Germany's Aerowest has received its fourth Citation Sovereign, a Sovereign+, which it believes will increase capability and reduce positioning legs. Chief pilot Wolfgang Karlstetter says that there have been no technical problems so far and that it performs well globally: “We have learnt from experience that our clients really like this aircraft, because you can offer it for a very good price and they get a lot of aircraft for their money. A lot of clients will accept one fuel stop on longer journeys, because to get rid of this fuel stop they would have to pay a lot more money.

“We have a lot of clients travelling all over the world. We think that the Sovereigns are working better than any other aircraft for the flights that we do. Although the Citation X is faster, you can't make the distance, and the same with the Latitude. The cabin is nice but Cessna need to give this aircraft a range of at least 3,400-4,000 nm. Our clients wouldn't accept a second fuel stop on the way to New York from Europe.”

He says that Aerowest will take delivery of a fifth Sovereign before the year is out. “If you have four or five Sovereigns you can always have one aircraft close to where the next flight is, so we can reduce the ferries a lot. We can offer favourable pricing because we always have one close by.

“I would not agree with the view that the market in Germany is negative at the moment. May was the busiest month in our history, and June is also developing very well. So we can't complain.” In Karlstetter's opinion timely responses to enquiries have been one of the keys to the company's success and Aerowest's team can answer emails within minutes, regardless of the time of day.

“That is what brokers and clients want. If they ask for an aircraft the day after tomorrow, they want a quote immediately and a solution immediately. This is what they get from us and it is one of our big advantages.”