Ivadom Aviation Services knew exactly which aircraft it needed for a successful private charter launch in Croatia. "Working in the country as brokers for six years we knew the Citation 501 would be the perfect aircraft for launch because of its popularity in the market," says ceo Iva Rogovic Lekic.

Zagreb's newly-launched charter company, which uses the brand name Id Jet, expects a new CJ2+ to come into service in April and reports that business is expanding rapidly.

"We expected a growing amount of business from eastern Europe based on an expansion of our Ivadom brokerage business," says Lekic. "However, we have been pleasantly surprised by the increasing volumes of business that are coming to us from countries including Switzerland, France and Italy."

Lekic, who began her career in aviation as a pilot, has long believed that there were opportunities in the Croatian aviation market for a business aviation company. "We started as brokers but were always ready to launch at the right time. Being the first operator in Croatia has its advantages, and we aim to establish our company with a good reputation before joining the EU. There is tremendous potential."

Lekic reports that demand is for leisure as well as business trips. Id Jet plans to fly between 600 and 700 hours in its first year and then look at expanding the fleet, possibly with an XLS.