ACJ320neo. You also get 13 or 14ft
extra fuselage to fit out so you can
spread the cabin out a little bit more.”
Because of the nature of Acropolis
Aviation’s business, the aircraft is
always dispatched with a licesned
engineer on board. A flyaway kit of
spare parts and tools is also carried,
enabling the aircraft to be self-suffi-
cient when it is away from its base.
“The engineer on board will do our
ETOPS dispatch, so we’re not looking
for a maintenance company at
midnight to do it,” Bousfield said.
“The aeroplane can leave Farnborough
and be away for a month and he can
do all the regular daily, weekly and
ETOPS checks.”
Everyone and Everywhere
Acropolis Aviation launched in March
2010 when G-NOAH was delivered
and holds full UK commercial AOC,
ETOPS 180 and North Atlantic MNPS
[Minimum Navigation Performance
Specifications] approvals as well as
being cleared for CAT IIIA low visibility
procedures. It employs 28 staff,
featuring a mix of full- and part-time
employees. The full-time contingent
includes six pilots, six cabin crew and
three engineers.
“The aeroplane flies roughly 700 hours
per year,” Bousfield revealed. “It can go
anywhere and has done! The only con-
tinent we haven’t been to is Antarctica,
we’ve been everywhere else.”
The CEO revealed Acropolis caters
for a wide range of clientele, from
corporate customers to high net worth
individuals going on holiday, and
musicians or bands on tour.
“It is a mixture of everything,”
Bousfield said. “A couple of times this
year we’ve taken people for day trips,
they wanted to go for lunch in Venice
as a treat.”
The Middle East is a rich source ofbusiness and Acropolis is also making
a concerted effort to gain more work in
the US.
“The Middle East is a good market
because they are used to big aeroplanes
due to their baggage requirements,”
Bousfield explained. “The US is a large
growth market because there isn’t the
number of aeroplanes in the States with
this style of cabin. I think once the neo
comes we will also look towards Asia as
we will have 12hrs 30mins range.”
Because of the attention to detail,
Acropolis wins a lot of repeat business
from customers impressed by the
experience it provides.
“We don’t need [to sell] a lot of hours, it
is trying to find people who like the
aeroplane,” Bousfield said. “When
customers sign a contract with us, we
focus on giving them exactly what we
said we would. Generally, once people
experience the aeroplane they will
come back.”http://www.airlinerworld.com 35The stunning master
bedroom on board
ACJ319 G-NOAH.
ACROPOLIS AVIATIONOnce the ACJ320neo has
been delivered, G-NOAH
will be put up for sale.
AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM/TT