Curious boy tries to figure out how the plane works. Photo: Robert Camilleri/Fotoclassic

Imagine arriving at the airport just a couple of minutes before your flight is due, driving up to an exclusively reserved luxury jet, then seating yourself comfortably in plush seats and being served caviar.

If your pocket is happy to be set back by some €7,000 per hour, sofas, double beds, fresh flowers, satellite communications, an open bar, and all the leg space you could want can be all yours.

AirX is an aviation company headquartered in Malta that offers executive flight services.

Its jets are always flying the luxury route, dotting Europe from Nice in France to Moscow, Russia. But one jet was recently in Malta for the AirX Malta International Airshow – the company being the title sponsor for this year’s event.

The jet looks and feels every inch a stately living room and is a glimpse on the life of the rich and famous, who can afford to forgo customs, baggage handling and passport control.

One artiste, en route to a concert, requested that nobody make eye contact with him for the duration of the flight

“With an executive jet you can cut through the rigmarole of travelling with a scheduled protocol. You can leave when you want, get to the airport a few minutes before departure, and know we’re there waiting for you. It just takes five minutes,” said AirX chairman John Matthews.

Executive jets are able to use smaller runways and can access more than 250 business airports in Europe; their flight performance is better than airlines, so they can get you to your destination sooner.

Typical jetsetters include musicians on tour, business people in the financial sector and, of course, celebrities – “many of them”.

Mr Matthews’s lips on current famous clients are sealed but he does mention some of his past ones: musician Jools Holland and football legends such as Alan Shearer and Bobby Robson.

They can be demanding. One artiste, en route to a concert, requested that nobody make eye contact with him for the duration of the flight.

Another wanted blinds pulled down even in daylight.

“I saw some crazy things in the boom and that’s when I realised we were getting a bit carried away with ourselves.

“Certain types of food that had to be separated from other types of food; drinks were having to be served at certain temperatures...”

Now it is different. These days, it seems, “people get on, fly and get there” using the jets like “executive taxis”.

“After the recession, expectations have dropped somewhat, which has made it easier for me to meet customer satisfaction levels,” said Mr Matthews.

Prices are roughly between €6,000 to €7,000 an hour for 13 seats, including basic VIP catering. Chic requests, like caviar, would set you back a bit more.

You would think with the economic crisis that even the rich would tighten their belts, but no.

“It’s like a person earning an average income would never renounce his car.

“Same thing for people who can afford the luxury – they would not be able to go back to scheduled flights having to wait for the gate to open and check in their luggage and suchlike,” Mr Matthews said.

AirX – which has more than 70 crew including pilots and engineers based across Europe – only relocated to Malta from Austria in April. It is based at the Vittoriosa yacht marina and has an international back-office staff of 17 young apprentices, a couple of whom are Maltese.

Mr Matthews is quite passionate about Malta’s potential, which he got to know about through a promotional leaflet.

“Malta’s aviation industry is an emerging market and there’s scope for growth.

“I think it’s very exciting to be on the cusp of an aviation growth. So that was that and we packed our bags,” he said.