By Fly Aeolus

Fly Aeolus was interviewed by the Dutch equivalent of ‘Forbes’ magazine: ‘Quote’. Click for Dutch JPG.

Business aviation for little: How did you get the idea?

“It’s getting busier and busier on the roads and major airports, so many business people are looking for alternatives to get to their destinations quickly. The luxury segment of private charters is occupied by parties like Netjets, and the Very Light Jets experiment of a few years ago almost all failed because it was too expensive. The most affordable alternative is flying single-engine aircraft on relatively short distances. That’s what we do, for seven hundred euros an hour.”

What exactly does your offer consist of?

“We fly in the Benelux, Germany, France, Great Britain, and Switzerland in Cirrus SR22 aircraft, which can carry up to three passengers. You can buy prepaid flights or fly ad hoc. We mainly fly at smaller airports, around two thousand of them, because they are much closer to our customers’ destinations and the prices for landing fees are low. You can call a day in advance. And we also arrange transportation to and from those airports, if you like.”

Interesting! Doesn’t this exist yet?

“In Eruopa hardly, but in the USA there are many small airlines that fly with Cirruses. In Europe it is still not allowed to perform commercial flights with this aircraft. Together with the European Aviation Authority (EASA), we have worked out how to deal with this. Because the rules are going to change, but not until 2014. In the meantime, we have set up a construction where you pay an entry fee of 995 euros and become “co-owner” of an aircraft. If you no longer wish to use our services, you will receive that fee back. So we can still fly.”

What about the planes?

“They belong to Cirrus owners all over Europe. They get a commission for every hour flown. Usually they use their plane on the weekends, while we mostly fly during the week. They just remain the owners, because the shared ownership that we use is just a legal construction to be able to fly these planes commercially.”

For who is it?

“For anyone who benefits from fast and affordable connections over medium distances. But we focus mainly on the higher SME’s.”