This summer marks 25 years in business for the long-range jet specialist Twinjet - and it has more to celebrate besides, with the arrival of a managed GV.

And, as well as the ultra long range Gulfstream, Twinjet has also recently added a second Challenger 604.

The GV arrived in the last month, and recently completed its first series of trips to the US and the far east. "We are hoping to transfer it to our AOC at the end of the year and make the aircraft available for charter," says James Gillborn of Twinjet.

The nine-seat CL604 has been operated privately for the last 12 months and recently added to Twinjet's AOC, making it available for charter.

"It's owned by a businessman - it's been flying a lot within Europe, and we'll soon be going further afield," says Gillborn. "It's immaculate inside, and has been well received by brokers."

Twinjet's fleet available for charter also includes an Embraer Legacy and the Airbus Corporate Jet. It has bases at London Luton and Stansted airports. "The 604 is great for the eastern seaboard [of the US], the Legacy is great because of the number of seats - 13," says Gillborn. "And the ACJ is also fantastic because it's so niche."

The ACJ, as reported in previous editions of EBAN, can carry up to 34 passengers.

Twinjet celebrated its quarter century on August 3 at the Royal Air Force museum in Hendon, UK. Managing director John Keeble, as well as friends, colleagues and customers of the firm attended.

The company's first AOC aircraft was the Airbus A319, which arrived in 1999, and a high point was signing the ACJ to its AOC - which Twinjet says is the only ACJ based in the UK for charter.

Asked to single out a low during the last 25 years, Gillborn picks the fall of New York's twin towers: "The whole industry felt the pressure after 9/11. However, after the initial recovery and subsequent growth, our sector is still on the ascendancy and times have never been so good."

Twinjet's client base has also changed in the last 25 years. It has recently seen well-heeled leisure travellers overtake business users in terms of demand for charter, as well as an increasing number of flights for England's Premiership footballers.

"Our client base has become more wide and varied with the emergence of new markets such as Russia. They like large-cabin aircraft, so our fleet is ideally suited to their needs. Business aviation is more accepted now, so we are still seeing a lot of new entrants into the sector.

"It's been said before, but these are still extremely exciting times," Gillborn says.