Twinjet, with charter operations based at London Luton and Stansted airports, expects to take delivery of a third Challenger 604 by next February.

It has already made a number of acquisitions during 2006, starting with the addition of two Embraer Legacies in March. During the summer Twinjet also took delivery of a new Airbus ACJ, a Challenger 604 and, just weeks ago, another new 604. This is already in operation, serving business customers in Russia as well as the Far East, where charter has been buoyant.

John Keeble, md, says business charter activity in the U.K. has substantially increased since the introduction in August of tougher antiterrorism security measures. Many business travellers have become permanent converts to chartering, says Keeble.

New and existing clients are fuelling growing long haul demand.

"We're very conscious that more and more people want to travel to the Far East, particularly China. So we have wanted to increase our range," says Keeble. "Our new Airbus replaces one which we've had for seven years and was a wonderful plane but the new replacement gives us four hours additional range."

One advantage of serving Russia, says Keeble, is that the same group of passengers can be flown from point to point within Russia rather than be handed over to internal carriers once the initial destination is reached.