General Aviation Vista acquires Air Hamburg

Dubai-based Vista is accelerating its industry consolidation plans with the acquisition of German business jet airline Air Hamburg, which now has been agreed on. The company is based in Hamburg, North Germany, and Europe´s leading charter operator.

With Air Hamburg joining Vista Global Holding´s group portfolio, the group will welcome a well-established full-service company that is the largest jet operator by number of flights across Europe. In 2021, Air Hamburg organized nearly 19,000 flights and has flown to 1,000 destinations in Europe alone.

Air Hamburg was founded in 2006 and has since then continuously expanded and diversified its business jet fleet. With the company´s additional capacities, Vista expects an increase of 30 percent in flight hours globally.

“Air Hamburg is an impressive, well-established and profitable business with a long-standing track record in best-in-class client service — like Vista, it is known for its reliability and consistency throughout a scaling fleet and high utilization,” said Thomas Flohr, Founder and Chairman, Vista. “Vista’s leading flying solutions, with a business model based on a floating fleet, allows us to implement a quick, seamless integration. This is yet another demonstration of Vista’s unrivalled commitment to ensuring all our Members have access to the best value flying solutions across the world at any given moment.”

Once the transaction is completed, Vista will significantly strengthen and scale its fleet offering across strategic regions of the world. Recently, the group has integrated Apollo Jets, Talon Air and Red Wing Aviation.

Floris Helmers, CEO and Managing Director, Air Hamburg, added: “This is an incredible opportunity to remain at the top of the growing business aviation market. Over the last three years we have experienced strong growth, significantly increasing our market share across Europe and beyond. This cooperation between two of the largest operators means increasing our stability and securing further growth for our business, while allowing our team to showcase their strength and competencies to the most sophisticated clientele. We are looking forward to this next chapter in joining the Vista group.”

Vista will also integrate Air Hamburg´s EASA certified Part 145 maintenance hub installed at Baden-Baden Airpark in Germany, along with the Executive Handling division and VIP lounge at Hamburg Airport General Aviation Terminal.

Air Hamburg currently offers charter services with a fleet of 44 aircraft, including Lineage 1000E, Dassault Falcon 7X, and Embraer Legacy models, which all will be available to Vista Members once the transaction has been completed.