Executive aviation firm Air Charter Scotland has opened its own maintenance facility in Perth, Scotland. The 25,000 square foot facility will maintain the firm's Cessna fleet, as well as supporting a Robinson helicopter main-tenance service.

The company took over the approved facility three months ago, renaming it Air Charter Scotland Engineering. Operations manager Derek Thompson said: "This is a big development in our plans.

"It will give us greater control over the maintenance of our aircraft and means that we will no longer have to fly our aeroplanes to a maintenance facility in Fairoaks when work needs to be done on the fleet."

All the aircraft will be maintained at the new facility, with the exception of the King Air and Citation Jets, which will continue to be serviced at their current UK workshops in Fairoaks and Bournemouth.

Air Charter Scotland recently acquired its second and third Citation 525 aircraft. It bought one from a husband and wife team in Florida; the other will be managed for another company, European Business Jets, offering a 'timeshare' option. Both aircraft will be used for charter operations within the UK and Europe.

The company chose to add the aircraft to the fleet because of the aircraft's popularity among its clients, its efficient running costs and the fact that only a small number of 525s currently operate in the region. The company's pilots are already familiar with flying such aircraft too, providing commonality among the fleet.

The fleet also includes a Beech King Air, which it acquired last July; a Cessna 402, used for medical work; and four Cessna 310s. Thompson confirmed plans to add a CJ2 to the fleet within the next 12 to 18 months. Unlike the first 525, which is based in Edinburgh, the newest model will be based in either London or the Midlands, but Thompson could not yet confirm the final location.

As well as expanding the business and acquiring more aircraft, Air Charter Scotland recently spent $45,000 on a LifePort stretcher system for its King Air, which will allow it to be used for repatriation work.

Thompson explained: "With the advent of a number of small jets into the market, charter work for the King Air may start to slow within the next couple of years. In anticipation of that, we decided to increase the aircraft's flexibility

by investing in this equipment to allow us to use the aircraft for a range of services including cargo, medical and charter."