Press Release

Issued by Daher Aerospace.

June 19, 2013

The French civil aviation authority has officially awarded Voldirect SAS an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC), which enables the airline to fly commercial passengers on the Daher-Socata TBM 850.

The announcement of this milestone was made by Voldirect and Daher-Socata today during the 2013 Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport, where the single-engine very fast turboprop aircraft is on display.

The European Commission has just approved this new public passenger transportation mode. It is the result of combined efforts involving the operator, the aircraft manufacturer, and the OSAC French civil aviation inspection authority after Voldirect demonstrated a safety level equivalent or superior in all fields of operations and as mandatory to any airline in Europe.

The high reliability of the TBM 850's Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop power plant – which has accumulated more than 350 million flight hours – made possible this evolution of the regulations to allow the use of a single engine pressurized aircraft for the public transport of passengers in instrument meteorological conditions.

The European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) currently is working on the development of its rules in order to add this type of operation. This evolution – whose roots are in Europe –already has been adopted by Canada and the United States, and then generalized to all member countries of the Organization of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

"In today's difficult context for France's air transport sector – especially business aviation – we must thank the French DGAC civil aviation authority, which understood the value of leveraging economic and fast aircraft such as the TBM 850 and TBM 700, with proven reliability,” said Voldirect ceo Frederic Caussarieu. “We also want to praise the support of Daher-Socata as the manufacturer, which has been responsive to our needs and assisted us in the certification process."

Voldirect is a French business charter operator based in Rennes, founded in 2012. Its creators are heads of companies based in Brittany – a region where not all transportation needs were met by the scheduled airlines. The carrier now employs six people, including three pilots.

Voldirect is also the first commercial operator in France approved for the use of iPad 3 electronic documentation for all phases of flight, replacing traditional printed aeronautical charts.

The company is operating its first TBM 850 from Rennes Airport, serving customers in western France. Based on the development of its activity, other TBM 850 aircraft – or the TBM 700 version of Daher-Socata's very fast turboprop – could be integrated into its fleet at other bases in France.

Voldirect operates throughout Europe, with the opportunity to serve any city with an airport that has a runway length of at least 1,000 meters (3,000 ft.) – opening destinations that would be inaccessible to other aircraft, along with more remote facilities. The company therefore has the access potential to more than 1,000 destinations in Europe – 10 times more than the mainstream airlines – without connections, while also offering reduced transfer times.

"Our AOC will now enable us to respond to the needs of fast transportation of French companies with a particularly attractive and innovative offer," Caussarieu added.

The airline' goal is to strengthen competitiveness of its business customers by enabling them to travel to any European destination in a single day – without waiting times, airplane change or time lapses, with a trip time versus cost that cannot be matched by any other type of aircraft.

Voldirect makes the flexibility of business aviation available to companies that otherwise couldn't afford it. It's a truly innovative and competitive service to companies and professionals.

"After logging a combined one million flight hours, our TBM family of, our business turboprop aircraft now reaches another significant milestone with the recognition of its high level of safety and reliability by France's DGAC and European authorities," commented Stéphane Mayer, president and ceo of Daher-Socata, the Daher Group's aerospace and defense division.

Mayer noted that an operator such as Voldirect can now sell tickets for on-demand flights on the TBM 850, providing quality, competitiveness, flexibility, performance and a low environmental signature. He added that features are particularly aligned with the strategy and values of the Daher Group's products and services.

"We congratulate our customer Voldirect SAS for receiving its Air Operator's Certificate, the first delivered to a pressurized single-turboprop operator in France,” stated Nicolas Chabbert, the senior vice president of Daher-Socata's Airplane Division. “This is the culmination of 20 years of efforts to change the rules by demonstrating that such aircraft offer an level of reliability and safety equivalent to other commercial aircraft in carrying passengers. We soon expect to see the adoption of this new regulation by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) based on the French experience."