EBACE Show News - May 20, 2008 - (Page 78) MIDDLE EAST EBACE 2008 AT EBACE $300 Million G650 Order Doubles Prestige Fleet Little over a year since its founding, Abu Dhabi’s Prestige Jet has made good its promise to double its fleet with a newly announced order for five top-of-the-line Gulfstream G650s. The Letter of Intent for the ultra-large cabin ultra-long range jets was signed here at EBACE. To t a l b o o k v a l u e for the aircraft is almost The current Prestige Jet fleet is a mix of Bombardier and Gulfstream aircraft. $300 million. five Bombardier and ceptional growth in its first year, sons for growth in the business, The G650 will allow Gulfstream aircraft. particularly during the first quar- including safety concerns, airport Prestige Jet to carry beThe company plans ter of 2008. Fleet utilization of delays and lack of high frequency tween 15 and 18 passento operate both its dedicated aircraft is running at routes. “Unlike Europe, where gers non-stop from the Faris Deeb of Prestige Jet. own aircraft and 30% above target on average. there are many cities that offer daily Middle East to destinations in North America or Australia. others for clients. Its sister company, Deeb says that to maintain the flights between them each day, there The first aircraft is scheduled for Prestige Air Charter, promotes and ultimate jet charter experience, are very few high frequency routes delivery in 2012, depending on the expands the fleet, in addition to its the company’s client service stan- in the Gulf, especially non-stops, dards must exceed those of others making it very difficult to fly in and ad hoc brokerage business. actual development schedule. out of a destination on the same Managing director Faris Deeb in the industry. Prestige Jet launched operaDeeb identified a variety of rea- day,” he said. tions in 2007 with a mixed fleet of says the company has enjoyed ex—Robert Hewson Palm Aviation’s New FBO First at Dubai Aviation City Dubai World Central Aviation City, home to the largest maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) center in the world, has signed a deal with Palm Aviation (Booth 2023) to set up its first fixed-base operation (FBO) ground handling facility. Costing $11 million, the 80,000-sq-ft facility will allow Palm to extend its global flight support operations from the existing Dubai Airport Free Zone office as part of its strategy to grow 35% annually over the next five years. “DWC Aviation City will be home to the world’s largest MRO providers, largely due to the strategic aviation services offerings to third parties setting up their regional operations within our projects,” said Abdullah Al Quraishi, CEO, DWC Aviation City. “The aviation sector is expected to grow at more than 30% annually for the coming five years, and the impressive growth of over 9% for the Middle East MRO market is expected to continue over Looking at a model of the Palm FBO location the same period.” are (l to r) Palm chairman Khalid Al Mutawa, Launched in February evp & CEO Samer Dabbagh, and Aviation City 2007, Palm Aviation offers CEO Abdulla Al Qurashi. clients a one-stop shop and a high level of customized service provision for all flight and ground handling needs. The new operations office initially will be staffed by 20 multilingual staff on a 24/7 basis. The Fliteport team specializes in travel to the Middle East, India and China. Fliteport Launches at EBACE Dubai-based international trip planning provider Fliteport picked Geneva to launch its flight planning, flight clearances, ground handling and refueling consultancy services (Booth 281). The company has a strong focus on the Middle East, Africa and Asia (MEAA), where trip planning can be difficult. Its team will assist aircraft operators in obtaining relevant permissions, provide regional flight planning advice and make arrangements for aircraft handling services. Fliteport intends to capture significant market share of the trip support industry in line with continued growth in global business aviation, and particular growth in the Middle East. Dubai soon will have an executive private jet terminal at the new Al-Maktoum International Airport in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone. “We are witnessing an increasing demand for trip planning services in the Middle East and the surrounding regions,” commented Mazher Hussain, general manager, Fliteport. “Operations departments are experiencing increasing workloads, and we can assist them in utilizing their current resources more effectively.” Fliteport is able to provide its services at all locations within the MEAA region, which include the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kenya, Sudan, Ghana, Libya, Syria, Iran, India, China and many more. 78 May 20, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.