WaltAir Europe has brought a Citation CJ1 into service complementing its recently refurbished Super King Air 300 and 350 as well as its Citation Encore+, Citation XLS and CJ1. The new aircraft will be based at Malmoe Sturup airport in the south of Sweden where WaltAir has a hangar, lounge and office space.

"The aircraft has been on another AOC and we hope that some of the aircraft's previous clients will follow it to us," says WaltAir's Lars Nordin. "Of course we will try to make new contacts with potential clients in that area and hopefully they will be able to see the potential."

Nordin says Malmoe Sturup is a great strategic location near to Denmark, Poland and Germany. "The business demand will be mainly corporate air travel," he predicts. "We also hope to get some more business from the hospitals in the region in terms of transplant patients and organ transports."

WaltAir says it has enjoyed generally good experiences with the Citations and the CJ1 acquisition is timely since the company sold a Citation I last autumn. "We want to provide our clients with the best solution for their specific needs so it is in our interest to have a range of aircraft," Nordin says. The new CJ1 acquisition, he says, "is another step forward in the ongoing renewal of our fleet."

The current world economy, Nordin reports, "has meant a small cut back on revenue flights for us but it has not struck us very hard." The Encore+ and the XLS have proved very popular with clients but WaltAir does not anticipate ordering any more aircraft at present.

WaltAir was founded in 1996 and started flight operations with a Beech Baron 55. During 2003 WaltAir started managing its first jet aircraft, a Citation II, and is now focusing on offering a varied choice of aircraft. "A larger fleet also makes us more flexible and provides redundancy if one aircraft should for some reason get technical or other problems," Nordin points out.