Six years ago German operator AirGO chose the comparatively unknown Piaggio P180 Avanti for its operations. At the time, the charter company felt there was no other aircraft in its price range to match it in terms of efficiency and comfort.

General manager Daniela Flierl enthuses: "We have found a niche with the Avanti - the decision we made was absolutely right." To prove this point, AirGO brings its fifth Avanti into operation this year, becoming the largest P180 operator in Europe.

AirGO finds that an aircraft like this is particularly in demand in difficult economic times. "When we started to operate the Avanti, we thought that the customers we would win would be those usually using slow turboprops and small jets," says Thorge Heuer, AirGO operations manager. "Today, we have many customers who also like to fly on large jets." The Avanti makes more sense on most flight routes within Europe, Heuer believes. "With the speed of a small jet, the flight time is so short that the money customers can potentially save helps a decision in favour of the Avanti."

The aircraft are based at key locations in central Europe and, depending on the season or customer request, they can also be based at other locations.

This year, AirGO has also started to offer pure management services to private owners. "We realised that we have such a wide range of experience with this plane, which is still considered to be exotic, that more and more Avanti customers turn to us," explains Flierl.