UK operator Naljets has been steadily building its brand over the past several years and is actively promoting a full range of aviation services from its base in the north of England. Director Nick Waters explains the manner in which operations have developed over the last decade, having grown from operating King Airs from 2004 before transitioning into smaller jets and acquiring the company's first super midsize G200 in 2009. “We started to develop the super midsize category and the larger business jets from there,” he says.

“The clients that we have acquired have been mostly through word of mouth and recommendation. Much of the growth has been organic and we haven't really pushed the brand or promoted services externally before now. This changed last year with the full-time appointment of external marketing and PR to help develop and promote us, and we are now seeing this pay dividends.”

He believes that being based in the north of England has many advantages. The majority of Naljets clients are international, which makes the geographical location of the UK office unimportant: “We operate all over the world, but from a management and planning perspective the primary operations centre is based just outside Newcastle with headquarters functions, flight planning, finance and so on. The client really doesn't mind whether it's Newcastle, Nottingham or north London, they care about the service and the cost.

“One advantage being in the north east is that we can have cost-effective infrastructure, including property costs, travel and staffing.”

Recruitment into specialist areas such as operations and flight planning has not been a problem; Naljets has found candidates wanting to move to the north from London, many of whom hail from the region originally, and are attracted by the lower cost of living and shorter commute. Many staff are recruited and trained locally to company standards, and become involved in other areas of the business to contribute ideas, or learn secondary skills. “We run a very open environment,” says Waters. “No idea is too small and we welcome all our team to take an interest in other areas to develop themselves and help drive the business.”

Positioning an aircraft with Naljets can make financial sense, even for owners based elsewhere: “We have a choice of large international airports such as Leeds Bradford, Durham Tees Valley and Newcastle with full customs facilities and good infrastructure, but with relatively lower traffic volumes than some other popular locations. This can bring benefits in speed and lower operational costs. We have been able to save some clients significant sums by looking at their usage patterns and basing intelligently. Our locations can turn out to be quite central when considering positioning or the spread of charter requests we are seeing. We can be in most popular UK departure points such as Luton, Farnborough, Northolt, Birmingham, Glasgow or Edinburgh very quickly.”

The operator has a worldwide AOC and can manage any type of business aircraft. “We can effectively utilise super midsize upwards, but clients have a wide range of needs and a CJ2 is just as useful as a Challenger or a Global in the right scenario.”

Regarding the ideal customer profile, Waters says that there is no such thing. “We offer a truly bespoke, client focused service,” he continues. “For example, some owners may have a super midsize they acquired for all sorts of reasons, but are now only doing short flights around Europe, so it is costing a lot in fuel and landing fees. We will work with them to transition to an aircraft more suitable for their needs.

“On the other hand, some of our clients have aircraft such as the Challenger 605, and while it is a very capable aircraft, they are getting to the point where their trip profile is stretching the range and needing fuel stops, so they are now looking at bigger aircraft. We don't really have a target segment, because we have the capability to do all of it.”

Although many operators are looking to fly uniform fleets nowadays, managing a wide range has its perks too: “One of the advantages is that we get exposure to a wide range of aircraft and capabilities. We get to know the strengths and weaknesses of the Gulfstream versus the Challenger or the Embraer. In the acquisition stage, we are then well positioned to guide our clients towards what is best for their needs. Of course, if we had half a dozen Challengers instead of a mixed bag, we would have some more flexibility in crewing but it is not a big issue.”

Waters confirms that he would like to have more managed aircraft in the fleet and onto the AOC by the end of 2015. Naljets is also looking at moving to larger premises as its existing offices are approaching capacity. He concludes: “Every management company is of course searching for new clients, and that is why we are trying to affirm and build the Naljets brand. It is a competitive market with many good operators and we need to compete effectively.

“We have had a record first half this year, so we see progress building nicely. We have also received a lot of positive feedback from brokers and customers using our aircraft, so we definitely hope to continue to build on the good work by everyone in the team so far.”