Jet sales boss Gabriella Somerville says the island is a brilliant place to do business with.

Gabriella said she was delighted to be able to showcase a ’stunning’ seven-seater turboprop plane on a flying visit to Ronaldsway, to prospective customers.

The Avanti EVO has been described as the ’Ferrari of the skies.’ It has Ferrari heritage and is designed to cater for the burgeoning private aviation market.

The EVO has the capability to fly non-stop from the Isle of Man to Moscow and is designed to take off and land at short airfields.

Gabriella is the managing director and founder of Connect Jets which is the official UK agent for the Avanti EVO.

She was accompanied by Filippo Tritonj, regional sales director for Italian company Piaggio Aerospace, who created the EVO. He was proud the aircraft is full of Italian style and character including the hand-crafted leather seats.

Gabriella’s selling the aircraft into the British Isles market, including the Isle of Man, and Business News was given exclusive access for a demonstration flight.

The Isle of Man Aircraft Registry is this year celebrating its 10th anniversary and has become the sixth largest international private business aviation registry in the world.

Under the current director of civil aviation, Simon Williams. the register is close to registering its 1,000th aircraft in the island. Gabriella told Business News she loves visiting the island on business and recognises there is a market here for private jets.

Speaking at the Jet Centre she told Business News: ’We’ve been here before and we have a number of prospects all around Britain. My jurisdiction is the Isle of Man, the UK, Channel Islands and Ireland. So it works for us to showcase the aircraft.

’The Isle of Man is really important to us and the aircraft fares well here.

’It is very versatile in different weather conditions. I think the last time we came here we were the only aircraft that got in over a six hour period.

’It’s an apt aircraft for places such as the Isle of Man and Scotland for slightly more windswept conditions.

’Every time I’ve come over for a demomstration flight we’ve never had sunshine yet. I was really hoping this time.’

The Connect Jets business is based in central London.

’We have the exclusive dealership for the Avanti EVO .

’We actually have a great deal of interest in the Isle of Man. There’s a strong feeling in the island [for business aviation].’

Piaggio’s Italian-built Avanti turboprop line has its roots in the late 1980s, and the latest iteration of the aircraft is the EVO with a whole host of updates and a maximum cruise speed of 402 knots.

Gabriella said there were several Avantis registered on the Isle of Man air register, with the distinctive M prefix.

Asked what is special about the EVO and its attraction for Isle of Man prospective buyers, she said: ’She’s completely different inside and she has incredible space -almost six ft high and six ft wide.

’The aircraft is so versatile. I’ve flown her many times and she has performed brilliantly in all weather and all conditions.

’She’s a great European aircraft. She also has a nice little look about her, she’s quite different the way she looks and she really is a beautiful aircraft.’

Gabriella acknowledged there are lots of other jets in the business aviation sector but she feels the EVO has qualities that put her in a good position.

’It’s a turboprop so it’s a slightly different proposition. Realistically it’s a value proposition that a lot of our clients are looking at and if you look at the economics of the jet and compare it to others in the same category then she takes pole [position] a lot of the time. She has the capability to go into very short airfields. She flies as high as 41,000 feet. If you put all the economics on paper she makes sense. She’s a smart buy.’

The market price new is 7.5 million dollars [more than £5.6 million].

Gabriella said that for that price there is definitely a market. ’The reality is that clients are buying a jet for a purpose. This aircraft fits in particularly well to European aircraft. It has good performance with a good range to cover around Europe and beyond. There is a strong market for that aircraft within both the business, the corporate and the personal arena.

’Business aviation is on the up, it’s steady growth now so it’s not as it was in 2007 whenit was all a little bit too fast and too soon. And, actually, the turbo prop market is seeing an increase.’

This aircraft is a twin turboprop. The demonstration flight took us on a journey towards Liverpool before turning round and returning to Ronaldsway.

lAnd the verdict of Business News? It has to be that the EVO is a stylish Italian character. There’s a great feeling of space and a smooth ride. It was a pleasurable experience.

And if we ever get to win big on the lottery or scoop a mega gamble on the horses we will be putting an order in!

Gabriella Somerville, managing director of Connect Jets in the spacious cabin of the Avanti EVO Pictures by chief photographer Dave Kneale

The stylish twin turboprop Avanti EVO ’parked’ on thetarmac at the Private Jet Centre at Ronaldsway