Belgian charter operator ASL has recently added a further two aircraft to its management fleet, while suffering an incident in July which will keep one King Air out of operation for several weeks.

A factory-new Cessna CJ2+ on the Belgian register is the first addition, and has a capacity for seven passengers. "It is the ideal private jet to fly to all European airports," says accountable manager Philippe Bodson. The second aircraft is a low-hour pre-owned Beech King Air C90GTi on the Dutch register, with a total capacity of six passengers – ideal, he says, for short runway operations.

ASL's business in the Netherlands reported to be doing well, and is expecting to add a brand new Citation X to its repertoire at the end of the year. "At that time we will host an event to celebrate one year of ASL in the Netherlands as well as the arrival of the fastest aircraft in the Benelux," says Bodson.

"We had some bad luck in the summer working with two aircraft for the Olympics, as a television relay station with wireless transmission in high definition. One of the two King Airs had a total electrical failure in flight and the crew did a magnificent job to get the aircraft safely back to Cambridge without any navigation instruments.

"On landing, the gear, which had been manually extended, collapsed," he says.

There were no further complications for ASL's client because the remaining aircraft was able to complete the work by itself, but the first aircraft is expected to be out of service until October.

ASL currently has 24 aircraft in operation.