Swiss operator Haute Aviation has been awarded an Austrian AOC. The company is focused on European jet management and charter, and will initially fly a Phenom 300E on the new certificate.

Managing partner Catherine Tamagni says: “We have had the AOC in Austria for a matter of days. The idea came up a long time ago but of course it always takes a while and it’s a lot of hard work. We will be tackling the European market and also having aircraft management. We will be using a Phenom 300E from 1 June. We are expecting some bigger aircraft to join and also some light jets. The plan is to get another aircraft in and to build up the whole Austrian team. We have some colleagues there already so we’re looking to build a good foundation and then we’ll be ready to go.”

The company is looking at other jets that are quite different from the PC-12 that it has. “We are quite open and would like to connect Europe with the rest of the world. We might be in the Alps but we are always looking global,” continues Tamagni. “We are looking to connect the heart of Europe with the rest. It’s not just about the mountains but of course we are the experts here. We are very well trained for that and also trained for the west, but we always have global thinking. We have taken on quite a few new staff; to get the high standards going we need good employees.”

In Switzerland Haute has two PC-12s, the Global Express and the Phenom.

Tamagni concludes: “The market is very good at the moment. Things have been developing very well in recent months. Business is buoyant. It’s important for us to continue our charter sales. We are very focused on aircraft management for European clients. That’s our main focus after building up and having great interest in charter.”