Dubai wants to turn its giant Al Maktoum airport into a hub for business aviation. But it faces competition from Abu Dhabi
In the desert behind the industrial Dubai suburb of Jebel Ali, the world's biggest airport in area - and perhaps eventually in traffic - is taking shape. Part of the Arab emirate's long-term ambition to create the leading global hub for air freight and long-haul passenger travel, the six-runway Al Maktoum International is also intended to become a major business aviation centre in the next decade, and with 80 hangar plots available, home to a number of fixed-base operations and maintenance facilities.
Dubai World Central - the 140km2 (54 miles2) commercial, leisure and residential development of which Al Maktoum International is part - has signed deals with a number of operators to open premises at the airport's so-called Aviation City. They include US business aviation services start-up XJet World, which plans to open in early 2010 the airport's first fixed-base operation, a $35 million "clubhouse" with covered parking that can accommodate up to 25 aircraft.
The development will mirror the company's members-only facility in Denver, where 13 (soon to be 20) aircraft owners pay a one-off fee for dedicated hangarage, handling and lounge access. "We don't like the term FBO. They tend to cater for the pilots rather than the owners and are very much dependent on the margin they can get on fuel sales," says chief executive Josh Stewart, who founded XJet World 16 months ago.
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© BillyPixPlenty of business jets, but the region needs more places to park and maintain them |
"Our business model is pitched at very high net-worth individuals who expect seven-star service in every aspect of their lives, and we provide that," Stewart says. Construction on the 1,500m2 (16,150ft2) facility will begin early next year with the business eventually employing 60 people.
Several of the business aviation tenants at the existing Dubai International airport, currently the region's biggest private aviation hub, could follow. Swiss business aviation services companies ExecuJet and Jet Aviation both have large FBOs in the airport's free zone where space is at a premium.
Al Maktoum's main rival to become the region's business aviation hub could scarcely be more different. The Al Bateen air base is 10km (6 miles) from Abu Dhabi city centre and was the emirate's airport until Abu Dhabi International opened in 1979. Although it is home to Abu Dhabi's two newest business aviation operators, Falcon Aviation and Prestige Jet, its gatehouse and squat, drab buildings make it unmistakably a military station.
DEDICATED AIRPORT
However, this is set to change. At the Paris air show, Abu Dhabi Airports (ADAC) announced plans to turn Al Bateen into the region's first dedicated business aviation airport, with work on the $50 million project starting next year when the air force begins a 30-month phased departure.
The move will free the expanding international airport, base of flag carrier Etihad, to focus on scheduled services, with freight and some low-cost flights being routed through the oasis city of Al Ain.
Al Bateen's big advantages will be its proximity to the city and the fact that it will be exclusively for business aviation, says Mohammed Al Bulooki, vice-president airline marketing and aeronautical revenue at ADAC. "The business aviation customer wants to feel special. He doesn't want to have to wait for a 747 to take off. The message is that this is your airport, not just your aircraft," he says, adding a none-to-subtle knock at his rival: "This will not be a six-runway airport with a business aviation piece on the side."
OVERWHELMING RESPONSE
The response to the move from operators has been "overwhelming" says Al Bulooki: "I am receiving phone calls and emails from potential tenants on a daily basis." However, one potential tenant that has not yet committed is the emirate's biggest charter operator Royal Jet, which has an FBO and its offices at the international airport. "They have constraints where they are and have expressed a lot of interest."
A major problem in the Middle East has been lack of parking spaces for business aircraft. Al Bateen will have 50 parking stands and "I don't want to disclose yet how many maintenance facilities", he says.
Because it started as a civil airport, the 3,200m (10.500ft) runway can handle aircraft up to an Airbus A320 or Boeing 737-800 - a requirement given the number of Airbus Corporate Jets and Boeing Business Jets operating in the region.
One of the first changes will be the replacement of military guards with civilian security personnel. "The whole military feel will go," says Al Bulooki. Upgrades to the airfield infrastructure will follow, with tenants bringing their own investment to the site in the form of FBOs and hangars.
Referring to TAG Aviation's showpiece business aviation terminal at Farnborough in the UK, acknowledged as one of the best in the world, he says: "Here we have space for five or six TAGs." The airport, he claims, will be "double the size of Farnborough on the day it opens" with an expected 30-40 aircraft movements a day by 2012.
Source: Flight International
