Jet Aviation plans to expand into Brazil, China and Russia and to ramp up its small West Palm Beach, Florida maintenance operation, its only one in the USA, as the completion sector continues to struggle, says the company's new chief executive Heinz Kohli.
Next year, the company will open a maintenance centre and fixed-base operation (FBO) at Dubai International Airport. The facility, a joint venture with Almulla Business Group of Dubai, will join two FBOs in the region, at Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, and will include a hangar big enough for two Airbus Corporate Jetliners or Boeing Business Jets. Jet Aviation is also teaming as a 10% partner with a Brazilian company to open a maintenance centre and FBO in São Paulo in June.
Expansion into Russia is "only a matter of time", says Kohli, who replaced Thomas Hirschmann, the son of Jet Aviation's founder, earlier this year.
"We will install a local sales representative in 2004 and within two or three years should have an actual facility," he says. "China will be an opportunity in five to 10 years."
Source: Flight International
