With the second largest business jet fleet (168), the UK is holding its own in the European market. Farnborough-based Gama Aviation, in its 21st year of operation, has noticed an increase in aircraft ownership in Europe over recent years.

The company operates a BBJ, Gulfstream IV and V, Challenger 601 and 604, Hawker 800 and 1000, Learjet 45 and Beech King Air 200s.

The Challengers are the largest aircraft the company operates for charter.

Project manager Dave Edwards told EBAN: “The bigger jets fly on a daily basis internationally, to the far ends of the Earth. The Learjets do a lot of the European work and the King Airs do mostly UK and close Europe work.

“The Learjet has been quite constant over the past six years, and we’ve seen a huge increase in demand for that aircraft. New technology is always more appealing to the market.

Ten years ago Gama was operating one Learjet 35, which had just entered service, a Citation I and II and three King Airs. It made the decision in 1999 to concentrate on management, having done management work in the previous 15 years.

“We made an active move towards that, starting with a Gulfstream in 2000 and from there the management fleet has grown quite significantly and reasonably quickly,” said Edwards.

“Aircraft ownership has grown significantly across Europe recently.

Gama believes that by concentrating on service it has maintained a healthy business since it began operating “Every operator seems to have one specific thing they market themselves on whether its price or service,” said Edwards. “We’ve always gone for service as the number one driver – of course we need to remain competitive, but service is what we’ve always prided ourselves on, with price coming a close second.

“During the past six years, quite a number of the UK players have gone under for one reason or another, and with it some of the smaller operators have gone as well,” he added.

“I have noticed in the last couple of years an increase in the smaller, single aircraft operators, which I don’t think many of us were expecting. It’s good for the customer as there’s more choice in the market for them and, for us, the competition’s always fun!

When you continue to get the business when there’s more competition then that’s rewarding for everyone who works for the company.”

Edwards cites the strength of the US dollar in the past 12 months as a key factor in the growing number of business jets in the UK. “We’ve seen more aircraft being bought in this period and, if you look at

the market, there’s a general feeling that more aircraft are being bought.”

A growing Europe Union offers new business opportunities from Eastern European countries – a market which Gama has already started to capitalise on. “We’ve been working with a number of clients for about four years now and we’ve been doing a lot of Eastern European work and we’ve seen the business out there expanding,” said Edwards. “I think the immediate effects have shown us a slight increase in charter to those areas but I think the expansion is really yet to be seen; it will take time to develop.

“All of these new markets are really interesting, Russia has been particularly big for us – it’s a significant market for all of the European operators.”

Regarding the future of business aviation in Europe, Edwards said: “I think there will be a shift away from fractional ownership. Since fractional ownership started over here it’s taken a long time to find its feet but I don’t think it’s got the market or benefits that it has in the States.

“It’s cheaper to charter an aircraft rather than having a fractional share, plus you never see your aircraft if you buy a fraction.”