CJI DUBAI EVENT REPORT
Dubai’s pace of change hits business aviation market
No city in the world seems to change as fast as Dubai. Even locals can go away for a week and find there is a skyscraper where their car was parked. Words: Alasdair Whyte
Warm evenings allowed delegates to take the industry temperature.
CJI DUBAI EVENT REPORT
Warm evenings allowed delegates to take the industry temperature.
Dubai’s pace of change hits business aviation market
No city in the world seems to change as fast as Dubai. Even locals can go away for a week and find there is a skyscraper where their car was parked. Words: Alasdair Whyte
“When I joined six months ago we had 10 aircraft. Now we have 16, so we are growing at one aircraft a month ...”
Can Sasmaz, CEO of Falcon
It is also hard to keep up with how fast the region’s business aviation market is changing. Wherever you go there are new projects, new entrants and new opportunities to discover. It is hard to know where to start.
On the first day, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) started allowing foreign operators to fly commercial flights inside the kingdom. To help with this, GACA has introduced six-month rolling crew visas. GACA is partly doing this to judge how much charter demand there is inside the country. Many of the operators and charter brokers attending the show are keen to get started. Imtiyaz Manzary, general manager of General Aviation at GACA fielded many questions on this.
The United Arab Emirates is keen to maintain its lead in the region. At the end of 2024 it introduced what it is calling a Golden Package for business aviation. This includes speeding up the process to get an Air Operator Certificate (and allows 100% foreign ownership).
Mazen Obaid from VistaJet, Yosef Hafiz of NasJet and Imtiyaz Manzary from GACA discussed the region’s charter potential.
“When I joined six months ago we had 10 aircraft. Now we have 16, so we are growing at one aircraft a month ...”
Can Sasmaz, CEO of Falcon
It is also hard to keep up with how fast the region’s business aviation market is changing. Wherever you go there are new projects, new entrants and new opportunities to discover. It is hard to know where to start.
On the first day, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) started allowing foreign operators to fly commercial flights inside the kingdom. To help with this, GACA has introduced six-month rolling crew visas. GACA is partly doing this to judge how much charter demand there is inside the country. Many of the operators and charter brokers attending the show are keen to get started. Imtiyaz Manzary, general manager of General Aviation at GACA fielded many questions on this.
The United Arab Emirates is keen to maintain its lead in the region. At the end of 2024 it introduced what it is calling a Golden Package for business aviation. This includes speeding up the process to get an Air Operator Certificate (and allows 100% foreign ownership).
Mazen Obaid from VistaJet, Yosef Hafiz of NasJet and Imtiyaz Manzary from GACA discussed the region’s charter potential.
Mark Butler, Action Aviation and Comlux’s Paul-Franck Bijou up on stage.
The UAE has also seen big investment from business jet companies. ExecuJet opened a stunning new facility in Dubai in December. Gama Aviation will open a new Business Aviation Centre at Sharjah International Airport later this year – the company’s biggest ever investment.
There was also a lot of discussion about a new entrant – Falcon, part of Alex Investments (it originally launched as Alex Jets). Falcon is aiming to grow all parts of its business – aircraft charter (Falcon Luxe), FBOs (Falcon Elite), maintenance (Falcon Technic) and trip planning (Falcon Flight Support).
“We are growing fast. When I joined six months ago we had 10 aircraft. Now we have 16, so we are growing at one aircraft a month,” said Can Sasmaz, CEO of Falcon. “We are looking for steady growth.” Sasmaz wants to have full in-house maintenance and be a “one-stop shop” for every aircraft in its fleet.
Sasmaz says that the company is already in talks to acquire FBOs in Paris, Milan and the US and bidding on FBO tenders in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
A lot of people are now carrying Falcon business cards and it has hired experienced managers and technicians from many of its competitors. Sasmaz says they are not poaching teams. He says: “If a person is not happy they are right to leave, but we are not trying to disturb any competitor, we are all friends in aviation.”
THE LUCKY WINNER IS ...
Eymeric Segard, chairman at LunaJets, was this year’s lucky winner of the aircraft model raffle sponsored by Bombardier. His prize was a scaled model of the Canadian aircraft maker’s Global 6000 business jet which, when full size, offers a cruise speed of Mach 0.85 and a range of 5,900nm.
Mark Butler, Action Aviation and Comlux’s Paul-Franck Bijou up on stage.
The UAE has also seen big investment from business jet companies. ExecuJet opened a stunning new facility in Dubai in December. Gama Aviation will open a new Business Aviation Centre at Sharjah International Airport later this year – the company’s biggest ever investment.
There was also a lot of discussion about a new entrant – Falcon, part of Alex Investments (it originally launched as Alex Jets). Falcon is aiming to grow all parts of its business – aircraft charter (Falcon Luxe), FBOs (Falcon Elite), maintenance (Falcon Technic) and trip planning (Falcon Flight Support).
“We are growing fast. When I joined six months ago we had 10 aircraft. Now we have 16, so we are growing at one aircraft a month,” said Can Sasmaz, CEO of Falcon. “We are looking for steady growth.” Sasmaz wants to have full in-house maintenance and be a “one-stop shop” for every aircraft in its fleet.
Sasmaz says that the company is already in talks to acquire FBOs in Paris, Milan and the US and bidding on FBO tenders in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
A lot of people are now carrying Falcon business cards and it has hired experienced managers and technicians from many of its competitors. Sasmaz says they are not poaching teams. He says: “If a person is not happy they are right to leave, but we are not trying to disturb any competitor, we are all friends in aviation.”
THE LUCKY WINNER IS ...
Eymeric Segard, chairman at LunaJets, was this year’s lucky winner of the aircraft model raffle sponsored by Bombardier. His prize was a scaled model of the Canadian aircraft maker’s Global 6000 business jet which, when full size, offers a cruise speed of Mach 0.85 and a range of 5,900nm.
Dubai Audience Votes
