Centreline Air Charter, part of the Bristol Flying Centre (BFC) Group based at Bristol airport, UK, has reported a significant upturn in business for the three months of the 2013 summer period, beating any performance since the recession in 2008. The operator runs five CitationJets from four UK airports, and is reporting a 35 per cent increase in profits and a 15 per cent increase in utilisation of its aircraft, to an average of 77 hours over the months of June, July and August compared to the same period for the last five years.

BFC Group ceo Phil Brockwell remarks: “This incredibly successful summer period is a result of two main factors. Firstly, there had been a reduction in the supply of light jets in the UK market which has resulted in an increased demand for the Centreline Air Charter product. And we have operated our aircraft at almost maximum efficiency, the key to this being a successful programme of selling empty legs and extracting maximum value from our assets. We have also increased our average sector length from 1.1 to 1.4 hours.”

He adds: “We are particularly pleased with these results as during this period one of our aircraft spent 20 days in our engineering facility undergoing a complete repaint which took it out of service.”