BSRA Places More Jetstreams, Avros

Building on its success in the first half of 2007 when it placed 19 Jetstream 32s with 10 customers, BAE Systems Regional Aircraft placed a further 16 aircraft in the second half of the year with four operators. This means that at the end of 2007, all but one Jetstream 32 in the Asset Management portfolio...

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Building on its success in the first half of 2007 when it placed 19 Jetstream 32s with 10 customers, BAE Systems Regional Aircraft placed a further 16 aircraft in the second half of the year with four operators. This means that at the end of 2007, all but one Jetstream 32 in the Asset Management portfolio have been contracted. Since taking responsibility for the Jetstream 31/32 lease portfolio in 1993, the Herndon, Va.-based Asset Management team have managed and placed around 250 different aircraft.
The 18/19 seat aircraft retains its popularity, while continuing to find new markets, said BRSA. There is a strong demand for the aircraft notably in Latin America and steady placements are being made for the aircraft in both airliner and in corporate/shuttle roles.
The new business includes:
• Corporate Flight Management (CFM) of Smyrna, Tennessee which has purchased an additional 10 aircraft for delivery between March and August 2008. An on-demand charter company, CFM is the largest Jetstream commercial fleet operator outside the airline environment, offering a variety of corporate shuttle services;
• M2 Aircraft Management of Ypsilanti, Michigan, bought two aircraft, both to be deployed to its sister company, Murray Aviation;
• Servicios Aereos Professionales (SAP), based in the Dominican Republic leased one aircraft and purchased another. SAP already has two Jetstream 32s which it uses on charter operations and contract work in the Caribbean;
• SARPA (Servicios Aereos Panamericanos S.A.) of Medellin, Colombia bought two additional Jetstream 32s to add to its existing fleet which it uses to support the oil industry in Medellin and for charter services on behalf of other industries in the country.

Avro Sales
The Bahrain Defense Force and Malmö Aviation have acquired Avro RJ100s placed by the company. The latest transaction brings the total Avros in the Defense Force’s fleet to three aircraft. The aircraft is currently being operated by Finnish carrier Blue 1 and will be delivered to the Bahrain Defense Force in January 2008. It will join the two RJ85s currently operated and, as with the existing fleet, will be converted into a VVIP configuration. The Bahrain Defense Force took delivery of its first Avro RJ85 from the production line in 2001 and added a second pre-owned aircraft several years later. The Avro RJ was the first civil, fixed-wing aircraft to be deployed in the Bahrain Defense Force operation.

Malmö Aviation RJ100s
Malmö Aviation also signed long-term lease extensions on the airline’s fleet of nine Avro RJ100s. Under this new contract Malmö Aviation will be operating the aircraft well into the second half of the next decade.
Although based at Malmö, the airline has its main hub at Stockholm’s downtown Bromma Airport, which is located only eight kilometres from the city centre. There are strict curfews imposed at the airport and only the quietest aircraft are allowed to operate. Despite the extensive curfews, Bromma is Sweden’s fourth busiest airport in terms of traffic.
Malmö Aviation is part of Braathens Aviation, the parent company of a group containing six different companies. The new group of companies is based on existing aviation businesses already controlled by Chairman Per G. Braathen and has from September 2007 operated as a consolidated group of companies with different brands and business areas.
“Malmö Aviation is an important part of the Braathens Aviation family of companies and this long-term lease extension for the Avro RJ100 fleet allows the airline to retain its dominant position at Bromma, said Braathen. In addition, our Transwede Airways ACMI company operates RJ70s and RJ85s on behalf of third-party airlines, notably into and out of London City Airport. We also offer pilot training, aircraft maintenance, IT solutions and leasing services as part of the Braathens Aviation service portfolio.”
In addition, Malmö Aviation works with its partner Brussels Airlines to operate a code share service between Brussels- Bromma, Brussels- Copenhagen and Brussels-Gothenburg. Malmö also operates a large number of charter flights across Europe with some 60 destinations on average visited each year.

Australia’s National Jet Extends 146 Lease
National Jet Systems (NJS), Australia’s largest provider of contracted air transport services, has signed a long-term lease extension with BRSA for one of its BAe 146-200s. The lease extension is on the back of a contract extension won by NJS from Santos, one of Australia’s best known oil and gas companies, to provide air transport to the company’s Cooper Basin mining and exploration site. Under the terms of the new contract the 81-seat BAe 146-200 will replace the smaller 72-seat BAe 146-100 that was previously operated.
NJS operates nine flights each week between Adelaide and the Santos sites of Moomba and Ballera in the Cooper Basin, some 770km and 950km north of Adelaide respectively.
National Jet Systems is part of Cobham Flight Operations and Services Australia, operating a combined fleet of 48 aircraft throughout Australasia and employing more than 1100 people. Of this fleet, 14 are BAe 146s across all three variants and one Avro RJ70. Eleven of this fleet are leased from Regional Aircraft.
Ten of the BAe 146s are based in Western Australia and form part of a flexible pool used by NJS to cover major mining companies’ air transport requirements. Aircraft may be committed to a single client, or may form part of a flexible capacity arrangement that allows NJS to meet mining company demands for capacity increases and decreases and provide back-up aircraft to maximise service delivery.
The other three BAe 146s are QT freighters that NJS flies on behalf of Australian Air Express on the Eastern seaboard and is the only aircraft allowed to serve Sydney during curfew hours.

Blue1 Extends RJ 85 Lease
Finnish regional carrier Blue1, which is a member of the SAS Group, signed a long-term lease extension with BRSA on one RJ85. This lease will see the aircraft operating in the Blue1 fleet well into the next decade. This transaction follows a deal announced in October last year under which Blue1 extended leases on four other RJ85s in its fleet. At the same time it confirmed that two other RJ85s currently operating with Blue1 are being returned to BAE Systems for onward lease to BA CityFlyer from Spring 2008.
Blue1 is slightly reducing the size of its regional jet operation in favor of acquiring larger aircraft.
Blue1 is a regional Star Alliance member and has over 100 daily flights serving seven Finnish destinations and 18 international destinations in Scandinavia and Europe.