Gama Aviation has added another G550 to its long range fleet, with the latest aircraft to be based at London Stansted. It has been added to the UK AOC and has already run a handful of charter missions.

“The G550 is a great aircraft for long haul. It will fit our customers' needs whether they are major companies or royal families,” says Gama commercial manager Paul Cremer. “We were looking for the versatility, so that you can have, for example, a high density of seats for the shorter haul trips. But the beauty of this is we've got the front area for the passengers. If it's a royal family you can have the front area for the dignitaries and the rear area for the entourage. So you've got the three separate cabins, with the front club four, the conference four and at the rear you have either the bedroom, or you've got eight belted seats there.”

Cremer is particularly pleased with the finish of the cabin: “The aircraft is absolutely loaded with features. It has iPhone connectivity so when you get onboard you can download the Gulfstream app. Your iPhone 4 becomes the sat phone. All the iPod tunes can be played through the aircraft and it has a really impressive sound system.

“This aircraft has the hallmark cabin, the top of the range. There is a wine chiller and a wi-fi printer. It is essentially an onboard office. If you like you can keep working from the time you leave London to the time you reach Tokyo.”

For leisure flights the G550 is set up to keep every passenger engaged: “Each area has its own sound area so you can play a dvd at the front and a different dvd at the back,” continues Cremer. “It's got four different camera systems, so you can keep yourself amused mile upon mile.”

Gama's commercial manager doesn't, however, feel that this addition will alter his company's offering greatly – it will simply reinforce what is already provided: “We have a worldwide AOC and it's something we've been doing for a good number of years. The company has been in business 30 years. We started small and we have grown. We now have 80 aircraft worldwide, so from a worldwide ops point of view it's not a big change. We've operated the type before.

“It is early stages but it's going well and we've got a lot of interest in the aircraft. With the big calendar events coming up there are lots of quotes kicking around. The Russian orthodox Christmas is giving us lots of quotes for long haul, so it's looking very promising for the aircraft.”