Thomas Godau is headed for Le Mans

ProAir serves the sporting world

ProAir Charter Transport, headquartered in Stuttgart in Germany, is again to arrange flights to this year's Le Mans 24-hour race under contract for Audi. In 2014, the company chartered all available Dornier Do328 turboprops in Germany for flights to and from the races, arranged for another aircraft to take journalists to Angers, the closest airport with a longer runway, and a ATR72-600 to fly to Le Mans for Porsche. ProAir founder Thomas Godau, along with seven of his employees, was in Le Mans to organise everything with the local authorities, the DGAC and the car manufacturers themselves.

Coming up later this year in May/June, ProAir is flying over 14,000 passengers for a series of car launches and media events for the Volkswagen group. These launches cover Audi, Porsche, SEAT, Skoda, MAN trucks and Volkswagen models. They have a three-year contract and Godau says: “It is a big challenge for us to support such a big customer as the Volkswagen group. It is a validation of our daily work and also a great opportunity for our sales team.”

Football fans will be interested to know that ProAir has teamed up with Borussia Dortmund to fly them to their Champions League, German Cup and Bundesliga matches all over Europe. Godau says: “Due to the stress of midweek and weekend games we will be organising flights for them within Germany as well. We will be dealing with other Bundesliga clubs for their matches too: VfB Stuttgart, SC Freiburg and 1. FC Cologne for example.”

He continues: “We may charter an additional aircraft for their vips and friends and another for their supporters. I am always in contact with the team's travel manager to make sure the journey is as pleasant as possible for the team and officials. For me, a champions league contract means arranging the flight; meetings at the airport with the kit manager, security, police and the different handling agents; checking the passenger lists again and again; and managing the boarding passes. This means a very comfortable baggage drop for the team in the morning, after which they can have direct access to the gate area via the fast lane while I take care of their luggage. Usually the team arrives at the airport 30-45 minutes prior to departure and, 99% of the time, the flight leaves on time.”