By Fly Aeolus
Fly Aeolus has been interviewed for the yearly employer career book (edition technology) of Memory Publications. Click for PDF (Dutch). Here the translation:
Steefan Ghjis (31) studied Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology. There was a “click” with the aviation industry for years, although he never thought to become an entrepreneur in this industry.
“Starting up Fly Aeolus wasn’t just one day of thinking about it. I think I’ve walked around with the idea for a year. I noticed that I unconsciously started talking to more and more people about it and then I thought to myself: why don’t I just take that step? TU Delft helped me by critically examining my plan and giving me the opportunity to explore the possibilities.
The concept of Fly Aeolus is quite simple: offering low-cost private flights. You can compare it to a kind of air taxi. At any desired time we can transport someone to and from any possible place in Northwest Europe.We have seven aircraft and 1,500 airports at our disposal and can even land on grass when the weather is nice, allowing us to bring someone very close to his or her destination. A total of three passengers can fly with us. This makes it an alternative to the car and it can compete with scheduled flights.
For the time being, with Fly Aeolus we are still focusing on the business segment, because for fun it is still at the price. But I expect this way of travelling to be very common in 10 to 20 years time. Companies like Ryanair and easy-Jet have made flying very accessible, we are going one step further.
It sounds very visionary now, but with Fly Aeolus we have a first step
made to the car in the air. From the industry itself come very different reactions. While some people are extremely enthusiastic, others are rather sceptical.
We operate in a conservative industry, which for the sake of safety is highly regulated. But I believe very much in personal aviation and hope in the next 5 years to further expand the concept to more flight hours per week and maybe extend it to other regions.
The mix of working in the aviation industry and entrepreneurship requires responsibility and discipline, but also offers a great sense of freedom. In the beginning I was a little too naive sometimes, but that’s what you learn. It feels for me as a boy’s dream come true. Every day I go with a big smile on my face to the office.”