NetJets Europe announced this week at EBACE that it is diversifying into aircraft management services. According to NJE sales director Marine Eugene, NetJets Aircraft Management has been established as a separate operation and will soon have its own air operator’s certificate. It will focus on large-cabin and long-range business jets, from the size of the Dassault Falcon 2000 upwards.

The management services will include flight planning, hangarage and maintenance, as well as crew hiring and training. Eugene, however, made it clear that its fractional fleet crew will not operate managed aircraft and vice versa. The company will charge a monthly management fee based on a projected number of annual flight hours.

The owner of a NetJets-managed aircraft will be given the option to make it available for the fractional business, which will give NetJets additional capacity without buying aircraft. But Eugene said this is not the main goal of the new program, which primarily is a way to engage with prospective customers who wish to join the fractional ownership program but are not in a position to do so.

“Some aircraft owners come to us and tell us they wish they had not bought their jet [and that] they’d like to sell it, but market conditions are difficult right now. We don’t want to cut this conversation,” she explained.

Bonus AINaudiocast: Eugene speaks about NetJets Europe’s new aircraft management program.