Petters Aviation has launched a North American corporate jet centre, based around the Airbus Corporate Jetliner (ACJ) Family, to offer customers help with sales and acquisitions, charter needs, interim solutions and aircraft management, and to act as a service centre.

It will have the capability to offer turnkey solutions to clients without their own flight department, as well as to provide extra services to those that do.

Petters Aviation is already the largest Airbus ACJ Family customer in North America, having placed orders for six Airbus A318 Elites - the newest member of the Airbus ACJ Family - earlier this year.

Petters Aviation will base this activity at its facility at Minneapolis St Paul International airport, Minnesota, and will have Hawthorne Corporation as its operating partner to manage the programme. It will initially comprise a team of about 30 people.

"There is a need for a corporate jet centre in North America, and our goal is to create a great one by bringing together two of the best in the field - Airbus with its ACJ Family and the widely known and respected Hawthorne Corporation management team," says Petters Aviation President Jay Salmen.

"We have a 75-year history in corporate aviation, with extensive experience in aircraft sales, service, fixed-base organisation and completion, making us the ideal operating partner of the enterprise to manage the programme" says Hawthorne Corporation President Dean Harton.

"Our relationship with Petters Aviation will help us to grow our business in North America - as a partner of the Airbus Corporate Jetliner Division - providing a complementary solution to meet the needs of customers in one of the largest markets in the world," says Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers, John Leahy.

Petters Aviation was formed in February 2005, and has other aviation interests, including being the principal shareholder and operating partner of Minneapolis-based Sun Country Airlines.

Hawthorne Corporation's management team was instrumental in driving much of the growth in business aviation service and support in the USA over the past three-quarter century.

Caption:

In the photo above, Richard Gaona, the Airbus VP for Executive and Private Aviation (at left) congratulates T. Jay Salmen, President - Petters Aviation, and Hawthorne Corporation President T. Dean Harton on the go-ahead for Petters Aviation's new corporate jet centre in North America.