Ireland's Private Sky, which has added a Hawker 800XP based at Belfast's Aldergrove airport and a Hawker 900XP to its managed fleet, believes its traditionally competitive pricing is standing it in good stead. The company, formerly Airlink Airways, anticipates its management fleet will expand despite the economic downturn. "However," Andrew Shubotham points out, "this will depend on our clients' decisions."

Airlink Airways, he says, was launched around 15 years ago. "We felt that we needed a name that more accurately reflects the nature of our service delivery. The Private Sky name is more appropriate for a complete aircraft management company that enables owners to offset their own costs using chartering revenue and provides aircraft management solutions ranging from purchasing, registration and flight management to crew provisioning, maintenance overview and chartering services."

The Hawker 800 is based in Aldergrove to be near the aircraft owner's Belfast headquarters. "The owner knows there are real advantages in using private charter to win and retain business in tough economic times," says Shubotham. "Our fleet size has been expanding since the company was launched."

The fleet now consists of a Hawker 800XP, two 850XPs, a 900XP, two Learjet 60s and a Citation XLS all of which are chartered throughout Europe and Russia. Client demand is a mix of business and leisure. "As well as the Hawker 800 we have recently acquired a new Hawker 900XP," Shubotham says. "Our aircraft are chosen for their size, robustness, styling and cost-effective main-tenance. We order both new and pre-owned and our fleet is made up of two brand new aircraft and others that are no more than three years old.

"We see this year being tough but, once the financial world settles down, we expect to be at the forefront due to our competitive pricing and high levels of quality.

"The economic downturn is unfortunate but it might have the positive effect of rooting out those companies that overcharged clients to cover high costs that should not have been incurred or could have been avoided."