PremiAir, the award-winning UK based aviation services company, announces today (6th July) a significant step in its continued growth in business aviation. PremiAir has taken over the management of a fleet of LearJet private jets and in addition has acquired a new private jet operating and maintenance base at London’s Biggin Hill airport.  This move follows its launch of private jet charter and management operations earlier this year and boosts the number of its UK operating bases to six. An additional 50 jobs will be created to support the new Biggin Hill operation.

The acquisition from Gold Group International, for an undisclosed sum, sees PremiAir’s sister company, von Essen Aviation, take ownership of a number of Learjet 45s, whilst PremiAir takes over the former Gold Air maintenance and operating facilities.  PremiAir will now add the Learjet 45s to its growing managed fleet of private jets and PremiAir’s maintenance business will take over the Biggin Hill facility, which is an EASA approved specialist Learjet 40 / 45 and Challenger 300 maintenance operation.  The Biggin Hill facility becomes PremiAir’s second fixed wing maintenance operation and will be an important base for private jet and executive helicopter charter operations.

“We’re exceptionally pleased with this acquisition which will further enhance PremiAir’s unique range of services,” said David McRobert, PremiAir’s Group Managing Director. “We’re the largest executive helicopter charter, management and maintenance services organisation in the UK and this acquisition now firmly establishes PremiAir in the private jet charter and management arena. It also adds to our already extensive range of aircraft maintenance services, which cover many executive helicopters and fixed wing aircraft types. Our new Biggin Hill operation is a long established Learjet 40 / 45 series maintenance facility and we’re delighted to add it to PremiAir’s two other aircraft maintenance facilities at Blackbushe and Oxford Airports.”

“This is a great opportunity for us,” said Neil Gibson, PremiAir’s Director of Aircraft Charter & Management. “The new managed Learjet 45 fleet will add strong robust capacity to our private jet charter business from the end of August and we expect to add additional managed aircraft, including long range wide-body private jets, by the end of the year. We’ve been managing and chartering executive helicopters for 30 years, so our growth into private jet management and charter is a very logical and natural growth step for our experienced operations team. Uniquely in the UK, PremiAir can offer clients an integrated helicopter and executive jet management service, backed-up by our extensive in-house aircraft maintenance, airworthiness management and aircraft sales services.  We’ve essentially grown into a ‘one-stop-shop’ for helicopter and jet owners and we’re determined to keep focused on delivering the highest quality services throughout all our business operations.”

“Biggin Hill is a valuable new base for us with attractive additional benefits,” commented McRobert. “We plan to home-base executive helicopters at Biggin for charter use, which we recognise is growing fast through major infrastructure and facility investment. It’s an extremely rapid 10 minute helicopter hop from Biggin into London using our own London Heliport Shuttle services. The growing fleet of long range private jets based at Biggin demonstrates aircraft owners’ increasing satisfaction with the airport’s benefits. We’re delighted to add Biggin Hill to our existing bases at Farnborough, Oxford, Denham, Blackbushe and The London Heliport.”

NOTES

• Established 30 years ago, PremiAir is the UK’s largest Executive Helicopter Charter and Management company.  It has bases at Denham, Blackbushe, Oxford and Farnborough Airports plus The London Heliport.
• PremiAir commenced private jet charter operations in early 2010 using the Hawker Beechcraft Premier 1.
• PremiAir recently scooped the ‘Best Executive Aviation Provider’ accolade at the 2010 Business Travel Awards.  Other awards include Buying Business Travel Diamond Award Winner 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Best Executive Aviation Provider.  Luxury Travel Winner Best Private Charter Company 2008.
• PremiAir is privately owned by the von Essen Group and is a sister company of von Essen Hotels, which owns and operates 30 luxury hotels throughout the UK and Europe.
• PremiAir also manages and operates The London Heliport at Battersea, which remains the UK capital’s only commercial heliport. New ultra modern business aviation terminal facilities are opening this summer connected to a luxury 5 star hotel development by sister company von Essen.
• PremiAir flies approximately 4,000 helicopter charter hours a year with its modern fleet of Sikorsky S76s and Eurocopter Twin Squirrels.  It has 18 Executive Helicopters on management programmes; providing turnkey services to their owners.
• PremiAir’s maintenance business is an FAA, EASA, CAA Part 145-approved organisation; it is a Sikorsky Service Centre for the S76 (all models), a Bell Customer Service Facility for Bell 222, 230 and 430 and is a Hawker Beechcraft Authorised Service Centre for their Beechcraft Model range including the Premier 1 private jet.  PremiAir is one of the largest Eurocopter maintenance centres in Europe supporting EC155, AS365 Dauphin and AS355 Twin Squirrel. The company also provides maintenance services on the AgustaWestland 109 model range and is a Pratt & Whitney Canada recognised maintenance facility and a distributor for Honeywell, Rockwell Collins and numerous other equipment vendors.
• PremiAir boasts Part 21J and G design and manufacturer approvals for aircraft modifications. With a large and experienced design office team, the company provides full refurbishment and upgrade services on most executive helicopter types and a wide range of fixed wing aircraft, including the full Beechcraft model range.  Fixed wing aircraft are maintained at a new facility at Oxford Airport, which opened in October 2008.
• PremiAir is a leading player in the provision of pilots to the UK Police Forces with contracts throughout the UK and in Northern Ireland.
• PremiAir Global is the company’s in-house aircraft sales and brokerage business.  It specialises in acquiring and selling new and used helicopters and business jets and is based at Farnborough Airport, UK.