Isle-Fly will be displaying its new King Air 260 (G-REXB) at ACE22 at London Biggin Hill airport on 13 September. The acquisition comes at an exciting time for Isle-Fly, which is seeing high demand and opportunities for further growth. Captain George Romeril and first officers Jessica De Melo and Adam Campbell will be showing visitors the new aircraft, answering questions and discussing the benefits of the company's private air charter service.

The latest fleet addition supplements a recently acquired King Air 250 GT (G-REXA), selected for its range, premium design and performance. Business and leisure travellers increasingly demand new, stylish and efficient aircraft that take them closer to their end destination, away from congested hubs, and that have significantly lower emissions than older counterparts. Unlike many of its competitors, the 250 GT and 260 can land at large and small airports across Europe including La Mole, Samedan, Shoreham and Alderney.

The King Air 260’s interior has soft LED lighting, large luggage capacity, USB charging ports and a quiet cabin that allows travellers to work, socialise or rest in comfort while onboard. It is furnished with finely crafted seats able to laterally track, swivel and recline, and generous head, shoulder and legroom is a key advantage over light jets.

Pilots love the aircraft’s innovative features: an auto-throttle system optimises power output, reduces workload and provides better flight performance with significantly reduced fuel consumption. A digital pressurisation system automatically controls cabin pressure during both climb and descent, providing additional comfort for crew and passengers. And a multi-scan weather radar provides fully automated, optimal scans showing short, mid and far ranging conditions, enabling the crew to navigate away from poor weather.

Captains Paul Sabin and Romeril collected the King Air 260 from the Beechcraft Factory in Wichita, USA in late May, becoming the first European company to charter the model. They flew the famous Blue Spruce route via Montreal, Goose Bay, Narsarsuaq, Reykjavik, Isle of Man and East Midlands airport; a total distance of just over 5,000 miles that took the pilots just 18 flying hours.

Sabin, who has more than 13,000 flying hours, is experienced on this route, having ferried multiple aircraft from the US to the UK, including G-REXA itself three years ago, but this was Romeril's first such adventure. He says: “The experience was incredible. Completing the planning and operational tasks, combined with flying such a beautiful route, was an amazing opportunity, and I learnt a huge amount from Paul. It’s an experience I couldn’t have got at any other company.”

The aircraft arrived already on the UK register and was added to RVL’s AOC. Isle-Fly’s aircraft are be based in Jersey and East Midlands, providing coverage to the Channel Islands, UK and Europe. The aircraft are solely owned by Isle Fly and thus have no need for owner release. Where requirements cannot be met with its own fleet, the Isle-Fly team also has access to thousands of aircraft globally.

Isle-Fly puts its success so far down to its consistency, reliability and an absolute focus on the customer. The team and crew pride themselves on providing high standards of service and, where required, exceeding customer’s expectations. This philosophy helped the company grow their customer base even during the global pandemic, when demand was high for business, repatriation, private travel and covid support flights between the Channel Islands, UK and beyond.

Commercial director Colin Wright says: “This is a great moment for the company and we’re looking forward to meeting visitors and prospective customers at ACE. We are thankful to our loyal customer base and incredibly proud of our hard-working team, who have been exceptionally busy and high-performing during our growth journey.”