Marking its 12th year in the Middle East, ExecuJet has consistently been a noteworthy participant at the Dubai Air Show. This year, in addition to its stand at E370 of the East Hall of Dubai Airport Expo, its two aircraft recently added to the regional charter fleet – the Challenger 850 A6-Jet and the Challenger 605 – will be on static display.
“The Dubai Airshow has always been an important trade event for us and we are very pleased to participate once again this year,” said Mike Berry, Managing Director ExecuJet Middle East. “Dubai’s geographical location, positive tax environment, wealth density and excellent infrastructure for the aviation sector have proven to be significant contributing factors in the recovery and growth of the private jet and business aviation sectors. It definitely serves as an excellent opportunity to showcase and promote ExecuJet’s full range of aviation services,” he added.
“Aircraft sales in the region have been positive with a number of aircraft being delivered recently. Our current areas of focus are the CIS countries and Saudi Arabia,” Andrew Hoy, Managing Director, ExecuJet Aircraft Trading, said.
“ExecuJet’s approach to regional expansion is based on good local partners and sound business ethics with expansion being organic as well as directed,” Mike Berry added.
The market for Private Jets in the region is well established and continues to expand. There is a growing trend towards larger aircrafts which has a truly global reach. “A Business Jet can range in price from under a million USD to $60m or $70m. The majority of jets in the region sell for around $20m-to-30m. Saudi Arabia has the biggest share of the Private Jet Market, closely followed by the UAE. In terms of tonnage few counties beat Saudi, due to the large number of Boeing Business Jets, Airbus Corporate Jets and larger Jets being utilized privately,” Andrew Hoy said.
The Challenger 850 is unique to the region and joined ExecuJet’s fleet in October, by mid-January 2012 a Lineage 1000 will be the largest and latest addition to the company’s fast-growing fleet of managed aircrafts, taking its total to 22. The new aircraft – the Lineage 1000 a 19-seat Corporate Airliner – will be based in Dubai and will complement ExecuJet’s existing charter offering,, which now includes the Lear 60, the Hawker 800XP, the Challenger 605, the Falcon 900DX, the Challenger 850 and the G5000.
ExecuJet’s FBO in Dubai has witnessed a 20 per cent increase in aircraft movements compared to the same time last year handling an average of 300 movements per month. November and December are predicted to perform even stronger. All countries in the region have been very active but an increased demand could be seen from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. One of the busiest days in our FBO’s history was the 29th of October, when the FBO in Dubai handled a record number of 31 flights. The facility recently underwent a partial refurbishment and ExecuJet customers’ overall experience has been further enhanced to include Arabic-themed hospitality whereby guests are served with the finest Arabic coffee, mint tea and dates.
“The key to a successful FBO is amazing customer service and I am delighted to say our FBO Team are fully delivering and I believe an increasing number of operators, crews and passengers are making the ExecuJet Dubai FBO their first choice,” ExecuJet’s regional Operations Director, Mark Hardman, said.