Former Air Hamburg veterans Alexander Stevens (COO and founder), Algernon Trotter (founder), David Bergold (CEO and founder) and Julia Feddern (chief experience officer) have been granted German AOC number D-430 for their new Hamburg-based charter operation Luminair.

This represents 10 months of hard work for the team, who share over 40 years of experience in the charter operator sphere. Germany’s civil aviation authority, the Luftfahrt Bundesamt, deemed the operator’s application to be of such high quality that they were able to issue the approval in a considerably shorter timeframe than is standard within the industry.

The company begins operations with a single Cessna Citation XLS aircraft, which is the initial acquisition in a wider fleet growth strategy.

Trotter says: “We are over the moon to have achieved this huge milestone. I’m thankful for the support of my co-founders and the entire team at Luminair who have worked tirelessly to make this dream become a reality. We’ve brought on a world-beating team of ground and aircrew and we can’t wait for what the future brings.”

Luminair directors Bergold, Trotter and Stevens all experienced the rapid growth of their former company, Air Hamburg, as it grew from a regional operator to European powerhouse with over 40 aircraft.

It is with a similar business model that Luminair commences operations; owners lease aircraft to the company, which delivers a high rate of return on the aircraft with wholesale-focused, extremely high aircraft-utilisation charter flying.

Bergold shares more about the company’s plans: “We saw the success that a completely broker-focused and very high hours charter airline brought to both owners and the operator. We will be bringing additional airframes onto the certificate in the very near future with a view to refining this hugely efficient model.”