Hertel ceo Joost Knoll is one of a growing number of European businessmen using VLJs to save time and increase efficiency. "We fly mainly in north west Europe," says Knoll. "Destinations we now visit comfortably in one day used to take us at least two days, meaning that a hotel stay was necessary."

The company, which builds, maintains, modifies and dismantles installations in the petro-chemical, energy, waste and process industry, has operations in Belgium, Germany, the UK, Ireland, France, Romania, Lithuania, China and Dubai.

Hertel executives used to take bigger aircraft from Antwerp. "We now save even more time flying from Rotterdam with Bikkair instead," says Knoll. "What personally attracts me the most is the fact that we can adjust the time of departure to meet our own schedule."

Knoll is one of hundreds of executives boosting VLJ traffic in Europe either as a charter user or an aircraft owner. Eurocontrol reported at the second annual European VLJ conference in Barcelona that VLJ flight numbers in Europe have grown from just below 50 in September 2007 to 250 in March 2008 and are now heading upwards to 300 a month.

"Travelling with comm-ercial operators meant that we either flew too early, creating a hectic schedule, or too late, thus losing time," says Knoll. "With Bikkair when schedules are changed, I simply call the pilot a few hours in advance to set the new schedule. If everything runs to plan, I call him a half an hour before departure, so the Mustang is ready when I arrive. You meet up with your fellow travellers, park your car in front of the building, walk in and within several minutes you have boarded and are ready for takeoff. It is literally a five minute job. The Bikkair concept is mainly about time-saving at attractive rates so the luxury lunches are excluded. The Mustang itself is a comfortable aircraft. Although its range is limited, it is the ideal solution for us for visiting our customers and offices within Europe. You are never on the aircraft longer than two or three hours."

Alex Hendriks, deputy director ATM Strategies at Eurocontrol, told the VLJ conference that much has been accomplished under the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) programme, a European initiative working to define an integrated future ATM system for Europe. SESAR aims to enhance the safety and capacity of the European aviation system and reduce costs and impact on the environment.

Hendriks says VLJs, many of them flown by pilot owners, fly at high attitude but at lower speed than larger aircraft and this is causing ATC issues. Another issue involves TCAS II (see EBAN May 2008).

The European Comm-ission's Mikolaj Ratajczyk says the EU's dedicated policy on general and business aviation is incorporating VLJs and their special characteristics sector into the overall air transport framework. The Commission, Eurocontrol and private companies aim to increase the safety factor, triple capacity, reduce ATM costs ten-fold and realise a 10 per cent reduction in emissions per flight.

Jose Mariano Lopez, md Barcelona Aeronautics & Space Association (BAIE) welcomed around 80 delegates to the conference. He suggested Spain would be a good manufacturing host for the next generation possibly all-composite VLJ, with Barcelona being a "magnet for worldwide engineering talent."

VLJ production is largely concentrated in the US but an assembly line in Europe would be at the centre of an extremely significant VLJ operational region, delegates were told. The customer in Europe is responsible for getting his new aircraft home from the manufacturer in the US and Brazil so aircraft delivery to European customers is a key issue, according to LEA md Patrick Margetson-Rushmore.

He pointed out that he spoke from personal experience about the need to ensure that training slots on the simulators are booked well in advance. LEA's pilots, he says, enjoy flying their entry level Mustang, and the 'sweet spot' is journeys of 40 to 90 minutes.

Acquiring a large fleet of VLJs will definitely keep costs down, the conference was told by Matthijs de Haan, md of ETIRC, parent company of Eclipse Aviation which has decided to build the Eclipse 500 in Russia. "Absolutely Russia is a big market for VLJs, but so too are high economic growth countries like India, Indonesia and China."

Dublin-based Jetbird announced it had successfully raised $14.2 million in launch capital through the sale of a 9.3 per cent stake to a Middle Eastern investor, and that it would be offering Phenom 100 services next spring.

The conference, organised by London and Dubai-based MIU Events, heard from Ed Smith, senior VP at General Aviation Manufacturers' Association, that over 200 pilots have been trained to date on VLJ models and that their average age is 47. VLJ models are extremely advanced, with state-of-the-art technology in the flight deck, often more sophisticated than many airliners flying today, delegates were told.

Robert Appleton of Europraxis Consulting reported that there are a potential 260 European airports suitable for VLJ use, but options are currently limited by lack of customs and VFR facilities. VLJ operators will also be looking at other airport characteristics such as terminals, fuelling, ground transportation and handling, he added. The need for VLJ operators to be "realistic" was stressed during the two-day conference, along with the high priority of communications with the OEMs and of checking regulations when introducing new jets.

The importance of determining customer requirements well in advance such as cabin connectivity and where to have a lavatory is also fundamental, said Joe Leader, president of Europe's Air Taxi Association, which now has 15 members.