Florida-based FAR Part 135 Aztec Airways has added a totally refurbished Piper Chieftain and a new Cessna Caravan to its passenger fleet. This brings the number of passenger aircraft to six Chieftains and one Caravan, in addition to three dedicated on-demand cargo aircraft; two fully refurbished Beech 18s that have been upgraded with increased weight capacity for maximum payload and one Caravan 208B Cargomaster that does heavy hauling of up to 3,300 lbs of load.

“Our airline has been experiencing a tremendous amount of growth over the last few years,” says owner and COO Captain Stuart Hanley. “We continue to add equipment and destinations served due to overwhelming demand. Even during the face of the COVID pandemic, we flew nearly 4,000 passenger flight legs in 2020 and over 5,500 passenger flight legs in 2021.”

In Fort Lauderdale, the non-stop passenger flights depart either from the airline’s private terminal with VIP lounge or from the Banyan FBO, offering a wide variety of amenities. Both are located at the Fort Lauderdale Executive airport where the company has its corporate offices as well as four hangars. The charter service is available throughout Florida, the Bahamas and southeast US.

The purchase was enabled by investment from MSM AAV back in December 2020, a $5 million commitment over three years.