GainJet Ireland has become the first Irish company to be awarded Guernsey (2-REG) Ferry Operator Section 77 Approval (Private Operator Certificate).

Accountable manager Ray Mills confirms that GainJet Ireland is already providing a significant number of ferry and delivery flights to a number of lessors. Guernsey’s aircraft registry 2-REG plays a role in the global aviation sector by providing an interim register for commercial aircraft transitioning between leases. GainJet Ireland is one of the largest Gulfstream operators in Europe and also provides extensive ferry and delivery flights services to leasing companies worldwide. Mills goes on to say that GainJet Ireland ferry and demo flights are all coordinated by his own operations team based at Shannon airport. Some of the recent deliveries include B737-800, Embraer 195, B787 and A321s.

“We are working on a few new projects at the moment for larger aircraft, but I can't say anything on that just yet,” states Mills. “We are going to start exploiting the Guernsey ferry flights. A lot of aircraft come back and are put on the Guernsey register between leases, so we’re looking to exploit that end of the business. The more strings to our bow the better. The way the business is going at the moment I see ferrying as something we will get into more and more.

“So far it has been Embraers and a couple of Boeings. The POC in place gives us more flexibility. We had approval last year from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) for maintenance check flights too so we can do level one, two and three maintenance check flights. It’s been a slow process but we’re there.”

He would like to expand the current fleet and is actively working on this.

Mills continues: “Our Gulfstreams are extremely busy at the moment and our air ambulance spends most of its time slogging backwards and forwards between Europe and North America feeding into the REVA network – REVA now has a base in Ireland. We’re looking to expand the air ambulance side of the business as well by adding another aircraft, and we’re hoping to add two more Challengers and a Global Express before the end of the year. It’s all go at the moment, and things seem to be getting busy again.”