MilliOnAir Magazine October 2017 | Page 67

MOA: What impact, if any, will Brexit have on you as a UK-based company working in the aviation sector?

If I knew the answer to that I’d be in politics! We have several different contingency plans based around currency fluctuations and changing regulatory requirements but my time in the military taught me to not plan too far ahead, especially when the future is so uncertain. Of course we have a long-term strategy but we see our success as being able to plan for the short-term, quickly re-asses based on actual progress and then apply that to the next plan. Everyone is facing uncertainty, change and hyper-competitiveness, the ones that succeed will be the ones who adapt the quickest.

MOA: You’ve just come back from the Monaco Yacht Show – how was that?

Monaco is an amazing place and even more so when the Yacht Show is on. Our aim was to meet with as many people as possible and discuss their aviation requirements. The synergy between the super yacht sector and private aircraft is clearly there in terms of clientele; however, the process for buying or chartering is very different. Our super yacht partner (West Nautical) allowed us to hold our meetings on board the 60m and very luxurious St David Yacht (which is of course for sale), it’s also where they held the Friday evening party…it would have been a shame to go all that way and not had any fun! I’m off to Las Vegas next week for the aircraft equivalent of the Yacht show so life is pretty busy. Read more here

MOA: How do you see the company developing over the next five years?

If our growth continues at the same rate then in 5 years’ time we will be in a very good place. Consolidating our aircraft sales and then growing the charter and aircraft management areas are key focus areas but we are also investigating a number of more radical avenues within the aviation sector – to coin a phrase from my time in the military “it’s classified and if I told you then I would have to kill you”. We are certainly here to stay!

www.topjetaviation.com