JUSTIN WASTNAGE / LONDON
Business aircraft services company ExecuJet is studying a merger of its Danish and Swiss operations into a single European unit. The board is expected to approve a plan to bring the fleet and some operations of Copenhagen-based ExecuJet Scandinavia and Zug-based ExecuJet Switzerland together in a bid to offer customers a wider range of aircraft.
ExecuJet Switzerland is to bring a Bombardier Challenger 300 super- mid-size business jet into its managed fleet in mid-2005 and the company is keen to give all European customers access to aircraft across both fleets, says ExecuJet group chief executive Niall Olver. The company will retain both locations and aircraft operator's certificates.
Olver says the long-term strategic plans are "in sympathy" with those of Bombardier, whose products ExecuJet distributes or supports. The company plans to expand in Europe and is in "fairly advanced" negotiations with fixed-base operators for joint facilities in "key cities in northern and central Europe". The first such FBO partnership in the UK is likely to be announced "within months", he adds.
ExecuJet has no "active" plans to establish any operations in the USA, says Olver. Having grown rapidly from its original operation at Johannesburg's Lanseria airport, the priority is to consolidate, he adds.
Meanwhile, ExecuJet Mexico is likely to expand its managed fleet before the end of the year as it completes the initial phase of the outsourcing of cement company Cemex's flight department.
Source: Flight International
