Jota Aviation of Southend in the UK has seen a strong uptake for its Avro RJ85 during its first few weeks of commercial charter. The aircraft has been engaged in a number of ACMI missions and also carried out a return charter from Birmingham to Gothenburg.

Purchased in January, the jet is the second member of the fleet specialising in large group regional travel and has already completed more than 40 flight hours under Jota's stewardship. It is configured with 95 all leather seats and in addition to add hoc charter and ACMI, is available for wet lease.

"This aircraft is an ex-Brussels airliner, so it has had one careful lady owner so to speak," says commercial director Mike Sessions.

"It has had a full C-check carried out at Avalon Aero in Cranfield, a total paint strip and repaint in Jota colours by Air Livery at Norwich. The RJ has a very nice leather interior, forward and rear hot galleys, and it has its own integral air stairs as well, which is less of an issue for us now with ground handling. With the BAe-146 we need steps to be provided.

"The RJ is a much more modern aircraft with more powerful engines. It can carry more weight and go a little bit further because it has got pannier tanks which add another 20-25 minutes of range on top of the normal range. The range on the 146 is about 1,200 nm, and on the RJ it is something like 1,450 nm."

Sessions adds: "The 146 and the RJ are very similar aircraft; if you were to look at the outside they look exactly the same and they both have 95 seats. The 146 is a little bit flexible because we can change the configuration to a business class interior, to a very nice VIP 50 seats. It is a very versatile aircraft."

Despite the progress the company is making, Sessions sees this as just the beginning for Jota. "We are looking at expanding the fleet in the future, one gentle step at a time," he remarks. "We started off with one aircraft about 18 months ago, the second aircraft is already in, and to be honest we are seriously looking at more. It is good news, the business is growing, and these aircraft are well accepted in the market."