European rotary operator BHS Aviation has expanded its fleet in Switzerland with a Citation Latitude, having received the corresponding AOC from the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation. With the investment, the company can offer its customers more flexibility. Based in Germany and Switzerland, BHS organises individual passenger and business trips in helicopters and jets.

“We offer our customers a very flexible and personal service; fast, absolutely reliable and everything from a single source,” confirms BHS MD Daniel Suter. “We fly to short and medium haul destinations that are less and less directly served by scheduled air traffic since the COVID restrictions. Our team finds the right and most efficient solution for every customer. For us, this begins, for example, with personal collection and escort on arrival at the private terminal as well as discreet, fast and reliable handling with high hygiene and quality standards. This allows us to offer our passengers a first-class travel experience.”

He continues: “Being an aircraft operator in the heart of Europe, we saw an opportunity in the increasing demand for individual short and medium haul charter flights. The COVID-19 pandemic and all its implications have motivated us.”

BHS Aviation is most widely known in Europe for its Zurich-based helicopter operations. The company is the helicopter provider for the World Economic Forum in Davos. As a commercial operator to clients who seek a bespoke service BHS Aviation keeps a close eye on customer needs. Recently, Suter says, it realised the need for an aircraft to suit recurring, specific requests.

“Our customers in and around Switzerland are asking for a professional and highly flexible operator for direct flights of within one to five flight hours. They are mainly business people from medium size to big corporations, but also families and private individuals,” Suter explains. “Our typical client values privacy and the highest comfort and expects their operator to be able to meet every individual request.

“As we will have our aircraft available strictly for charter flights, reliability and availability of the aircraft is of the utmost importance. Therefore, cancelling a flight because of a technical issue may result in us losing a customer. Our decision to choose a Citation product is based on our excellent experience with the manufacturer.”

With the aircraft wheels up, Suter says expansion is next on the list for BHS Aviation: “We will start as a charter operator but also plan on growing the fleet with customer aircraft and our aircraft management services,” he notes. “By adding the Latitude to our fleet, we are becoming a fixed-wing operator again. This adds to our current product range, which includes charter brokerage, handling services and aircraft management.