Jota Aviation expands management team Leases new hangar at London Southend Airport.

Monday 4th July 2016

Jota Aviation announced today the appointment of Kevin Callan as Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately.  Kevin brings three decades of aviation experience and joins Jota's senior management team from global business aviation company Gama Aviation Plc where he was Group Chief Commercial Officer.  He was previously Board member and Chief Financial Officer of Hangar8 Plc, and had been instrumental in pulling together the merger with Gama in January 2015.  "We are delighted to have enticed Kevin to return to his roots and help us implement our expansion plans from our London Southend Airport home," commented Jota Aviation's Chief Executive Officer Andy Green.

Kevin originally supported Flightline, a BAe 146 operator at Southend from 1993 for 16 years. "It has changed dramatically since I was last here, with considerable investment and an airport management team that firmly appreciates the business charter model," Kevin said.  "Jota has achieved a lot in its first six years. They are energetic and swift to respond to market opportunities and I am looking forward to taking them to the next level."

Jota Aviation is currently finalising the lease of a 23,000 sq ft hangar facility which will be ready in July.  It intends to house its own spares for its BAe 146/Avro RJ aircraft and create the future opportunity to establish its own Part 145 line maintenance for its own fleet. Heavy maintenance on the regional jets would continue to be outsourced and is currently handled by MRO partner Avalon Aero at Cranfield.

Additional BAe 146/Avro RJ aircraft being sought

Jota is also exploring the market to acquire or lease the freighter variant BAe 146QT, as well as further Avro RJs, and will be actively recruiting more type rated pilots and cabin crew so it can increase passenger and freight flying, in response to demand.  "It is pleasing that we are exceeding more hours than expected with Avro RJ G-JOTR, with charter work and sub-contract work to regional airlines," said Andy Green. "We are in a niche market with this versatile and popular aircraft as there are very few 146/RJs available for ACMI charter in Europe now." The fully refurbished Avro RJ85 95-seater purchased from Falko Aviation, entered revenue service in April.  Recent flying has included periods with British Airways CityFlyer and Ireland's CityJet.

Jota's Avro RJ85 and BAe 146-200 are complemented by a fleet of Beechcraft King Air turboprops all offered for charter, one of which G-JOTA is a dedicated cargo aircraft with a large cargo door, and it is upon this heritage that Jota believes the 146QT freight aircraft will be a natural progression and development.

Jota Aviation

Jota Aviation is part of the independent Jota Group, which also comprises Jota Sport, Jota Design and Jota Historic.  Set up over six years ago to cater for the travel and cargo demands of the motorsports industry, Jota Aviation has grown to be a leading specialist air charter operator serving the UK and Europe with passenger and cargo flights focused on Beechcraft King Airs, and moving into BAe 146 jet operations in October 2014. The company is run by Andy Green, CEO and CAA post holder, who set up the company for the directors of Jota Sport in 2009.  Jota Aviation was granted a type B operating licence in September 2010, initially flying light piston aircraft and then progressing to Beechcraft King Airs.

Jota Sport


The racing division of the JOTA Group currently competes in the European Le Mans Series plus selected rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship including the Le Mans 24 Hours - a race JOTA Sport first contested in 2005 and has claimed a top-six overall placing in. Including runners up in the European Le Mans series and winning the coveted Le Mans 24 hour race in LMP2 in 2014 and second placed in 2015. Jota Sport has also competed successfully in the American Le Mans Series, British GT Championship, Le Mans Series, Le Mans Endurance Series and FIA Sportscar Championship since its formation in 2000 as well as the Spa and Nürburgring 24 Hour races.



Jota Historic focuses on restoring and running historic race cars at Blue-Ribbon events such as the Le Mans Classic and Goodwood. Built on a foundation of supreme attention to detail, dedication and expertise, Jota Historic offers a turnkey operation from restoration, race car setup, race weekend support and performance driver coaching.



Jota Design specialises in the design, development and manufacture of road, race and rally projects. The knowledge and experience gained through motorsport competition is directly translated into all the projects that Jota Design is tasked with, from major OEM projects for the likes of Mazda through to individual vehicle performance enhancement



The Jota Group

is majority owned by British businessman and entrepreneur Simon Dolan, who is involved in several financial industries.  A Le Mans racing driver he set up racing team Jota Sport in 2008.

www.jotagroup.com