European scheduled business aircraft service Club Airways International is providing a daily round-trip connection between the Swiss cities of Geneva and Basel to allow executives from the luxury goods industry to attend two key trade shows next month. The temporary service will operate during the BaselWorld jewelry exhibition (March 30 through April 6) and the SIHH watch show in Geneva (April 3 through 9).

The company will make 40-minute flights in a seven-seat King Air 200 turboprop twin. Car or train journeys between Basel and Geneva take about three hours.

Temporary Club Airways memberships will be offered to passengers and this fee will be included in the SFr 900 ($678) one-way fare and the SFr 1,200 ($904) round-trip fare. There are no direct airline services between Basel and Geneva. Flying Swiss via Zurich, the trip can take as long as four-and-a-half hours and a minimum of two-and-a-half hours at a business class fare of almost SFr 800 ($602).

Club Airways International also offers scheduled business-jet flights between Geneva and Paris. Since taking over the assets of the original Club Airways, which went bankrupt early last year, the company claims to have attracted 180 members and to have flown more than 1,200 passengers (see AIN, March, page 47). According to COO Inge Leutscher, the new Club Airways now has people on a waiting list for the Paris-Geneva service and is making plans to add a second daily round-trip service.