That Aviation Italia has been operating as a charter broker for fifteen years now and during this time has become highly specialized in the services that it provides: from charter planes to flight series, from private and executive jets to Air MICE, working with any kind of chartered plane including ACMI. How did this all begin?We will talk about it in our todays interview with Luigi Annichini, a partner of That Aviation Italia company.
THAT!
That Aviation Italia is a charter broker that began its history as a charter plane provider for flight series and incentive trips, but with time it has become highly specialized in a field of sports, starting with the world of football. How did this all begin?
Luigi
Our world is made of relationships. One person who has collaborated with us was hired into Senior Management of a well-known Milan football team and, in a moment of necessity, he asked us for help in finding a flight availability for a team transfer. From this moment, a collaboration, that gave us an opportunity to understand the necessities of the world of sport, began; and from that day on we have never stopped learning more about this reality! We have personally followed many transfers of this field, from National Teams and Clubs to those of their Supporters. We have organized countless private planes at any latitude to/from different airports at any time, with aircrafts of any kind capacity: from luxury private planes of 31 seats to Airbus A330-200.
THAT!
Nowadays, besides the football world, you also became the providers of Sports Travel Management of other sports areas. Which are the sports fields you operate in?
Luigi
The world of football is the one we work the most with, because we receive requests from both national and international teams. We begin at the end of July with friendly summer matches and continue with the Championship League match, the European Football Cup and, with a bit of luck, we end in Spring with the final matches.Our business, in the world of sport, still goes by mouth to mouth, precisely if a curtain team considers you reliable, you are also being virtually accepted by the others. Than of course you have to make them appreciate your work and to provide services they request possibly exceeding their expectations. As I have already said our approach to the sport area began with football and we have escorted A Series, B Series, Major National, Under 21, National Feminine and different foreign teams that came to us thanks to the Sports Travel Management, that regularly collaborate with us.
THAT!
Besides the fact that you have proven yourself as an excellent provider in this area, we could say that you were also motivated by your supporter’s spirit? Is it from there that you had the idea of organizing a specific flight to the Valencia Marathon?
Luigi
The passion, although it could seem rhetorical, is the key of our work. Of course a good knowledge of the working field does the rest. The clear example of work and pleasure is the flights we have been organizing for several years now in occasion with Valencia Marathon. From what I know, our charter flight is the only one existing in Italian market that is organized for a running event. It all started as a game. I am part of a well-known Milan hinterland running group called OVAT – Ondaverde Athletic Team. One day we were wondering how to organize our group transfer to Valencia to participate in the Marathon and we noticed that there were very few direct commercial flights. Than, we counted the participants and we realized that we could reach a sufficient participants number to organize a private plane only for our group. The thing was so successful, that it involved also other teams from our area and now it has been already three years that each year we organize two charter planes for this event, transferring 380 runners at a time. It is really wonderful to be on board of these charter private planes, because it has a very unique atmosphere and this is why each year there are at least twenty or more participants who want to come again with us. Now we have extended this service also to the specialized Travel Agencies, that consider us as an essential partner, who is able to satisfy their specific needs, because we know this type of a passenger as no one else does. It would be wonderful if next year we could arrange three charter flights. It is a great goal to reach
THAT!
THAT! also provides some smaller capacity aircrafts, the jets. What kind of a market it is used in?
Luigi
Our work consists in providing a client with an aircraft that suits his trip. Therefore, we have to know well the Airline Companies of the European market: where are their bases, what aircrafts there are in their fleets, what is their business model and, the most important, we have to have the right contacts and to know their “key people”. With all these information, which is constantly updating, we know exactly how to move in, in order to satisfy best, the requests of chartering planes of our clients. Actually, providing a service to a single person with a private jet is not so different than providing a service to a sport team or to a larger number of participants for a convention project. What makes the real difference is the knowledge of how to move in this market and to have the appropriate reactivity in the operation you follow, satisfying at best the Clients requests and it all comes with years of experience of working in this field.
THAT!
That’s right! I think you have described the situation very well. And speaking of the jet executive, there were rumours that you organized jets for some of the very well-known entertainment personalities whose names I can not reveal, for instance the main character of a TV series “The Young Pope” and also the singer of the “Shape of you”. Is this true?
Luigi
Our clients appreciate the confidentially we provide, therefore I can only say: No comment! But I can say that in the field we are working in, it is not so difficult to have as passengers the personalities form the world of entertainment or of the sport, who travel independently.
THAT!
So as I understand there is no way to find out more… I will have to keep this curiosity, but I perfectly understand – the confidentiality goes before everything else!Thank you Luigi for your time. Goodbye and see you soon with new enthusiastic projects.
