Middle East supplement: Doing the business

The business aviation market will be an early barometer of a revival in the global economy. The first signs will not be chastened boardroom executives returning to their Gulfstreams and Challengers, but consultants, lawyers and accountants undertaking a flurry of merger and acquisition activity.

That is the view of Will Curtis, chief executive of one of the Middle East's newer players, Bahrain's Rizon Jet. Despite the downturn, the company - which this month takes delivery of the first of three Bombardier Challenger 605s - is pressing ahead with a big spend on infrastructure. Rizon is the first Middle Eastern business aviation player to establish a fixed-base operation in the UK, with plans to open a 13,000m² (140,000ft²) facility at London's Biggin Hill airport in the final quarter. Curtis says Rizon has been "inundated" with enquiries for hangarage and maintenance contracts.

© Rizon Jet

The company is also building a hangar in Qatar which it hopes to open early next year. With two Hawker 900XPs on the way, then a Global 5000 in 2011 and four Bombardier Learjet 85s, its aspirations do not stop there. Curtis says the start-up could have 300 staff by next year, including 20 to 30 pilots and more than 100 maintenance staff.

The timing could be seen as bad. Even Curtis admits that, for business aviation in the Gulf - which only six months ago was still expanding rapidly - "the tap has been well and truly turned off". But he says it is not a case of if recovery happens, but when. "We are ready to catch the upturn and, hopefully, it will be just as we are starting to trade."

Curtis thinks the first sign of better times will be an uptick in the number of merger and acquisition specialists flying on private jets. This is not a perk - because they charge by the hour, time saved means money saved, says Curtis. Flying privately is also more discreet than using airlines.

The corporate segment has been by far the worst hit in the downturn, says Curtis: "Ultra-high net-worths are still travelling, although they are maybe spending more time at work and less out of the country." This has particularly affected Dubai's business aviation community, which has enjoyed huge growth in the past two years on the back of the statelet's economic boom. But because its brokers and small charter companies have been much more exposed to the slump in the property and finance sectors, it has suffered much more than Abu Dhabi, where operators such as Royal Jet, Falcon Aviation and Prestige Jet tend to rely on government and oil sector clients and high net-worth customers flying privately.

Falcon Aviation, which two years ago operated just five helicopters from Abu Dhabi's Al Bateen air base, plans to expand to a fleet of 18 helicopters and 12 jets by 2011. Owned by royal family member Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al-Nahyan, it has 15 aircraft, with 24 on order. Its business ranges from tourist sightseeing and shuttle flights to offshore search-and-rescue and corporate charter. With two Embraer Legacy 600s just delivered and a hangar being built next to its existing facility, Falcon is busy adding to its 18 pilots and 16 maintenance engineers, and human resources manager Houry Pappin says speculative applications are "coming in by the bucketful as a result of what's going on in Dubai and also with European airlines laying people off".

Another Abu Dhabi start-up with big plans is Al Jaber Aviation (AJA). Part of the giant Al Jaber shipping to construction group, it was officially launched at November's Middle East Business Aviation show in Dubai and has 21 Airbus and Embraer jets on order - four A318-based Elites, two A319-based Airbus Corporate Jetliners, eight Embraer Legacy 450/500s, five Lineage 1000s and two Legacy 600s.

Dubai's financial woes have been a reality check for some entrants to the region's business aviation market, but the deep pockets of Abu Dhabi's elite and oil-based private sector should see their ventures through. With airports and maintenance facilities beginning to catch up with the rapid fleet growth of recent years, AJA chief executive Mark Pierotti believes the UAE is on its way to becoming "the global hub for VIP aviation".

© Airbus

Source: Flight International