VistaJet’s President of Europe and Africa explains why Europe and Africa are so important to the company.
Tell us about your career path that led to your current position.
I’ve been with the company for 13 years. I originally came from Bombardier in Montreal and joined Chairman Thomas Flor quite early in VistaJet’s growth phase. We celebrate our 20th anniversary this year and now have over 300 aircraft serving our members around the world. We’ve grown in every corner of the world. We are a truly global company. My responsibilities are particularly in Europe, Africa and Brazil, where I’m responsible for the sales programs in those regions. We are aggressively developing new markets.
Why is VistaJet focusing on Africa?
We’ve been in Africa for about 15 years. Two years ago we started developing and deploying infrastructure in Africa, so that our customers can continue to fly point-to-point, just like they can in Europe and the US. We have three Challenger 605s in Africa that will remain there, primarily focused on regional flights within the continent. We see this as a huge opportunity. The adoption has been very good.
Have you faced any challenges doing business in Africa?
The challenge really is the size of the continent. The continent is huge, so we had to be in a position to deploy as many of the assets we needed to grow and continue to be present for our customers.
Are there plans to expand your current fleet in Africa?
The more customers we have, the more aircraft we need, so we are planning to expand. Currently, we have three aircraft dedicated to the African market. As we receive more commitments from our customers, we will be able to deploy more assets on the continent.
We recently took a West Africa tour visiting Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria over three days.
We want to get the word out about our work in the region, because many people already know us on the continent, but they know us from long-haul flights and not necessarily from regional flights, so we now want everyone to know about this new organization.
What does the next five years hold for VistaJet?
The next five years will just be about continuing to execute on our strategy. We’ve invested heavily in building our infrastructure, increasing the number of aircraft and offices around the world. We’re also setting up maintenance centers so that our aircraft can keep flying nonstop. So our strategy is to grow and keep our customers coming back to us. We have all the tools in place now to continue doing what we’ve been doing.
How can you stand out from your competitors?
Business aviation is a very fragmented industry. You’re dealing with different people in different locations and often there’s no one to answer the phone because of different time zones. Vista Group has an incredible network and infrastructure, so every time you land, you speak to a team in that region to meet your requirements. We focus on end-to-end care. Brand consistency is also very important. Whether you board in Hong Kong or New York, it’s always the same aircraft. There are no surprises. We’ve been in this business for so many years, we know exactly what people want.
