DAS Private Jets in Germany has ordered its second factory-new Phenom 300, which will be inducted into the fleet in May. It joins another Phenom 300, a Phenom 100E and a Cessna CJ1. “We started the business on January 1 2015 and the first two aircraft were a CJ1 and a CJ2+, which we later changed for a Phenom 300,” says CEO Wolfram Waechter. “The Phenom 100E, which is based at Friedrichshafen, entered the fleet at the end of July, so we are growing quickly.”

DAS also entered negotiations with an investor to buy a second Phenom 300 and put the contract together in September last year; it expects delivery shortly after EBACE and the aircraft will be located in Mengen.

“I think the great thing about the Phenom is that the aircraft design is new, whereas the competitors' designs are older and are mostly face-lifted,” continues Waechter. “The Phenom has some features that the guests appreciate; the cabin size is the biggest in its class and there is a huge door to enter the aircraft. This is the first impression people have. It feels like sitting in a bigger jet.

“From the pilot's perspective, the Phenom series derives from an airliner with all the technology that brings. The small Cessnas came from the small aircraft and did not develop so much. In my opinion Textron Aviation should have borrowed more from the Sovereign and XLS when designing the smaller Citations. This is where the Phenom succeeds. It has single point refuelling and nice toilets. The electrical driven flaps are like an airliner. You have to go to the larger Citation jets or Learjets for the equivalent.”

He intends to implement a significant marketing effort this year to bring on the Phenom 300 and make it a success: “We have to establish the pilots and the team behind the aircraft. We have a very professional recruiting system and we have already taken on some people.

We are always looking for new investors for new aircraft, particularly Embraer aircraft. We would like one or two more Phenoms and one or two Legacy 450 or 500s in the future. “We are a regular customer for Embraer now, so I think they give us a nice amount of attention. We always want to be the number one choice for placing Phenoms on an AOC in southern Germany.”