Comlux Aviation is known as the world’s largest operator of airliner-derived VIP business jets, but its fleet is much more diverse that its reputation might suggest. It includes everything from a Pilatus PC-24 light jet, the latest addition to the company’s managed aircraft roster, to a Bombardier Challenger 604, the first airplane Comlux managed at its 2003 founding.
Since then, the company has logged more than 100,000 accident-free operations with about 60 aircraft, including more than two dozen models from Airbus, Beechcraft, Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream, Pilatus, and Sukhoi.
“Business Aviation is our heritage,” noted Andrea Zanetto, CEO of the Malta-based firm, which is the operational arm of Switzerland’s Comlux Group.
Today, the fleet is split about evenly between VIP-configured airliners and light to heavy business jets. Late last year, Comlux Group cemented its position as the top customer of Airbus Corporate Jets with its 20th ACJ order. Now, with its bizliner charter/management business expanding, Comlux Aviation aims to grow the rest of its fleet in tandem.
“We want the community to know we are open for business,” said Zanetto. “We’d like to consider taking new aircraft under management—including business jets of all sizes.”
Whatever the size of a client’s aircraft, Comlux takes the same approach: “We listen,” said Zanetto. “I wish to understand every client we serve—their [operational] goal; the offsetting charter revenue they want to achieve; the type of crew they want; and the asset- management timeline plan for the aircraft.”
“This cannot be left to the customer-support team only,” he added. “I want to be there when the client explains that.”
The firm will likely have the expertise and resources to craft an effective solution, whatever the objective and requirements.
“We designed the Comlux Group to serve all the typical needs of a VIP client over time,” services extending beyond aircraft management, Zanetto explained. He cited its transaction division, which assists clients in buying and selling aircraft; its U.S.-based completion and refurbishment center; its global bespoke charter services; its engineering and design departments; its safety and security teams; and its maintenance capabilities.
“Depending on clients’ needs or wants, they can enter Comlux through different doors,” he said. “We try to give them the best experience possible, and they often come back with a new need.”
Attesting to that fact, Zanetto said, several clients with a first or second aircraft under management initially came to Comlux as charter customers and moved into ownership as their requirements evolved.
Leveraging its wide breadth of offerings, the Group recently launched Comlux Tech, a program harnessing synergies across all operating divisions, to serve clients of any unit, as needed. For example, Comlux Aviation clients considering an interior upgrade can access Comlux Completion’s interior design and engineering expertise.
“We can really make a difference here,” said Zanetto. “Our experts can provide consultation to our clients and create solutions without even going to contract.”
Similarly, the transaction division can provide input on market conditions and valuations for owners considering a change in aircraft and can provide technical assistance with operational cost analysis and inspection services.
A Foundation of Innovation
The Group’s vertical integration reflects an innovative spirit that suffuses its range of operations and services.
“Innovation is simply about listening to the client—we innovate to meet their needs, not simply to be different,” said Zanetto.
These innovations can be seen as expressions of the Comlux “Customer at Heart” philosophy, a concept that includes continually raising the bar in all service areas as customers come to accept yesterday’s innovations as the new standard.
Here again, the VIP-configured airliners—particularly their luxurious Comlux Completion interiors, which have introduced numerous cabin-system firsts—often grab much of the attention for innovation.
But Comlux Aviation can also claim its share of operational milestones. By listening to clients and crafting solutions, in 2008 Comlux Aviation became the first international group to establish an AOC under Maltese registry (9H), now a staple of international business aviation operations; and in 2011 Comlux established the first in Aruba (P4). While both mandate safety and regulatory compliances equal to the most stringent international standards, registry in Malta can provide greater operational flexibility for European owners that EASA-registered aircraft enjoy. Meanwhile, Aruba’s registry has provisions specifically covering operation of airliner-sized business jets, and it is the standard registry for Comlux’s VIP transports.
Here again Comlux Aviation has blazed a trail, as the largest private operator of wide-body executive airliners under any flag, with a fleet today including the Crystal Skye BBJ777-200LR, operated for Crystal Air Cruises; an ACJ330, for which Comlux handled the entry into service, including route proofing; and the company’s own BBJ767-200ER; in addition to narrow-body ACJs and BBJs.
The company also has a Kazakhstan UP AOC, ideal for aircraft in Central Asia, and has operated aircraft under Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and Isle of Man registries, among others.
Adept at technological innovation as well, Comlux Aviation was among the first operators approved for paperless cockpit operations, far ahead of most peers on this critical digital transition. “We had a change in our thinking 10 years ago,” Zanetto said. “Pilots needed safe, reliable support, and paper did not work.”
Today, Comlux Aviation’s digital innovations continue, with the introduction of a web-based client-services platform supporting immediate and paperless access to all operational and management data.
“The information we provide to the owners or representatives is now online in real time,” Zanetto said.
A complementary owner’s app, similar to online banking apps consumers have come to expect, brings the most critical and time-sensitive information to personal devices. The app also simplifies contact with customer-service staff, providing direct lines to needed support, 24/7. Concurrently, the technology reduces administrative requirements, freeing staff “to have more time to dedicate to client needs.”
A Passion for Performance
The Group’s “engineering luxury” ethos is likewise often associated with the VIP interiors but applies equally to operations.
“Most of us are either pilots or engineers,” Zanetto, himself a former aeronautical engineer, said of the close-knit Comlux leadership team. “We like to design solutions. The solutions look luxurious, but these are engineering operations. Even in catering: the meal may look attractive on the table, but behind that is a process that needs to be reliably repeatable.” He added, apropos of the attentiveness, “Our Swiss heritage makes the difference.”
Comlux Aviation has also been among the vanguard in operating new executive airliner and business jet platforms. It was the launch customer for the Airbus ACJ318, for example, and was the first head-of-state ACJ319 operator, first Falcon 900LX charter, and first Sukhoi SBJ charter operator. The tradition continues as the company was among the first Gulfstream G650ER operators and one of Bombardier’s Global 7500 launch customers. Now, in concert with growth plans for its business jet fleet, the company anticipates more launch milestones.
“We’re going to receive new [aircraft] types, and we’ll be disclosing those at the appropriate time,” Zanetto said.
Zanetto foresees “more need for business aviation” over the next decade as well as increasing customer demand for upgrades to airframes, powerplants, and onboard systems. In the interim, Comlux is eager to hear from compatible owners who want to take full advantage of all the benefits business aviation and its management approach can provide.
“We are down-to-earth, family-oriented people, and we do like our customers,” Zanetto said of the Comlux team. “We are happy to hear from potential clients. We’ll start listening and develop a proposal.”
