Hamburg, Germany-based Platoon Aviation has been operating two new PC-24s since 8 June and uptake so far has been positive. The company’s fleet has grown from six to eight aircraft this year, having started out in 2021 with two aircraft, and it has held its own AOC since December 2022. “This year has been a slow start but it is finally picking up a bit,” says executive Deniz Weissenborn. “According to the data there is a little bit less demand than last year, mostly I believe because the commercial airlines are back at capacity. But apart from that we are on the right trajectory here.

“We’ve added two new aircraft. At EBACE we didn’t make a big thing of it but we signed for four more PC-24s – two fixed orders and two options. So for next year two fixed orders and for the following year two options." He is delighted with Pilatus products: “We’ve had very short waits in the communication with management, so that has been to our liking. We have a little family in Switzerland and we help each other as much as we can. The aircraft is quite new; it was a clean sheet design and we are very happy.”

Despite being based in Hamburg, Platoon frequents the UK and France most of the time – less than 10 per cent of its activity is in Germany. “We fly on average one-and-a-half hours round Europe in our light jets,” Weissenborn continues. “We are looking to digitise and automate our offer. In the summer the aim is to fly as much as we can to take full advantage of the season. When it gets calm we will focus on new projects but for now it is too busy.”