Slovenian operator Elit'Avia has appointed former COO Puja Mahajan as its CEO. She succeeds Michel Coulomb, who oversaw the company's inception and growth for nine years. Coulomb has taken up the post of chairman of the board.

As CEO, Mahajan will lead Elit'Avia's continued development as a charter, management and travel services provider. The company recently increased its service to the US charter market with the addition of three long range jets: a Global 5000, a Global 6000 and a G650. All three aircraft will operate under the Maltese AOC that was awarded to the company in May 2014. A G450 was also added to the operator's Slovenia-based fleet in recent weeks.

Coulomb states: “In just over two years as chief operating officer with Elit'Avia, Puja has made tremendous contributions to the company's growth, as well as leading real change and improvements in the operational side of the business. We are delighted that she has accepted this role to lead the company on to even greater successes.”

Adds Mahajan: “We aim to grow our fleet to over 25 aircraft in 2016, but are creating the internal infrastructure and manpower to support almost twice that. In terms of regions, we are seeing year on year growth in Africa, especially Nigeria, and have had a presence in that region for 10 years with an office in Ghana.

“Europe and the Middle East are showing a steady return in terms of charter activity which we believe we are well positioned to service with our fleet. The majority of our clients are from western Europe, Africa and Russia. Slovenia is a limited home market in terms of size compared to those three regions. However, our new clients are seeing the benefits of working with a Slovenian registration due to our excellent relationships with its CAA, resulting in very quick turnaround times for registrations.”

She believes the current fleet strategy is optimal, but will consider new models as they arrive on the market: “Although there are some minor operational costs associated with a mixed fleet, the upside is that customers have a real choice, dependent on mission, which single fleet operators are not able to offer,” she concludes.