VIP Aviation, a company based in Latvia, has recently taken on an additional Hawker 800XP and is now looking forward to Latvia joining the EU in May, predicting that this will bring a wealth of business opportunities its way.

“We took on the Hawker at the beginning of March,” said managing director Dr Leonid Gorodnitski. “Our choice of a Hawker 800XP comes down to the fact that we already own two Hawkers; a Hawker 800 and a Hawker 800XP.

“Our first Hawker XP proved to be very reliable and cost-effective for our business,” he said. “Another reason behind the choice was to keep our fleet as universal as possible, to reduce all the related costs for maintenance and other services.

“We also manage a Challenger 604 and we are now negotiating the acquisition of another Challenger, but it’s a tentative situation at the moment,” he continued. “If we do take on the management of this other aircraft, we will have a total of five aircraft in the fleet, three of which are actually owned by ourselves.”

The company’s new Hawker 800XP is very nicely furnished inside, reports Gorodnitski. It has a business-class interior, which can meet the requirements of any of its clients. There are facilities to produce hot meals, there is a refrigerator and also a microwave onboard.

“We are a carrier of the President of Latvia and certain government officials and we use the Hawker aircraft to transport them on their trips,” he said.

“They do fly in the new Hawker 800XP, but it does depend on the availability of the aircraft. The comfort inside the three Hawkers is more-or-less the same, so it can be difficult to tell the difference,”

he insisted.

“Beyond that, we fly commercial clients from our region and from throughout Russia, as well as some management personnel of banks and large local companies.”

Gorodnitski explained that the company has 10 years experience with Hawker aircraft. “We started with a Hawker 600 and then we replaced it with the latest version of the Hawker aircraft, when it became available,” he said.

“We have well-educated, trained staff, pilots and technicians working with the aircraft,” he said. “We also have a permanent programme of training sessions for our employees - both new training and retraining

in various areas. These are mainly

for the pilots and engineers,”

he continued.

He reports that the company flies mainly in Europe, but sometimes to destinations as far afield as Japan or Australia. Gorodnitski insists that the company will fly wherever the client needs to go. However, he claims that, in general, most of the company’s clients are based in former Eastern Bloc countries and they want to fly within Europe.

“We are growing as a business and we are now analysing the market as well, having identified that it is also growing,” he said.

“As of May 1, we join the European Union as a country, so we will be far more active in the western European market. All of the JAR regulations

will be the same. Latvia joining the EU is a very positive step for all businesses here.

“It opens up so many more opportunities for us all.

“I believe that the aviation industry in Latvia will expand, it’s already an ongoing process,” he said. “But for the moment, there has been very little expansion in the field of business aviation, so we are lucky enough to be the first and only company in Latvia operating business jets.”

He concluded: “Commercial aviation has been growing here for a while, but executive operations will increase in time, I’m sure of it.”