Business aviation group ExecuJet Aviation and Australian sales, services and product support company Hawker Pacific are targeting Perth in Western Australia as the next stage in their growth plans for the Australian market.
Sydney-based Hawker Pacific, which already has fixed-base operations in Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns, hopes to expand its domestic FBO operation to Perth in the next two months, says chief executive Alan Smith. The Perth operation will be modest, but will be an important part of the national network, says Smith. "As we seek to build an Asia-Pacific network, Western Australia is an important place to be," he says.
Outside Australia, Hawker Pacific has an FBO in Singapore, operates the Skypark Subang FBO in Malaysia in conjunction with ExecuJet and is developing an FBO and maintenance facilities at China's Shanghai Hongquiao airport with the Shanghai Airport Authority. Development of the Shanghai FBO has taken longer than expected, but Smith says it should be operational at the end of the year.
Hawker Pacific is interested in expanding its international FBO network to India, but is maintaining a "watching brief on India until the economic situation settles", says Smith. "We believe in that market, but we'd rather not be a pioneer," he adds.
Meanwhile, ExecuJet plans to launch its Perth development with a maintenance operation this year, says Alastair Creighton-Jones, managing director in the Asia-Pacific region. Creighton-Jones says ExecuJet would eventually like to offer its full range of services in Perth - maintenance, aircraft management, charter and an FBO.
The move west follows expansion of ExecuJet's MRO and FBO facilities in Brisbane and Melbourne to complement its Sydney base.
The Brisbane maintenance and FBO facility, which is due for completion in September, will allow ExecuJet to provide comprehensive support in Queensland, where there is a lot of activity, says Creighton-Jones. Brisbane is home to the first new Bombardier Global 5000 in Australia and the first new Learjet 60XR in the country, while a Gulfstream GIVSP is under management in Melbourne.
ExecuJet will add a new Global XRS, to be based in Sydney, in August, says Creighton-Jones, replacing a Challenger 604. "We now have all the Bombardier product line on our books in Australia, with the exception of the Challenger 300, which is not in the region yet," says Creighton-Jones.
The Australian market grew well until November 2007 when the company started to see a slight downturn, says Creighton-Jones. Despite that it remains a healthy market, although he predicts the turnaround will take longer than after the last downturn in 2003 due to problems accessing finance.
Source: Flight International
