Spain's largest business aircraft management company Gestair is lobbying the country's government for a permanent resolution to Madrid's airport usage policy as it completes the takeover of smaller rival Sky Service.
Gestair signed the deal with Sky Service, under which it becomes majority shareholder, late last month and will start merging operations this month. The acquisition of Sky Service, which follows a similar takeover of Audeli Air in 2000, takes the total aircraft under the Gestair group's management to over 80, or around two-thirds of the Spanish private aircraft fleet, says assistant president Isabel Macarr¢n. "It is not our strategy to buy up our rivals, but when opportunities arise, we will take them," she adds.
Gestair is also awaiting an agreement between the Spanish military and the Spanish airports authority about its future base. Gestair moved from Madrid's Barajas airport in early 2000, when construction of a fourth terminal began.
Business and general aviation traffic and maintenance was relocated to Torrej¢n air force base on a temporary basis. Various plans have subsequently been floated, with opposite sides of the Barajas runway and a permanent base at Torrej¢n among the proposals. "We would like to be allowed to create a terminal in Torrej¢n like Farnborough, but until we know what the government decides, our hands are tied," she says.
Macarr¢n says Gestair has been actively lobbying authorities for a swift conclusion, with an expiry to the five-year civil operating permission at Torrej¢n due in the second quarter.
The company is adding a Dassault Falcon 20 and Spain's first Gulfstream 200 to its managed fleet next month.
Source: Flight International
