Aviation Entrepreneur and self-fly pilot Stephen Williams is sitting outside his favourite Gstaad mountain hotel, the Ultima. After lunch Gabriella Somerville caught up with him to talk about his private members’ flying club, Super Legacy

“HIGH-FLYER”

WHEN AND WHY DID YOU SET UP SUPER LEGACY?

My passion for aviation began at the age of 25, not merely as a pastime, but as a practical tool supporting my career. For three decades, I operated an international wine business, frequently traveling to esteemed Grand Cru estates in Bordeaux and Burgundy. The flexibility afforded by private flying allowed me to travel independently and efficiently. A short flight from London to Bordeaux, with a client lunch at Château Margaux was a regular and typical excursion. Following retirement from my fine wine business in 2017, I embraced new opportunities and transitioned my interest in aviation into an exciting professional enterprise.

WHAT DO YOU OFFER?

At Super Legacy we do three things.

The first is that we upgrade what is already one of the safest and most versatile aircraft ever built, the Pilatus PC12. Our PC12-SLXP’s are more comfortable, quieter, a little faster with a shorter take off roll than the standard Swiss factory model, so we can use many more small aerodromes and landing strips very safely.

The second is that, alongside our PC12-SLXP fleet, we also own and operate a trans-European Jet aircraft for longer missions. Flying at 40,000 feet and 500mph our upgraded Piaggio Avanti – the world’s fastest turboprop aircraft has proven effective for our flights between UK and the Greek Islands and our carbon emissions per mile are less than a typical five-tonne truck. We will shortly be upgrading this to an Embraer Phenom 300E to offer long distance speed and comfort bringing the Middle East within our operating territory.

Thirdly, we provide a syndicated owner flying club that allows members to hold an interest in our aircraft without the need for capital investment, or obligatory flight hours. This arrangement enables members to travel privately and securely with our highly skilled pilots at their convenience. Our approach differs fundamentally from regular charter operators or airlines, as we deliver tailored services that accommodate our members’ specific travel requirements and preferences with a high level of personal attention. Our members own the plane for the day.

This arrangement enables our members to travel according to their individual schedules, rather than adhering to an airline’s fixed timetable, or arriving at the airport well in advance of departure. Furthermore, we offer greater flexibility for last-minute changes compared to inflexible charter operators, who’s scheduling regularly conflicts with flexibility similar to that of commercial airlines.

WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE OFFERING?

With Super Legacy you fly your same plane with your same highly trained and experienced crew on most of your journeys. It really is an individual travel experience. Our members are collected from their home or office by our dedicated ground transport directly to the aircraft door, then on arrival to their hotel or destination. Several of our members have pet dogs, so Super Legacy is an approved carrier licensed to bring pets in and out of the UK. It’s a pretty unique service.

WHO ARE YOU AIMING AT?

Our members are usually super-active entrepreneurs who value time and efficiency as a key element in managing their business and family success. Some are in financial services, private equity. Yachting and shipbuilding is also a common sector among our members, as is communications and media. Right now our membership is fully subscribed but inevitably there are spaces that become available with each season. We are also currently refurbishing a further aircraft that will open up eight new member place.

WHAT ARE YOUR MOST POPULAR ROUTES?

Pretty much every week we seem to operate between London and the French Riviera. Our base at Denham Aerodrome is just 45 minutes from Claridge’s, and Monaco is about the same from our base at Cannes Mandelieu Airport. In both cases it is a car-to-aircraft-door experience. Our aircraft and crew can operate safely into the mountain altiports, so during the winter months the Alpine destinations like Courchevel, St Moritz and Gstaad, Kitzbuhel and the Tyrol and Dolomites are popular. In Venice we land on the grass strip at Lido Island with direct vaporetto from the aeroplane door to the Grand Canal.

The autumn and winter also open up the hunting and fishing destinations in Scotland, the Lake District and Ireland.

HOW ABOUT THE EXPAT MARKET?

Fifty per cent of our members are expat residents. I have a home in the south of France so Monaco for example has been a natural on-the-doorstep market. Our Monaco membership includes three of the top superyacht brokerage companies, hence we are regularly flying between Monaco and the shipyards in Amsterdam, Bremen and Hamburg or Viareggio. Monaco is a great place to do business. We also have several members with homes in Tuscany and the Balearics as well as the UK Channel Isles.

WHAT’S THE BEST PART OF YOUR  JOB?

One might expect me to say take-off from a glaciated runway in the Alps, or landing on an island strip in Greece – and [those experiences are] indeed memorable. Often our members use their aircraft to achieve several meetings in various European cities in the same day. It’s not so unusual to have breakfast in the café at Denham or Fairoaks in the UK, lunch in Frankfurt or Milan, and dinner in Athens. However, it’s the people I meet that make life so interesting – our flying members, fellow aviators and our professional pilots, as well as the guys who keep our aircraft maintained.

They are all a great team.