Comlux Aviation remains committed to its unique business model combining widebody business jet operations with smaller bizliners and business jets targeting individual and corporate customers, Chief Executive Officer Andrea Zanetto told ch-aviation in an exclusive interview during EBACE in Geneva.

"The widebody market is mainly for government operations, and we may have opportunities to operate more for governments with their own assets. There are some small opportunities for private persons and companies to operate widebodies, and we have been dealing with them successfully. However, the ACJ/BBJ environment is the right size for the typical bizliner customer," he outlined. "We are looking very seriously into further growing the classical business jet fleet, too."

The Swiss-headquartered company positions itself as a unique operator with Zanetto pointing out that government operations, especially in the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia, are important markets for Comlux. He believes subcontracting government flights to a specialised company is "here to stay" as it offers a very cost-efficient way to provide capacity for governments that do not want to spend resources on maintaining a local VIP fleet.

"Even if it looks expensive, in reality, it is not very far from first-class tickets. It allows travel with an entire staff and journalists, with a direct connection and some time flexibility," he said. "I cannot say we are the only ones, but probably we are the best known in terms of specialisation for government and head-of-state operations".

By providing appropriately equipped bizliners, including widebody aircraft, Comlux Aviation can cater to larger delegations that could not be served even by the largest typical business jet. The company also has the expertise to ensure operational efficiency and security for those specific operations, which differ markedly from other VIP flights.

Bizliner focus

In terms of large bizliner aircraft managed under commercial certificates, the ch-aviation fleets module shows Comlux Aviation - which no longer holds its original Swiss AOC - currently operates one B767-200(ER) and one B787-8 on the Comlux Aruba AOC, one ACJ320-200N on the Comlux KZ AOC, and one ACJ318-100, one ACJ319-100, one ACJ320-200N, and one B737-500 in VIP configuration on the Comlux Aviation Malta AOC. It also operates another B737-500 albeit privately via San Marino's T7- register.

Zanetto credited the operator's expertise with the appointment of Richard Gaona, a former Airbus Corporate Jets executive, as CEO in 2007, which allowed Comlux to quickly grow its bizliner knowledge base. However, Zanetto stressed that Comlux has never focused exclusively on the ACJ Family and has also built a Boeing BBJ fleet in parallel which currently numbers four aircraft.

"We ported expertise from the airline sector to the world of classical business aviation but with bigger complexity, a higher number of crew, and long-range operations. We used this expertise to create something that is still business aviation, but with the big jets," he explained.

Comlux sees opportunities for widebody bizliner charters with Zanetto highlighting lavish celebrations, including weddings, and music tour charters as two particularly attractive niches.

ACJ220 outlook

Comlux Aviation is the world's first and still only operator of the ACJ220-100, an executive version of the A220-100. The airline has two aircraft of the type on its Maltese AOC, with two more under completion and one more due on order. Zanetto emphasised that the aircraft is extremely popular - one of the two in-service ACJ220s has an annual utilisation of around 800 hours, a very high figure for a business jet which exceeded the operator's expectations.

While roughly similar in size to the discontinued Lineage 1000, the ACJ220 offers much better range and operating efficiency. The charter market's response to this type has also been overwhelmingly positive. Zanetto stressed that Pratt & Whitney's ongoing PW1100 engine issues have not been a problem for Comlux Aviation - even with the relatively high utilisation, the ACJ220s are flown much less than commercial A220-100s, putting far less stress on the GTF engines. He also praised the engine manufacturer for addressing the issues very quickly.

With its large cabin, the ACJ220 is particularly well-suited to medium-sized groups travelling long distances, as it offers much higher comfort for overnight flights than long-range business jets. He dismissed any notion this was driven by new type's "wow factor" adding that the ACJ220 offers a superior product to smaller business jets.

Business jet market

Despite its reputation as a bizliner operator, Comlux Aviation has no plans to exit the conventional business jet market. It currently has two Global 6000s and one Global 6500 on the Maltese AOC, and one Challenger 604, one Challenger 605, one Challenger 850, one Embraer 545/550, two Legacy 650s, and one PC-24 on the Kazakh one.

"Comlux Aviation started with the typical business jet and never went out of that business. The Comlux KZ AOC is a very important one, and this is where the expertise for the classical business jet still is very strong," Zanetto said.

The carrier operated other business jet types in the past, including Dassault Aviation and Gulfstream Aerospace jets, and would consider such opportunities if customers approached it.

AOC strategy

Zanetto recalled that Comlux Aviation was one of the first foreign companies to establish a Maltese AOC before it became a hotspot for air operators. The choice in 2007 was driven by Malta's business-friendly culture, strong aviation traditions, and English language lingua-franca. The Aruban AOC was born out of the need for a "completely independent" certificate, which allows Comlux to fly the aircraft without restrictions almost anywhere in the world. Comlux was also one of the first international companies to establish a presence on the Caribbean island.

The Kazakh AOC, in turn, was driven by a very strong local customer basis. But while Zanetto underlined that the operator has not been flying to Russia since 2022, this has by no means diminished the Kazakh market's prospects. "There's a huge number of countries that need to be served from Kazakhstan: the Far East, Europe, the Middle East."

The group also had a San Marino AOC but closed it during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has no plans to expand beyond the current three certificates in the near term due to the labour and regulatory workload associated with doing so.

"We decided to be prudent. We don't want to collect AOCs, although we would consider developments based on customer requirements. Currently, we reckon our three AOCs cover probably 80% of the requirements of any customer who comes knocking on our door and wants their aircraft operated by Comlux. I think we can provide a solution for most requirements," Zanetto outlined.

But while all of Comlux's commercially available aircraft are currently registered in their respective countries of AOC, the group would consider registering any future aircraft in other countries using the Article 83bis procedure but would only do so if a customer explicitly asked to. "We are not considering it apart from a specific requirement from the customer. If the law and the authorities allow it, we know how to do it; we have done it in the past, it is a tool we can use," Zanetto said. The group's privately managed aircraft can be placed on registers in countries where it does not have AOCs.