German business aviation services group FAI Aviation Group announced plans to build a new hangar at its Nuremberg headquarters. The 48,439-sq-ft building, designated hangar eight, is expected to open in the spring of 2016 at a cost of approximately $7.9 million. It will double the size of FAI’s facilities, following the April 2014 opening of a 53,821-sq-ft hangar 7, which is used mainly for parking customer aircraft.
FAI lays claim to being one of the largest general aviation operators in Germany. Its 21-aircraft fleet is the second largest in the country, and the aircraft logged 12,400 hours last year. The fleet, all of which was acquired pre-owned and entirely consisting of Bombardier models, includes three Global Expresses, four Challenger 604s, nine Learjet 60s, five Learjet 55s and a Learjet 35A. The company is in the process of buying a fifth Challenger 604, which will replace two of the Learjet 55s.
This year FAI expects to boost revenue by some 10 percent, to more than €84 million ($95 million), after achieving a similar increase last year. FAI chairman and CEO Siegfried Axtmann explained that the new hangar will be used primarily for parking aircraft. The need for extra space has been triggered by FAI’s maintenance business, which has outgrown its existing hangar. FAI’s main activity is charter, with a focus on supporting special-mission operations and medical evacuation services.
Special missions and air ambulance work account for as much as 80 percent of the company’s flying. Air ambulance work alone is set to account for around €40 million ($45 million) in revenue this year, making the company one of the largest fixed-wing-only operators worldwide in this sector. Half of this flying is done with the Learjets and the other half with the Challengers.
The company’s special missions division, active since 2004, mainly provides flights for the United Nations and generates approximately €25 million ($28 million) with six aircraft and a seventh on standby for maintenance cover. FAI employs 80 pilots (out of a workforce of 180); four-fifths of them are on the payroll full-time and the remainder contractors.
Over the past 12 months FAI has flown 708 air ambulance missions in 123 countries, logging 2.11 million nautical miles. “One of the hardest challenges in our business is to balance operational and logistical constraints with safety requirements,” explained sales and marketing director Volker Lemke. Mainly on behalf of the UN, FAI often flies into dangerous regions across Africa and the Middle East (including Iraq and Afghanistan).
Air ambulance and special-mission operations are generating more and more of its maintenance activities. “We’re currently handling maintenance work in hangar six but it’s spilling over into hangar seven, which is next door. So this is why we need to add more space,” explained Axtmann, who bought the company back in 1989. Hangar eight, situated immediately opposite hangars six and seven, will be large enough to take three aircraft of A320 size or five Global Expresses.
In addition to maintenance, special missions and air ambulance flying, FAI also offers executive charters. Most of FAI’s charter clients are large insurance groups or companies specializing in providing emergency assistance. Among the end customers are energy groups supporting remote operations.
Most of the firm’s executive charter work is carried out in the Global Express. “But this is a niche for us, providing supplementary revenue to cover our running costs,” explained Axtmann. “Air ambulance work is still our core business.” The company does not plan to expand into helicopter operations since, in its view, this is a heavily regulated sector, especially in Germany.
