Ian Sixsmith and Nigel Jones-Blackett report firm interest from charter brokers and other charter operators in booking their new company's eight passenger Britten-Norman Islander. Sixsmith, chief pilot and operations director of the Northampton, UK-based Md Air Ltd, says: "The pre-owned aircraft has been refurbished to a very high standard and obviously it is targeted at a niche market for which a comparatively limited number of such aircraft are available."

Jones-Blackett says: "There have been quite a number of enquiries with sports events, including race meetings, among events that there has proved to be a need for." Sixsmith says that the Britten-Norman Islander's take-off performance enables it to use runways of less than 500 metres while it needs only 320 metres to land. "We can land at virtually any GA airport," he adds.