Fly Aeolus
Fly Aeolus Lufttaxi is a Belgian limited liability partnership (BV) which offers private jet flights in the form of an air taxi under a fractional ownership model. The company was founded in 2009 in the city of Antwerp, where it still has its headquarters. Other office locations are located in Rotterdam and Berlin. Fly Aeolus is the largest Cirrus SR-22 operator in Europe and flies on-demand to a total of 1,600 airports and airfields on the continent.[1]
History
The Fly Aeolus B.V. was founded in 2009 by Stefaan Ghijs and Vincent Wigmans. Ghijs discovered low-cost private jet flying in the form of an air taxi as a niche market during his master's degree in aerospace engineering.[2] Wigmans previously worked in a private jet maintenance company. It was only in 2009 that their partnership as such was officially established.[3]
The first flight of the service provider Fly Aeolus took place two years later from Antwerp, Belgium to Vichy in France. Following this success, the company continued to develop. The aircraft fleet was expanded to other countries such as Germany, France and the Netherlands. The initial west-northern European area of operations was extended to the entire continent.[3]
Business Model
The model of an air taxi resembles the taxi industry but in the area of private aviation. The service is based on a fractional ownership model. Hence customers are joint owners of the Cirrus fleet. The actual private owners, on the other hand, make their aircraft available and receive a commission for every hour flown.[4]
Fly Aeolus' aircraft and commercially qualified pilots are distributed in the north-west of Europe.[5] The use of the Cirrus SR-22 aircraft enables landing on small airfields. The concept of Fly Aeolus B.V. aims thereby to save the costs for the traveller.
Fleet
Fly Aeolus has a standardised fleet of Cirrus SR-22 aircraft. Including the pilot, 4 passengers can be transported in the single piston aircraft. With 15 Cirrus SR-22 aircraft in operation, Fly Aeolus is the largest Cirrus provider in Europe.[5]
References
- ^ Sarsfield2020-03-11T10:12:00+00:00, Kate. "Fly Aeolus plots expansion on Cirrus success". Flight Global. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Zwan, F. M. van der; Wils, K.; Ghijs, S. S. A. (2011-09-12). "Development of an Aircraft Routing System for an Air Taxi Operator". Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi:10.5772/25655.
- ^ a b "Fly Aeolus Air Taxi on LinkedIn: The story of Fly Aeolus: An interview with Stefaan Ghijs". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
- ^ "4 januari | Archeon, Fly Aeolus en New York Pizza". bnr.nl. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
- ^ a b Scholtes, Anouk (14. November 2012). "September editie 2012". Leonardo Times. 3: 42, 43 – via Start-up company: Fly Aeolus.
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