Cambridge-based European Business Jets (EBJ) is reporting full order books and rapid expansion just 30 months after launching on London's AIM stock exchange. Graham Deary, ceo, says: "It was then just an idea but each of our aircraft are flying in excess of 100 hours a month so it has come on leaps and bounds."

There are plans to further expand the fractional fleet which currently offers three CJ1s and two CJ2s. EBJ also manages two XLSs and a CJ2 but Deary, who previously worked for NetJets in Europe and for Hawker, confirms EBJ's core business is fractional ownership. "The whole proposition is that five people can fly in their own private aircraft for a similar price to each of them paying club class on a scheduled aircraft."