Germany's Heron Aviation has enjoyed an increase in charter flight activity for 2015. Its two Dassault Falcon 900EX flew 27 per cent more hours and carried out eight per cent more flights last year compared to 2014, while the Learjet 60 notched up 34 per cent more flight hours and 19 per cent more flights. “We believe that the Learjet has been flying so much in 2015 compared to the previous year because the owner became more charter-friendly,” says flight dispatcher Pierre Knoblauch. “He was mainly using it for his business trips, but these have been reduced, and therefore he is more open to chartering the aircraft.”

One of the Falcons was in maintenance for three months back in 2014, which accounts for the increase in flights on that aircraft last year. “We also had returning customers that were quite happy with our service and they booked us again, or even twice more. So that also contributed to the flight times,” Knoblauch explains. “We still have a lot of capacity, which we are trying to sell this year, so we are looking forward to being busy again.”

He is always on the look-out for further management opportunities: “We have been in talks over the last few months to expand our fleet, and I think that the progress we have made up to now is quite good. We look forward to a decision within the next two months. This should boost our fleet by about two more aircraft.

“It is midsize aircraft we are looking at, with one or two being heavy jets but not particularly long range. We haven't made a decision yet, so I guess it will be made public in the next two months.”