A new addition has been made to the Interjet SA fleet: a Cessna Citation 560 XLS. The Athens based company is the largest business aircraft operator in southeastern Europe and offers a wide range of services including luxury jet and helicopter charter, aerial photography and filming, and aircraft management.

The new aircraft is being managed for a customer and is mainly available for charter for much of the time because, as md Kimon Daniilidis explains: "The owner flies it for only a few hours each month so, for the rest of the time, the aircraft is available for charter."

It came onto Interjet's AOC in July this year and is being kept at Athens airport with the rest of the fleet which consists of one Falcon EX EASy, a Citation XLS, two Citation XL, one Citation Ultra, a CJ2, and one Citation Bravo (not available for charter).

The company also has five helicopters (two AS 355N, an AS 355F2 and two BO-105CBS).

One Falcon 7X, a Citation XLS and one CJ3 are also on order and will join the fleet at a later date.

"This is the third XL we have, and we will be getting a brand new XLS in November." said Daniilidis, "and this one will be owned by us."

"Demand is high for the time being, and this coincides with the delivery of the aircraft we ordered two years ago and so we are getting the aircraft at the right time.

"We chose the XLS, as did the owner of our latest XLS, because it is the right size for our operation, for its range in which we usually use those aircraft, and because they are very cost effective aircraft.

"These things make them the idea solution for charter operators especially.

Daniilidis says the XL and XLS are so similar, most of his customers are unaware which model they are flying in."You have to be a really heavy aircraft user to know the difference between the two," he said.

"We don't have people phoning up asking for an XLS. They ask for an XL to fly from point A to point B, that's all. It doesn't matter to them which model they get.

"All of Interjet's Citations have exactly the same configuration: four club; two forward and one two-seater divan. Most of the XLs in the world have this configuration."