UK-based air charter company Blink is hoping to bolster its maintenance offering in Europe through joint ventures with fellow commercial European operators of the Cessna Citation Mustang.
The company is currently in talks with Austria’s GlobeAir – the largest operator of the entry-level type in the world, with a fleet of nearly a dozen aircraft – and France’s Wijet to use its newly acquired maintenance centre in Genoa, Italy as the prime location for their Mustang servicing and support.
The Part 145-approved facility was added to Blink’s portfolio last month, following its acquisition of Italian Mustang operator MyJet. The company anticipates the site will eventually become a leading centre for Mustang support in Europe, with other bases to follow.
Ultimately, Blink hopes the venture will provide a stepping-stone to consolidation, bringing the operations together to form a single pan-European, point-to-point air taxi company.
“Pooling everyone’s resources into one big organisation with a large dedicated fleet would be the ideal outcome,” says Cameron Ogden, co-founder and managing director of Blink – one of the earliest adopters of the low-cost air taxi concept. “I’m not sure how [the new operation] would be structured at this stage, but it is definitely worth exploring.”
Privately owned Blink launched in 2008 with ambitious plans to implement a pan-European point-to-point service with up to 30 aircraft. The collapse of the financial markets later that year scuppered its plans, but the company has continued to operate profitably since then. Its six Mustangs have notched up 17,000 passengers over 4.5 million miles on ad-hoc charter flights, Ogden says, with each of the entry-level aircraft averaging around 600h per year. Blink is now planning to add up to four more aircraft, probably pre-owned types, to the fleet in 2016, in anticipation of a market revival. “We are in this business for the long-term,” Ogden says.
His optimism – albeit cautious – triggered Blink’s acquisition last month of MyJet and its home base of Blackbushe airport, which it hopes to develop into a key centre for business and general aviation in the south of England.
Ogden remains convinced that the air taxi revolution will return as the European economy picks up and travellers start to explore more flexible methods of transportation.
Combining the Blink, Globeair and Wijet fleets would create a pan-European inventory of around 30 aircraft. “This is a sustainable number,” Ogden says. “It gives you a wide coverage, brings the price point down to a level that many people would consider affordable and ultimately allows you to operate profitably.”
Source: Flight International
