Jota Aviation scoops Best Cargo Airline accolade in BACA awards Plans expansion with dedicated BAe 146 freighter aircraft early next year.

Monday 7th November 2016

Jota Aviation proudly accepted the accolade of Best Cargo Airline 2016 at the recent annual Baltic Air Charter Association (BACA) Excellence Awards luncheon at London's Guildhall.  Thanking the 380-strong industry guests for their votes and attributing the win to Jota's dedicated professional staff, CEO Andy Green pledged an "even better service" next year, as the company ramps up to introduce dedicated Avro RJ/146 family freighter aircraft.   "At least two are being sought, along with another passenger Avro RJ variant to complement its existing BAe146-200 and 95-seat Avro RJ85," he confirmed.

The privately-owned London Southend Airport based business, now in its seventh year, is in active dialogue with several parties, including Falko Aviation, from whom it purchased the Avro RJ85. It is aiming to put a dedicated freighter version into service in the first half of 2017.  "We have started training crews in readiness," said Commercial Manager Mike Sessions, noting that some of the operator's Beechcraft King Air pilots are starting to transition over to the jet. Training has been carried out with Braathens in Stockholm, Sweden.

"Introducing a dedicated freighter will give us a far wider realm of opportunities.  We can support overnight express mail, lending  support to the approved parcel integrators; automotive spares; oil supplies; livestock, even thoroughbred racehorses (subject to additional investment)," he added.

"As we heard at the recent European Regional Airlines Association annual meeting, several of Europe's legacy and regional airlines have speeded up their timescale to phase out this aircraft type - companies like Malmo, Swiss International, CityJet, so the supply is there for us."

"As a dedicated ACMI charter operator we want to acquire at least one additional jet in passenger configuration so we can support more charter and airline ACMI requests.  We know and have demonstrated that the aircraft continues to be popular as we have shown with our contract work with airlines like British Airways and CityJet, out of London City Airport.

Executive 50-seater 146 to stay in role.

Jota has also decided for winter 2017 to keep its BAe 146-200 in an executive 50-seat / two by two business layout for the foreseeable future.

"The brokerage market is telling us there isn't much available in the 50-seat market in the UK with the versatile characteristics the 146 offers.   Its wide cabin makes it popular for international sports teams (football and rugby) and music tours with all the equipment they like to take on tour," Mike said.  In fact, Jota has flown many of the English Football Premier League teams and top rugby teams in this layout.

Jota Aviation holds AOC approvals for the 146/Avro RJ and its Beechcraft King Air business turboprop fleet that extends to the Middle East, Africa, Iceland, Russia and the Azores, enabling it to respond to charter requests on a much wider scale. 
 
Its Avro RJ85 and BAe 146-200 are complemented by two Beechcraft King Air turboprops, one of which (G-JOTA) is a dedicated cargo aircraft with a large double cargo door, able to carry large and heavy single piece consignments. These aircraft are deployed on cargo and passenger flights from London Southend Airport and are available for crew movements and urgent AOG spares.  It is on this heritage that Jota believes the 146QT freight aircraft will be a natural progression and development.

With the addition of Jota's 22,000 ft new Hangar facility at London Southend Airport, the company has made application to the UK CAA for its own Part-145 Line Station so that it can carry out its own engineering line support. Jota are also pursuing aerospace component manufacturing approval through Jota Advanced Engineering Ltd.

*BACA, now in its 66th year, is the world's largest and most respected network for air charter professionals, representing the interests of air-brokers, charter airlines, airports, business aircraft operators, freight forwarders and consultants at both a commercial and political level.  It is not the first time that Jota Aviation has been recognised by BACA for its outstanding (passenger and freight) charter services.  It was awarded best cargo airline in 2013 and shortlisted for the best charter airline title in 2014 and 2015.

About Jota

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, Managing Director 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. The UK CAA A License AOC was issued in 2014.

Jota Sport 
is the racing division of the JOTA Group currently competes in the European Le Mans Series plus  the FIA World Endurance Championship including the Le Mans 24 Hours - a race JOTA Sport first contested in 2005 and has claimed a podium twice. Including winning the European Le Mans series in 2016 and winning the coveted Le Mans 24 hour race in LMP2 in 2014 with a second place 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.

Jota Historic, built on a foundation of supreme attention to detail, dedication and expertise, offers a turnkey operation from restoration, race car setup, race weekend support and performance driver coaching.

Jota Advance Engineering specialises in the design, development and manufacture of road, race and rally projects including Formula 1, LMP1 and LMP2 cars. 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.

They are currently seeking approval for the manufacture of spare parts for the Aerospace industry in partnership with the Aviation division.

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.  
 


For more information:         www.jotaaviation.com