FAI Aviation Group marks 30 years

Founded in 1987 as a private repatriation club flying helicopters, FAI moved into business jet flying two years later. Today, it also has offices in Dubai.

Over the past three decades, Nuremberg-based FAI has grown its fixed wing fleet from a single Citation 500 and two rescue helicopters (Eurocopter AS 350 and Airbus BK 117) to become Germany’s largest business jet operator with 25 jets and over 13,500 hours logged in 2018.   FAI’s air ambulance business has grown too and today FAI is a global market leader in air ambulance patient transport by jet aircraft, having logged more than 200,000 total hours of ambulance missions inside 30 years. 

Siegfried Axtmann, FAI Aviation Group Founder and chairman, said: “Reaching 30 years is a great achievement for our company and I am very proud of how far we have come. The company’s growth and success is testament to our commitment to safety, service and continued investment.  It also highlights the importance of our tremendous team of people, now 200-strong, who have made our business what it is today.  I look forward to continuing to grow our business to meet the needs of our customers.

Endorsing FAI’s success Jeffrey Emmenis, founding partner of Switzerland-based Vertis Aviation, adds: “We value responsiveness, dependability and knowledge.  As an operator that strives to deliver the same high quality of standards consistently as we do, FAI is one of our go-to operators. Siegfried and his team have been consistently supportive of our business and remain the consummate professionals.  We salute them on their 30-year anniversary and look forward to working with them in decades to come.”         

Irena Deville, managing director EMEA of AVIAA added: “In its 30 years of operation, FAI has grown into and firmly established itself as an operator that always strives to do better operationally, commercially and financially.  It is no surprise they saw AVIAA’s potential early on and we are extremely proud to be working with the forward thinking, energetic FAI team.”

Last year, the company was further strengthened by a significant minority stake investment by Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat), the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain, further opening up the Middle East market. 

Siegfried Axtmann, FAI Aviation Group Founder and chairman