European Business Jets, which has just obtained its own AOC from the U.K. CAA, expects to add another two aircraft to its fleet within six months.

EBJ floated on the U.K. investment market AIM in April last year and applied for its own AOC four months ago. It currently operates two six-seat Cessna Citation CJ1 aircraft which are maintained at the CSE Citation Centre in Bournemouth overseen by Vector Aircraft Services.

Ceo Graeme Deary says: "We anticipate sourcing another two aircraft in the next six months - they will also be Citation jets."

Individuals and companies buy a portion of a specific aircraft. This interest is tailored to meet their travel requirements based on the number of actual hours they expect to fly annually. They are then guaranteed exclusive use and availability of an aircraft in Europe subject to a minimum of 12 hours' notice.

EBJ sources an aircraft once investors have provided 50 per cent of the purchase price.

He says the successful AOC application reflected EBJ's desire to operate independently. "It also demonstrates the significant progress made by the company including the success of our five-hour demon-stration card which effectively allows cardholders to test drive the service whenever and wherever they wish for a set price of #2,950 an hour."