Meet the manager: Philippe Scalabrini, President – ​​Europe and Africa, VistaJet

VistaJet’s President for Europe and Africa explains why the latter is so important to the company

What was your professional path up to your current position?

I have been with the company for 13 years. I originally came from Bombardier in Montreal, but I joined our President Thomas Flohr quite early in the growth phase of VistaJet. We are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year and we now have over 300 aircraft around the world that are part of the feet of members. We have grown in every corner of the world. We are truly a global company. My specific remit is Europe, Africa and Brazil and I am responsible for the commercial program for those areas. We are really conquering new markets.

Why is VistaJet focusing on Africa?

We have been operating in Africa for around 15 years. Two years ago, we began developing and expanding the infrastructure in Africa, so that our customers could continue to fly point-to-point in the same way as they do in Europe or the United States. We deployed three Challenger 605s to Africa and they remain there, focusing primarily on regional flights within the continent. We see this as a huge opportunity. The results were really good.

Have you encountered any difficulties operating in Africa?

The real challenge is the size of the continent. It’s a huge territory, so we needed to be able to commit to growth and deploy as many assets as we needed to make sure we were there for our customers.

Do you have any plans to expand your current fleet in Africa?

We plan to expand because the more customers we take on board, the more aircraft we will need. For the moment, three aircraft are dedicated to the African market. As our customers become more engaged, we can begin to deploy more assets across the continent.

We recently toured West Africa visiting Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria over a three day period.

We really want to get the word out about our operations here because a lot of people already know us on the continent, but they know us for long-haul flights and not necessarily for regional flights. So now we want to make sure that everyone is aware of this new structure.

What does the next five years look like for VistaJet?

The next five years will be dedicated to implementing the strategy. We have the infrastructure, we have invested heavily to have the necessary number of aircraft and offices around the world, we now have maintenance centers to ensure our aircraft can continue to fly non-stop. So our strategy is just to make sure that we can grow and that our customers continue to fly with us. We currently have all the tools necessary to continue doing what we already do.

How to stand out from your competitors?

Business aviation is a very fragmented industry. Often you are dealing with many different people in different locations and no one answers the phone because the time zones are different! The Vista Group is an incredible network and infrastructure that means that as soon as you land, you are speaking to a team that is in that region and will be able to answer your queries. We focus on end-to-end support. Brand consistency is also very important. Whether you are flying in Hong Kong or New York, it is always the same aircraft. There are no surprises. We have been doing this long enough to know exactly what people want.