Hahnair (HR, Düsseldorf) will renew its fleet of business jets in the first half of 2026, replacing its Cessna Citation CJ3+ with a CJ3 Gen2, and its Latitude with a new unit of the same type. General Manager Daniel Rudas spoke to ch-aviation about the airline's fleet, flight operations, high-quality concierge services and the advantages of being a fundamental basis for distribution specialist Hahnair and its sister companies Hahnair Systems and Hahnair Technologies.

"When we acquired our current aircraft in 2020, it was a buyer's market, and it was possible to purchase aircraft at good and affordable prices. Now, the whole market has turned into a seller's market, which has led to a tremendous increase in prices. But on the upside, the value of our current aircraft is also increasing. When we exchange the fleet in the first and second quarter of 2026, and we will be selling our aircraft, for what will most likely be a good deal," he explained.

The German charter operator aims to keep its fleet young - the current CJ3+, D-CHRF (msn 525B-0627), is just 3.6 years old, while the Latitude, D-CHRG (msn 680A-0238), is 4 years old - a strategy that has multiple benefits. As the aircraft and engines are still under full warranty, their maintenance costs are relatively low. In addition charter customers prefer to travel on newer aircraft, even though older airframes can be maintained to the same safety standards.

Hahnair buys aircraft exclusively from manufacturer Textron Aviation. "The benefit of operating Textron Aviation aircraft is that we have the biggest Citation service centre - in Düsseldorf - right on our doorstep. Maintenance is, for us, the second biggest cost driver, and therefore, it is a huge advantage not having to fly out and into maintenance," Rudas outlined.

Smaller aircraft are not an option. Hahnair only acquires aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of more than 5.7 tonnes (the CJ3 Gen2's MTOW is 6.3 tonnes) in order to comply with IATA regulations.

Rudas expects the two new aircraft to be operated for six to seven years before their replacement is in order. However, any such decisions are made based on the market environment. As such, depending on market prices, Hahnair could extend or shorten the jets' lifespans. Under the right circumstances, second-hand aircraft are also an option. Rudas recalled Hahnair acquiring two second-hand Sovereigns, ex-CitationAir by Cessna units, at "very attractive" prices in 2015 to meet changing IATA rules. They were resold in 2020 for a handsome price.

Hahnair distribution solutions

As Hahnair is an IATA member that operates its own fleet of aircraft on scheduled flights between Düsseldorf and Palma de Mallorca, the company is able to provide distribution services to other carriers. Over the past 25 years, it has become a leading distribution solutions provider with a network of 350 partner airlines. To avoid competing with them, Hahnair’s scheduled network won't expand for the foreseeable future beyond its sole scheduled route. Its high-quality concierge charter services, which many loyal customers value, are another reason it won't grow its scheduled operations: "If we do too many scheduled services, we're losing charter business, which is, of course, more profitable," Rudas proclaimed.

While he highlighted the importance of Hahnair's IOSA certification, which it has held since 2006, he conceded that initially, the association was hesitant to work with the operator due to its size, preferring instead to focus on certifying larger commercial airlines. Currently, there are only two business charter operators with IOSA certificates. "I am proud to be running the smallest IATA and IOSA-certified airline in the world," he said. “In my opinion, IOSA is the best safety audit available on the market. We have clients that actively, specifically ask for IOSA."

Shifting demand trends

Rudas points out that Hahnair has not seen any drop in demand for its private charters following the COVID-19 pandemic. On the contrary, the business is continuing to grow albeit with a significant surge in leisure demand. Prior to the pandemic, the customer ratio was about 70/30 in favour of corporate travel, but it has now flipped to the same ratio but now in favour of leisure. That said, business travel is recovering as some scheduled airlines have yet to fully restore their corporate-focused networks to pre-pandemic levels.

"In the past, we always said: ‘the smaller, the better’. Very light to light jets were what we called the ‘bread-and-butter’ aircraft because it was easy to sell flights with them on the charter market. When we introduced the Sovereigns in 2016, they were quite large for the market. Now, it's the opposite, and the Latitude is in high demand," Rudas outlined.

Rudas acknowledges that operating under a German AOC is increasingly difficult due to existing rules and regulations. Still, the airline and the distribution business remain wholly committed to Germany as their home base.