Stuttgarter Flugdienst (SFD) has added a King Air C90 to its fleet. The managed turboprop, which joins six Cessna Citation jets, arrived in Stuttgart in the middle of November.

The aircraft is the first turboprop in the fleet since 1997, when the company operated two King Air 200s, as well as a pair of Citations. Managing director Andreas Mundsinger explained the choice of aircraft: "In the southern part of Germany especially, many operators sold their King Airs because their passengers want to fly on jets.

"This aeroplane came to us from a small company and we have known the owner for many years," he added. "He asked us to operate the C90 and we agreed, going back to our roots somewhat, as we have experience with the King Airs."

Mundsinger believes that the C90 will open up opportunities to operate into smaller airports, such as Friedrichshafen, where small companies will appreciate the value of chartering a turboprop.

SFD anticipates that the aircraft will log between 300 to 350 hours per year. The owner will require use of the aeroplane for approximately 50 hours per year.

Prior to taking on the C90, SFD agreed to manage a Citation Encore, which joined the fleet in September. The aircraft is expected to make 300 hours of charter flights per year, with an additional 80 to 100 hours use by the owner.

"The eight passenger Encore will mostly be flying from Stuttgart. The demand for the aircraft is mostly coming from brokers because it is a new model (one model before the Excel), so it's very popular. The Ultra, Bravo and Encore are all very popular in the charter market at the present time."

"Our goal has always been to renew the fleet. In 1997 we were operating '88 and '89 model Citations; now our CJ1 is an '01 model, the Bravo is a '99 and the Encore was built in 2001," explained Mundsinger.

"In the last year, especially, demand [for charter] has increased by up to 15 per cent," he added.

"Our clients are very satisfied with the aircraft and pilots. Of course, everybody wants new aircraft with new interiors, paint work and crew who are highly trained but they don't want to spend any money on it!

"Since last year, our pilots have been going to FlightSafety in Le Bourget, Wichita and Farnborough twice per year," he added. "It costs a lot of money but gives better security and service to our clients."

Mundsinger states that the greatest obstacle to the development of business aviation is the increasing burden of fuel costs. "Fuel prices have increased by up to 25 per cent within approximately 15 months, which is very high. You notice it first in the petrol stations in the street, then four to six weeks later we see the kerosene prices for aircraft increase.

"Hopefully it will not increase any more and we hope it will stay at an average of 40 to 45 cents. Years ago we had 27 to 28 cents, but it's been a problem and you cannot keep increasing prices per hour."

He believes that the business aviation industry was fortunate to enjoy rising demand and an increased number of flights last year - enough to mitigate the costs of fuel price hikes.

SFD, which is celebrating its 50th year of operations in 2006, is currently eyeing the possibility of purchasing a second Citation VII. "The demand, especially from eastern Europe, is going up every day, so it would be good to have an additional aircraft for this market."

Mundsinger believes that the fleets of Eastern European charter operators will take several years to grow to meet current demand, and SFD is keen to ensure it has capacity to meet charter requirements.