France's Aero Vision is planning to boost the capability of its proprietary Imagin'air aerial filming system. "We want to install an improved version of Imagin'air with greater siting and technical capability, possibly on a newer aircraft, that will enable us to offer more dramatic views at a reduced final cost," says president Guillaume Collinot, 38, who is considering the acquisition of a Falcon 100 or Learjet for the project.

"Films are currently made from a customised Corvette but a change of aircraft will also give us the opportunity to operate cameras in positions that can facilitate much wider angle filming. A camera sited on the top of an aircraft would add to the film maker's scope."

Dassault used Imagin'air to make a film of its aircraft in flight that was displayed at the Paris Air Show. Patrick Piallat, who was at the heart of that project, devised Imagin'air, the development of which was financed by ANVAR, a government funding company which supports high technology projects. "We had the chance to fly with the Dassault Rafale and Falcon 7X," says Collinot. "They are tremendous performers."

Imagin'air enables filming in flight while aboard an aircraft flying over 240 knots - a "speed barrier" for traditional systems - but it is also in demand for the work of governmental agencies.

"With Imagin'air we provide film makers with a tool as Panavision does, or we can provide regular customer with a complete package from flight to finished DVDs." says Piallat. "A fairly typical fee might be around ?15,000 which would give two hours of flying and a range of associated services."

Collinot says that Aero Vision is finalising plans to add widebodied long range aircraft to its fleet by the autumn. Bombardier jets, he says, may feature. The current fleet consists of two Corvettes, a Citation 550/551 and a Super King Air 200. These are operated from Toulouse Blagnac for charter, air ambulance and medevac.

Aero Vision believes its recently obtained Part 145 integrated maintenance facility will enable it to offer clients a full management package. But, while enjoying a buoyant market, it is having to cope with operational and administration annoyances. "Fractional operators have an unfair advantage over private charter firms," Collinot points out. "They avoid the expense of meeting stringent requirements designed to ensure key aspects such as safety. The same rules should apply to everybody. The market is growing but we are having to do our best to try and protect our customers from the loss of time that is generated by safety procedures concerning passengers transiting through major airports which are useless. They do not add to safety in the practical way that an upgrade of avionics does."

Aero Vision, launched in 1994, reports good steady growth in the past two years driven by business acquisitions, an increasing client base and corporate contracts.