Smart Jet - new charter airline in Poland

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How long has the company been in existence and what have been your activities so far?

Smart Jet is a quite new brand – we got the AOC (Air Operation Certificate) in Autumn 2014. We are very proud of that, so you can see the certificate one our website. But our aviation history is longer. Founders of Smart Jet, Tomasz Malec and his father, Andrzej Malec, both are pilots with significant number of flight hours. Andrzej Malec has 40 years of experience as a pilot, with over 25 000 in the air and is authorized to fly small aircraft as Cessna 421C, helicopters and big aircraft as ATR72, Embraer 145, Embraer 175, Boeinga 767and DreamLiner. Tomasz and Andrzej Malec for few years have successfully run Smart Aero - school of pilots based in Warsaw Modlin airport. This was a base for Smart Jet – charter air operator.

We are specialized in private and business charter flights within Europe. We are available in air taxi system, so our aircraft is always ready to fly - within 3 hours of making the reservation the aircraft can be in the air with passengers. Unlike the most companies on the market, we have transparent prices - our client can check the price while planning their trip with us. Our online search helps to find the route and check out the cost of the flight.

What aircraft do you have in your flee?

We fly Cessna 421C “Golden Eagle”. The aircraft can take on board up to 6 passengers, however for greatest comfort, we recommend it for 5 people in one time. Equipped with pressurized cabin, it is able to perform flights over bad weather conditions, keeping the pressure inside the cabin on a friendly and comfortable level. Cessna 421C has the quietest cabin in its class. Our unit was additionally noise-dampened and its cockpit was equipped with a modern avionics and a number of systems improving flight safety.

Why was it important for you to be granted your own AOC?

AOC is a guarantee for our customers that the flight they book in Smart Jet is 100% safe, the aircraft is maintained in perfect technical condition and serviced constantly and – last but not least – our pilots have qualifications, are trained properly and reliable.

Was it a difficult process to gain the certificate?

Yes, it took us quite a long time to get the certificate, as the procedures are very detailed and the amount of documentation required is really hudge. But it is worth it – we are glad that we can offer the highest standard to our customers.

What are your ambitions for the company?

SMART means many things, depending what do you care. We want to be smart option for travelling for our Clients – flexible, available 24/7 and delivering service of the top level. It is not very rare that we advise our Passengers the best route or an airport closest to their destination – we can do that, as our consultants co-operate closely with our flight planning specialists and pilots – that is a benefit of being smart. Rather than being big, we wish to be close to our Passengers’ needs – so they know that they can have a private air travel consierge in Smart Jet.

How would you assess the market in Poland at the moment?

The business aviation market in Poland has been in growing phase for last few years, as the number of potencial customers were increasing. But still the market is young and not very well regulated. There are few business models on it, including:

·               Certificated operators with its own aircraft – as Smart Jet. Some of them build their fleet on jets owned by private people an businessmen, who use it in part-exclusive-part-charter way.

·               Brokers, offering services of the operators and owners, but not flying its own aircraft

·               Private owners with touristic pilot licence, offering “empty legs” at dumping price. To keep their pilot licence updated, the airplane owners have to flight certain number of hours, so, to minimize the cost of that, they offer these flights as a passenger ones. As they don’t have the AOC, such a flight is illegal and shouldn’t be charged, but unfortunately this area is out of control of Urząd Lotnictwa Cywilnego (Polish Civil Aviation Office), who keeps the eye only on certificated operators.

As the market is note very mature, there is still a lot of space on it and a lot to do to deliver flight service on top level. We gave our customers a choice between very expensive ownership and not very comfortable regular airlines. With us they can travel Smart.

www.smart-jet.pl