Using a strategy of establishing a large equity group, Luxaviation has built up its charter fleet. The acquisition of ExecuJet nearly triples the number of while pooling many operational business jets under Luxaviation’s leadership. services, including fuel purchas- ing, maintenance and insurance. “The brands have their values,” Hansen said. He emphasized he wants neither to regroup the companies’ air operator certifi- cates, nor to cut jobs. “We need as many people as possible, as organic growth is quite strong, and we know where we want to go,” he told AIN.

business aviation market. With produced by Bombardier, Tex- Procurement Synergies ExecuJet’s previous major share- tron (Cessna Citations and Nevertheless, synergies can be Luxaviation, ExecuJet holder, Irish financier Dermot Hawkers), Dassault, Embraer found in procurement. “There Desmond, unwilling to make and Gulfstream. is plenty of low-hanging fruit,” unite to form global unit further significant investment in Even before the ExecuJet deal, Hansen said. For example, the the group, Luxaviation made an Luxaviation had aggressively unit cost for insurance is lower by Charles Alcock & Thierry Dubois offer to take over. pursued a strategy of taking with 250 aircraft than it is with 10. Luxaviation (Booth S123) replacing founding CEO and “I became convinced that over existing executive air char- Another benefit is in shorter dead- marches into EBACE with a sig- chairman Niall Olver, who will Patrick Hansen has the vision ter operators to accumulate a head ferry flights, as dispatchers nificantly larger footprint. Earlier continue to support ExecuJet as to consolidate the industry, and large flock. After acquiring Lon- booking trips will seek out the this month, the fast-growing busi- an advisor. ExecuJet has become the corner- don Executive Aviation (LEA) closest suitable aircraft available ness aviation services group almost “The acquisition of ExecuJet stone of this process at Luxavia- in 2014, it followed up with the within the group-wide fleet. tripled its size when it acquired is the next step in our growth tion,” Olver told AIN. “For our takeover of -based Mas- Hansen made it clear his ExecuJet Aviation Group for an strategy and significantly customers, nothing changes; they terjet earlier this year. While business is rather about man- undisclosed sum. As has been increases Luxaviation’s global are still dealing with the same peo- looking for synergies, Luxavia- aging other people’s aircraft, as the case with other acquisitions reach,” Hansen commented. ple, and the bigger platform [that tion has remained keen on main- opposed to owning aircraft. “We the -based company “ExecuJet’s operations give us a ExecuJet is now part of] gives taining the individual brands of only have one aircraft on order– has made in recent years, Switzer- strong presence in some of the them a bigger network of services the operators it acquires, CEO an Embraer Phenom 300–for a land-based ExecuJet will continue world’s fastest-growing business and will allow them to benefit Hansen told AIN. Through fur- specific charter need,” he said. to trade under its own name and aviation markets, including Asia, from greater economies of scale.” ther acquisitions, Hansen is tar- And he is not willing to move to under the leadership of its exist- and the Middle geting a 500-strong fleet by 2019. a more homogeneous fleet–which ing management team. East, as well as a significantly International FBOs The next to latest takeover, is usually considered as a strong The deal makes Luxaviation larger managed fleet.” ExecuJet operates a chain of Masterjet, holds a Portuguese point because it translates into one of the largest business avia- Olver has long been an advo- 19 FBOs around the world at the AOC but operates business jets lower maintenance costs. “We tion operators in the world, with cate of consolidation in what following locations: (Indo- from Paris Le Bourget. It has 44 want to show as many owners as a combined fleet of more than he sees as an overly crowded nesia), , , Gerona employees in Paris and 13 avia- possible we have expertise in their 250 aircraft. Before the takeover, and in Spain, , tion experts in Lisbon, operat- aircraft type,” Hansen explained. Luxaviation had 520 employees Cambridge (UK), (two ing a fleet of eight jets–Falcons, In future, pilots within the in six European countries and a FBOs), and Johan- and an Airbus A320. group should be able to replace fleet of 85 aircraft. ExecuJet has nesburg in South , “With the addition of the A320, each other when needed to fill in a global workforce of almost (), (New Zea- we will be able to serve the for a temporary vacancy. “The 1,000 across , Asia, Africa, land), (), ‘head of state’ market,” Hansen challenge lies in [rationalizing , Latin America and (), Istan- emphasized when the deal was the] national interpretations of the . Founded in bul (-two FBOs), announced in January. EASA rules,” Hansen noted. 1991, it operates a diverse fleet and right here in Geneva. At 11 It will continue its strategy of Speaking about the European of 165 aircraft, including a sig- locations, the group also pro- retaining the identity, leadership market, he anticipated stability in nificant Global Express contin- vides extensive maintenance and operational independence of the near term, as overall growth gent and other Bombardier jets, Patrick Hansen, CEO Luxaviation Group support to operators of aircraft each operator within the group, over the past several years has along with Boeing Business Jets, been offset by “a strong down- Gulfstreams, Dassault Falcons turn for flights from ,” and Pilatus PC-12 turboprop sin- AirClub: A Different Approach to Expansion since 2014. The favorable trend for gles. It is active in aircraft man- AirClub has also set its sights on worldwide expansion, despite fierce competition that saw Luxaviation take over large-cabin business jets continues, agement, charter, maintenance, former AirClub operators LEA and Masterjet over the past two years. AirClub president Jurgen Van Campenhout told he noted, but prices are stagnat- and completions management, ing. Prior to the ExecuJet acqui- AIN he hoped to announce the addition of one or two new operators at EBACE. as well as operating a worldwide sition, the Luxaviation group was One of them might be a second U.S.-based company. The first, Primejet, joined early in 2014. “We want to estab- chain of FBOs. logging a combined 25,000-30,000 lish a network in the U.S.,” Van Campenhout said. With the ultimate goal of establishing global coverage, AirClub has flight hours per year. Diverse Corporate Portfolio appointed a vice president responsible for the U.S. and Asia–Primejet’s Cheryl Janke. “Some of our members’ aircraft Now that the work of merg- In addition to the Luxavia- are already based in , , Russia, Saudi Arabia and Chile,” Van Campenhout added. ing ExecuJet’s and Luxavia- tion parent company, launched A candidate for membership in AirClub has to meet a number of criteria. The first one is the safety record, accord- tion’s forces is complete, Olver in 2008 by Edison Capital Part- ing to Van Campenhout, followed by service quality, number or aircraft and bases–among others. indicated that he may focus his ners founder Patrick Hansen Currently, AirClub’s members include Air Alsie (Booth Y105), ACM, Air Hamburg (Booth O114), Flying Group, efforts on restarting the SPn light (who is CEO), the group already Globe Air, Primejet and PrivatAir. The combined fleet consists of 95 aircraft. These are mainly jets, from the Cessna jet program, which was stalled includes Luxaviation Ger- Citation Bravo to the Boeing 757. by the August 2008 insolvency many, Abelag (Belgium), Unijet Synergies have emerged, such as negotiating lower prices with suppliers. Van Campenhout also mentioned of Grob. He told AIN that, as (), London Executive Avi- volume pricing on catering. Regarding crew hotels, AirClub has been successful at lowering prices, as well as nego- owner of the SPn patents, he ation (UK) and Masterjet (Por- tiating favorable terms and conditions such as allowing late cancellations. has been approached by new tugal). It also has a commercial AirClub is happy with its online booking system, which it believes is the first of its kind in the industry. “It is work- prospective partners. In his view office in Singapore. ing very well,” Van Campenhout said. For example, prospective clients can see a photo of the actual aircraft interior, advances in carbon fiber tech- ExecuJet will be led by its for- as opposed to a generic picture of the model. The online payment feature, however, has had limited success. Van nology make the aircraft an mer president and COO Ger- Campenhout estimates only about one payment per month has been made online since the system went live in the even more compelling product rit Basson, who now holds the spring of 2014. “Few customers are ready to pay five-digit amounts online,” he said. He expressed hope that this is now than in the past and he is title CEO. Hansen will serve as going to change over the next two to five years. –T.D. “more confident we can meet the company’s new chairman, market expectations.” R

6 EBACE Convention News • May 19, 2015 • www.ainonline.com