Malta-based charter airline AirX Charter is aiming to grow its fleet as the pre-owned aircraft market stabilises.
This was confirmed by AirX Charter CEO Friedrich Baldinger in an interview with ch-aviation, saying that the market has now started to normalise after a period of high asset prices.
AirX Charter is a private jet operator in Europe that makes use of a diversified fleet. While it primarily targets existing fleet types, it is also aiming to add long-range heavy business jets, an area that it is not currently present in.
In his comments, Mr Baldinger said: “In the past two years, there was nothing for us to get there because asset prices went up and bank financing went wild, so it was not the right time for us to expand our fleet.”
AirX Charter CEO Friedrich Baldinger / LinkedIn
However, he remarked that the prices have started to come down now, and he expects there to be some “good opportunities” for AirX Charter to grow its fleet this year.
Mr Baldinger said that the while the heavy jets AirX Chater operates are “good products,” he noted that it would be helpful for the charter airline to “get something with a bit more range from the heavy jet segment, allowing us to operate routes like London-Dubai more easily.”
At the time being, AirX Chater has a fleet that includes seven Challenger 850s, three Legacy 600s, and five Lineage 1000s. Mr Baldinger denied any plans to retire the Lineage 1000 aircraft, despite the fleet type being out of production.
He confirmed that the company is not planning to order new aircraft from manufacturers, and will instead be watchful of the preowned market. However, he said that AirX Charter is looking for new growth opportunities and is also evaluating Airbus Corporate Jets types, including the ACJ220-100.
“I think there could be a business [for the type], but I cannot disregard the price of the aircraft because this is the main cost driver,” he continued.
Mr Baldinger said that the demand for charters is currently very strong, and AirX Charter is “trying to be a bit smarter” in how it operates the flights, “a bit more efficient, reducing ferry times.”
“One of the key issues for the market was that all the third-party maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO)providers were completely overloaded if you needed them,” Mr Baldinger commented, before adding that the operator’s maintenance facility primarily serves its own fleet, yet it also has a limited number of external customers.
