THE MARKET LEADER IN SPECIALIST PROFESSIONAL RECRUITMENT IN MALTA
Hyperion Aviation Ltd. is a Maltese-based company founded and run by its Managing Director, Eric Weisskopf. He has 3 decades of aviation experience in driving commercial growth for a broad spectrum of aviation companies, including leading postions in
companies such as Edelweiss Air, SR Technics, ExecuJet, Comlux Aviation and VistaJet but as well within Aircraft Finance Companies.
Hyperion has also announced the launch of Hyperion Aero Capital a market disruptor dedicated to delivering aviation financing that is as transparent as it is scalable. Aviation Malta caught up with Eric Weisskopf, who told us more.
AS: What is Hyperion Aero Capital’s USP?
EW: The key is that we are raising the money for each client’s particular fleet requirements. This ensures that we’re always able to deliver the cheapest and most appropriately structured financing solution for every business case. Today, the aircraft financing market today for business aviation is limited as you either go into the private banking market, which is very restrictive, or you’re going to very expensive financiers who try to do a little bit of everything. With us, we can tailor any financing package to meet the precise needs of each client company whether it’s a company in West Africa with turboprops or a European regional airline looking to expand.
AS: When are you looking to launch Hyperion Aero Capital?
EW: We’ve already started piloting the roll-out with four financing projects. We’re currently optimizing our fundraising and bond market processes and once we have four business cases completed, we will roll it out on a large scale.
AS: Which markets are you looking to target?
EW: We aim to focus on a wide scope of the aviation industry, which we feel is neglected. So that means if you run a small regional airline and you need tailored finance, you could go to a lessor who has a certain type of aircraft already, maybe on order, and then you wait until they give you one of their airplanes. But if you decide that you need six turboprops and want to run a successful regional airline that hops between the Greek islands for example, then then you may have difficulties in finding a financer.
But if you decide that you need six turboprops and want to run a successful regional airline that hops between the Greek islands for example, then you may have difficulties in finding a financer.
AS: So, you can put together bespoke financing solutions for the aviation market.
EW: Hyperion Aero Capital is different to leasing companies who for example might only specialise in Airbus 330s or ATR turboprops. We’re doing it differently and are ready to lend to a much wider market and using the 15-year track record with Hyperion Aviation Services already has.
AS: With that in mind, could you tell me a little more about Hyperion Aviation?
EW: We’re an aircraft management company that ensures complete financial transparency. This has been our USP from day one, so we build crystal clear budgets and deliver very transparent and scalable solutions with clear financial reporting.
We started Hyperion back in 2012 because many companies in our sector delivered a mess in terms of their figures and financials, so we made it clear to the owner of an aircraft how the finance in the background is working.
We foster a strong relationship with our clients through clear financial transparency.
AS: So, you’re about instilling confidence.
EW: Absolutely. That is where the name Hyperion comes in, which is synonymous with transparency in Greek mythology. The goal of Hyperion was the God of Light not from a religious aspect but from a transparency perspective.
AS: You obviously have very strong relationships with your clients, and your approach to transparency is a key driver in this. So, it’s fair to say that you have very high customer retention.
EW: Yes, we do. Our two unique selling points are financial transparency and giving the client what they actually want. If the client needs red socks, then we provide them with red socks. As such, we don’t have a Hyperion product unlike VistaJet, which offers a branded experience with its own branded uniforms, champagne, chocolate, slippers and eye masks. At Hyperion Aviation, we do it differently as we are almost invisible to the end user.
We have local key account and aircraft managers at various locations, including Kazakhstan, Dubai, Saudi and the Benelux countries. The Account Managers tailor the product, according to the client’s needs and our HQ in Malta provides the solution and the robustness of the organisation. This means that we’re serving our clients locally but delivering globally.
AS: So, your client is dealing with someone locally who understands them and can take into account all the client’s cultural considerations.
EW: Absolutely. We serve some of the largest companies in Dubai.
We’re serving them from a regulatory perspective out of Malta. But when it comes to tailoring the products and having a point of contact, then that’s coming from a local team speaking the local language, having a local telephone number, being present at the departure of the aircraft and working flat-out to give the client everything they need.
AS: What challenges have you had over the last two years? A lot’s happened!
EW: Covid was a challenge but following a three- month period where we had to ground planes, things got very busy as business aviation was the only means of transportation for some companies, so it was a boom period for us. We didn’t lay anybody off in fact the opposite, we hired a lot of people and grew our Malta base by 50%.
AS: So, what’s the growth plan for 2023?
EW: We’re all about prolonging the value chain and this is where Hyperion Aero Capital comes in. Our market is not one where you can roll out a classical sales pitch.
For us, it’s almost the other way around that clients will have a dedicated need for a very dedicated aircraft operation but don’t want to do the operation themselves, so they come to us.
When one runs a Card Program Company they have a very sellable product so one could run some ads in the Financial Times and a couple of interview, then immediately receive a number of inquiries, so this was kind of measurable and classic sales. Hyperion is very different as we have a very specific niche, so it’s a case of finding the right government or military transportation department or finding that United Nations team to see if they have business for us. It’s a very different approach.
We have a very strong European market now with around 25 planes and now developing the Middle East to the same size with strong growth in Africa as well.
AS: So, it’s more about you identifying and approaching people to say this is how you can add value?
EW: Absolutely. We want to be known in the industry as an aircraft management company, which is not just managing your aircraft, but a company that allows the owner of an airline to concentrate on their business model and have their financing and operations run in the background.
AS: So, you’re advisory, you can help with financing, and sourcing and you have all of the experience of the industry behind you. Is that right?
EW: Correct. We deliver our AOCs via Hyperion Aviation and we provide financing by Hyperion Aero Capital, which is a totally different animal but working very closely together to give the client exactly what they need.
