they’re thinking of closing it. A request has been made for an enlargement of the runway but it’s not clear if that will happen. The effect it will have is that people will go to Düsseldorf or Niederrhein. In my opinion there will be a dividing of business; people going to the North instead of the South.”

The recent expansion of the EU offers some potential for increased charter custom, which Solid aims to capitalise on. “A lot of companies are coming into the area and a lot of people are now coming in from the East because the European market is open, so we see a lot of movement,” said de Man. “We wanted to explore this now and not in half a year otherwise someone else would have beaten us to it.“