Nextjet, a newcomer to the Swedish business charter community, has taken delivery of its third aircraft, a Beech 1900D, since it began operating in May.

The company is a JAR-OPS1 operator based at Stockholm Bromma Airport. It received its AOC on May 4, with a nine-passenger Beechcraft 200, which undertakes air taxi and ambulance flights. The second aircraft, a nine-passenger Citation 560, was added to the AOC in mid July. The 560 XL has a manage-ment agreement attached to it and spare time is sold on an ad hoc basis.

The BE1900D, which has the capacity to carry 19 passengers and is also used for cargo flights, was received on September 13. It started cargo operations out of Stockholm Skavsta Airport to Paderborn, Germany, and Malmö four times per week. During the daytime the BE1900D flies ad hoc missions.

Accountable manager Per Johansson told EBAN about the formation of the company and explained its rapid growth over the last six months. “I founded the company together with six other aviation professionals,” he said. “We are all pilots and we started this as a network with the aim of having our own AOC. I took us about a year; we started the process in May 2003 and got the AOC a year later with the Beechcraft 200 that we leased from Bromma Air Maintenance.

“After that we won a contract to manage a Citation Excel and later we were contacted by Nordic Solutions, a logistics company in Malmö, and they asked us to provide a little bit more volume for them. I managed to get the 1900D, which was suitable for them, and we started operations on September 13.”

The company chose to operate the smaller aircraft initially as, according to Johansson, it was easier to form the company with a small aeroplane and build up the business from there.

“Capital-wise it’s easier to get it started, as the CAA does not require too heavy investment in the company if you want to start operating smaller aircraft, and it is also suited to the market,” he said.

Nextjet has had a positive response from its clients so far, but initially found it difficult getting

into the wider market and letting people know what services it offers. Despite this difficulty, the company’s fleet is in high demand for both charter and cargo flights.

“The BE200 is occupied almost all the time as we do calibration flights as well as ambulance flights,” said Johansson. “There is a strong demand for the Excel in Scandinavia and the BE1900 is a success too – we’ve had great demand for it.”

Due to the buoyant charter market and the positive response Nextjet has received, it expects the fleet to make about 1,600 hours of flight per year. To increase this figure, and expand its services, the company is looking into adding longer range aircraft to its fleet.

“We are actively looking at other aircraft; the Falcon 2000EX would be great for us in Scandinavia. If I look at my competitors in Sweden, no-one has this medium range aircraft. There are GVs, but no-one really needs such a long range, so the Falcon would be a superb aircraft to get on to our AOC,” commented Johansson.

“The BE1900, especially the D model is a niche aircraft – I never thought it would be – but it’s quite difficult to find them, so we’re actively looking for them too.”

Despite its initial success, Nextjet’s greatest hurdle to overcome is the lack of knowledge many companies in Sweden have about business aviation. Johansson explains: “It’s difficult to bring in people who have no knowledge of aviation, so you have to make it easy for them and you have to know what you’re doing. Many people go out and buy an aircraft as they would buy a car – there’s more to it than that, it’s not a cost issue. You have to make it available and transparent to them.”

If this obstacle can be tackled, Johansson is certain that the charter market in Sweden and, in turn, its operators, will flourish. “The market is very strong and the big problem for us is to get to the market,” he said. “Our economy is beginning to rise and it will generate richer people, which generates higher demand for luxury travel. I think that many people in Sweden don’t yet know that this opportunity exists.”