Europe's largest business aviation company, NetJets Europe, has announced it is to invest €750 million in training and safety programmes over the next five years. The investment is part of NetJets Europe's ongoing commitment to ensure its training and safety programmes lead the business aviation industry.
€250 million of the overall investment will be dedicated to staff training. This will bolster the already impressive commitment by NetJets Europe to ensure its pilots complete 50 per cent more training than industry standards dictate, each year. This includes an average of 24 hours of simulator training per year, 50 per cent more than the average for commercial airline pilots.
"This is a significant investment which shows our commitment to ensuring the safety of our customers and staff. Safety is our number one priority as a company, and at the heart of everything we do," said Graeme Weston, Chief Operations Officer, NetJets Europe. "We know safety is our customers' single most important concern and is something we take incredibly seriously at NetJets as part of our commitment to providing the ultimate private aviation experience."
NetJets Europe is the first dedicated business jet operator to hold the internationally recognised IATA Operational Safety Audit certificate from the International Air Transport Association - the most highly regarded safety accreditation in the world.
NetJets Europe Safety Facts
Pilots and Crew
- All pilots enter the company as First Officers regardless of their previous experience. Direct entry First Officers must have a minimum of 1500 hours and pilots are not considered for an upgrade to Captain until they have 3000 hours
- NetJets minimum flight hours requirement vastly outstrips those set out by the EU Joint Aviation Requirements (JAR) regulation JAR-OPS 1
- Every pilot must pass simulator performance evaluations (with a minimum of six sessions in total) twice a year with FlightSafety, the world's leading provider of aviation training services. This is 50% more than commercial airlines require and an integral part of NetJets Europe's investment in the safety of its customers
- NetJets Europe ensures all crew members spend an average of 24 hours each year being trained to deal with multiple event emergencies in full motion flight simulators
- NetJets Europe pilots have specialist simulator training to fly into mountainous airports such as Samedan, Sion, Samedan, Chambery, Innsbruck.
- The average NetJets captain has over 5000 hours of flying experience, 3500 more than EU Joint Aviation Requirements (JAR) regulation JAR-OPS 1 requires
- NetJets has special teams that study airports and work with them to make sure they meet NetJets meticulous safety standards
- Most of NetJets' pilots are qualified to fly multiple types of aircraft, but at NetJets they only fly one. All their training is on that aircraft, to ensure their response in any situation is intuitive
- NetJets Europe has strict rules to ensure that pilots do not exceed their duty hours and are not pressured to fly if they don't feel in top condition
Aircraft and Maintenance
- NetJets Europe's fleet is one of the youngest in the sky (3.4 years on average)
- Every NetJets Europe aircraft is equipped with state-of-the-art avionics, including a Traffic and Collision System (TCAS II) and an Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS)
- All aircraft receive the highest level of maintenance at manufacturer-approved service centres including the NetJets Europe-operated maintenance base at RAF Northolt near London
- NetJets Europe has 45 full-time technicians and engineers and the London maintenance facility provides top line maintenance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In 2004, it became the first facility of its type to receive full approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)