COVER STORY • ASIAN OPERATORS
SPOTLIGHT ON ASIA
Business aviation in Asia is booming and seemingly on the cusp of a bigger expansion. Here we profile five leading business jet operators in the region – ACAM Group, Jet Aviation, Metrojet, Phenix Jet Cayman and Tag Aviation. Words: Fayaz Hussain, Rob Hodgetts and Yves Le Marquand
COVER STORY • ASIAN OPERATORS
SPOTLIGHT ON ASIA
Business aviation in Asia is booming and seemingly on the cusp of a bigger expansion. Here we profile five leading business jet operators in the region – ACAM Group, Jet Aviation, Metrojet, Phenix Jet Cayman and Tag Aviation. Words: Rob Hodgetts, Fayaz Hussain and Yves Le Marquand
BUZZING AND ENERGETIC, the Asian business jet market appears to remain a place of boundless energetic and potential.
Talking to a selection of key operators in the region, it’s clear the narrative is one of opportunity. Ask them how business is and they will tell you where they are planning to expand next.
Hong Kong and Singapore remain key hubs, but eyes are turning towards Japan, Taiwan, Korea and, significantly, India.
“Asia Pacific remains a dynamic market,” says David Best, Jet Aviation’s senior vice president, Regional Operations and general manager Americas and interim APAC
“While the high activity of the past few years is beginning to normalise, industry data shows continued growth and development across the region. In 2024, the Asia Pacific fleet saw 1.2% growth compared to 2023. In addition, we are seeing long-range and ultra-long-range jets remain in demand for charter.”
For Darren Broderick, CEO, ACAM Group the geopolitics, tariffs and trade wars emanating from the Trump administration in the US are only adding fuel to the Asia fire.
“Business as a whole is quite good,” he says. “I think we’re going to see continued growth in this area, particularly as a result of what’s going on in the US. A lot of focus is going to leave the US and head into this region, include the manufacturing sector, despite what Mr Trump says in the US.
“From a business aviation perspective, it will increase not only ownership but will certainly boost the charter side of business.”
A key theme coming out of Asian operators is the adoption of digital technology to develop flexible systems across different regions.
“A fully digital platform is crucial as it allows us to highly customise the accounts that come to us,” says Andrew Svoboda, CEO, Phenix Jet Cayman. “We have found that the ultra-high-net-worth individuals who are buying the very large aircraft require a tremendous amount of flexibility and ongoing customisation for their changing needs.”
Broderick has also embraced technology and said scheduling software FL3XX has “revolutionised our operations department”.
While Jet Aviation is seeing demand for longer range jets in charter, Metrojet senses a growth opportunity in very light jets as new owners come to the market.
“The future of the Asian operator industry by 2030 presents both exciting opportunities and significant challenges,” says Metrojet’s director of flight operations Stewart Borg.
ACAM Group Prioritising personal touch
Darren Broderick, CEO, ACAM Group founded
the business in Singapore in 2010.
PERSONALISATION is still the key for Darren Broderick despite having built ACAM Group into the largest privately owned business aviation operator in South East Asia. As owner and CEO, Australian Broderick likens it to an old-fashioned butcher’s shop where the butcher knows every customer and their favourite cuts.
“Even though we’ve become a large player, a tier one management company, the difference is that being a private company we’re much more personalised and bespoke,” says Broderick, who founded the company in 2010. “For me, it’s not a business, it’s a passion. I love it.”
According to Broderick, the fleet is the third largest in the region and is growing at pace with four aircraft added in the first quarter of 2025.
“The fleet goes up and down, it’s plus or minus 30 as some come in, some go out,” he says.
ACAM Group is headquartered in Singapore with a predominant focus on the Indonesian market, which Broderick describes as his “stronghold”.
“We have bits and bobs in Malaysia and Thailand, and we’re focusing on some other northern Asia countries like Japan, Korea and Taiwan,” he says. “With the dynamics of geopolitics, I see a lot of opportunities there.”
It also has a base in Dubai and has a foothold in India with two jets. ACAM’s Pacific operation secured an air operator certificate (AOC) in Australia in March 2024 and Broderick is excited by the growth.
“Australia is still very strong,” he says. “The charter market down there is phenomenal. We don’t have enough capacity. We’re negotiating to buy an ACAM-owned aircraft to put into the operation simply because of the demand.”
ACAM is also finalising an AOC in San Marino and, through the 2024 acquisition of a German flight inspection operator, it is expanding its footprint in Europe with plans to head to the UK. Despite this rapid growth, Broderick is focused on staying lean, with a management team of just six in the Seletar Airport head office in Singapore. ACAM has just appointed industry veteran Mike Webber as its director of safety, security, compliance and quality.
“We’ve spent a lot of money on technology versus filling more cubicles full of people. I’ve found that convolutes processes,” he says.
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JET AVIATION Celebrates 30 years in Asia
CELEBRATING 30 years in Asia this year, Jet Aviation offers 14 locations and a managed fleet of about 30 aircraft across the region.
From an original MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) business set up in Singapore in 1995, the company now supports almost all aspects of business aviation ownership, aircraft management, charter and Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisation (CAMO) with a network of FBOs in Asia and Australia.
“Throughout this growth, we have focused our development in the region on the services and locations our customers are looking for,” says David Best, senior vice president, Regional Operations and general manager Americas and interim APAC.
Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney remain key hubs, while the company announced a San Marino AOC in 2022 to make aircraft ownership “effortless” and provide customers with more choice in the region, according to Best.
Best says Jet Aviation, which operates about 300 aircraft globally with an in-house charter fleet of more than 100, sees opportunities in the increase of potential business aviation customers in South East Asia.
As such it is eyeing further expansion across the Asia-Pacific region “to support seamless operations and offer customers more flexibility”.
“In terms of fleet, we are seeing an increase in charter requests for longer-range aircraft as businesses and customers continue to connect across the region, and globally,” he says.
“As newer and larger aircraft come onto the market, we are also exploring how we can make operation of these aircraft effortless for our customers.
“This includes evolving our maintenance services in Singapore – including joining the Airbus Corporate Jets Service Center Network earlier this year – and extending this support throughout the region with AOG, as well as ensuring we provide flexible choices for operation of these aircraft with some 10 AOCs worldwide, including San Marino.”
In addition to personalised management and charter services, Jet Aviation offers hangar space worldwide, including about 160,000sqft (1,465sqm) in Singapore capable of accommodating ACJ320s and BBJ737s.
Jet Aviation is owned by General Dynamics and based in Basel, Switzerland with more than 4,700 employees worldwide including more than 1,000 across Asia Pacific.
DAVID BEST - JET AVIATION
Scotsman David Best is senior vice president, Regional Operations and general manager Americas and interim APAC. He has more than 30 years’ experience in commercial and aviation roles. Best is based in Teterboro.
Jet Aviation offers 14 locations and a managed fleet of about 30 aircraft across Asia.
Jet Aviation offers 14 locations and a managed fleet of about 30 aircraft across Asia.
METROJET Veteran Asian operator
ONE OF ASIA’S longest-serving business aviation companies, Metrojet recorded nearly 500 flight hours during the first three months of 2025. Founded in 1997, it boasts a diverse fleet of 10 aircraft including Gulfstream and Falcon models.
The operator, which also caters for customers in Europe and North America, recently shifted its headquarters to Sheung Wan in Hong Kong.
“This move reflects our strategic intent to be at the heart of the business hub, enhancing our accessibility and operational efficiency,” explains Stewart Borg, Metrojet’s director of flight operations.
Metrojet is a full-service operator with a portfolio including aircraft management, acquisition consulting and crew management. The company operates major MRO facilities in both Hong Kong and Clark, Philippines.
“We are recognised by our peers for our unwavering commitment to integrity and the high standards of flight operations and maintenance support,” says Borg. “Our reputation is built on the expertise of some of the most experienced flight crew and engineers in the industry.”
Borg says the company is focused on operational excellence while adapting to the changing geopolitics and exploring new locations to serve clients meet the changing needs of ultra-high-net-worth individuals who increasingly operate across multiple home bases.
“By staying agile and responsive to these dynamics, we will continue to provide exceptional service and support to our clients, ensuring that we remain one of the leading operators in the business aviation industry,” he adds. “Metrojet’s stability of company ownership and its status as the most mature and longest-serving management company in Asia are our key differentiators.”
“Our reputation is built on the expertise of some of the most experienced flight crew in the industry.”
Metrojet is based in Hong Kong and is one of Asia’s longest-running business aviation operators.
Metrojet is based in Hong Kong and is one of Asia’s longest-running business aviation operators.
“Our reputation is built on the expertise of some of the most experienced flight crew in the industry.”
PHENIX JET CAYMAN
Operates 19 ULR business jets
PHENIX JET CAYMAN Operates 19 ULR business jets
PHENIX JET CAYMAN is one of the leading diversified private aviation groups with a strong presence in Asia. The group operates 19 ultra-long-range business jets and one helicopter. During 2024, the company delivered about 6,500-7,000 flight hours.
The company has head offices in multiple locations including Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. It also has a strong presence of offices and personnel in North America, Cayman Islands and Europe. The operator has already developed a sophisticated global footprint after rebranding in 2016.
Leading Japanese conglomerate Sojitz Corporation is the largest backer in Phenix Jet Cayman. The Japanese firm began investing in business aviation in 2004.
“Asia is definitely our largest centric stronghold, with Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo being the most significant hub locations,” says Andrew Svoboda, CEO of Phenix Jet Cayman. The company’s fleet consists exclusively of high-end aircraft, including Global 7500s, G600s, G650s and a Boeing Business Jet, with additional G7500s, G8000s and a G700 slated for delivery in the coming year.
The company offers comprehensive services through its AOCs (Air Operator Certificates) with a primary focus in Cayman. “We are full service,” Svoboda notes. “We have aircraft management, charter services, MRO services available under Cayman, aircraft sales and acquisitions, and then a variety of special interest projects.”
Sharing his goals for the future, Svoboda plans to significantly expand across multiple aviation sectors. “We’re already working on plans for joint ownership application for multiple owners to purchase shares of aircraft rather than a full aircraft,” he says. In addition to its core focus in business jets and rotorcraft, the company is also working projects to diversify into airline commercial operations and emerging technologies.
“Our Cayman AOC is capable of all airline type applications of commercial operations, both cargo and passenger,” says Svoboda. “The parent company has also invested in an eVTOL operator which is nearing certification and Phenix Jet is working to leverage its Cayman AOC globally into a new business vertical.”
The company plans to expand further into Asia. Phenix Jet Cayman is also targeting expansion in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia and India. Svoboda sees opportunities in “establishing synergistic partnerships where the skills and resources and extended platforms that we already have developed can work well with parties already located within those regions.”
ANDREW SVOBODA PHENIX JET CAYMAN
A former pilot and chief training captain, Andrew Svoboda has been president and CEO of Phenix Jet Cayman since 2016. The company has a strong presence in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo and is majority owned by Japanese conglomerate Sojitz Corporation.
Phenix Jet Cayman operates 19 ultra-long-range business jets and one helicopter across Asia.
Phenix Jet Cayman operates 19 ultra-long-range business jets and one helicopter across Asia.
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TAG AVIATION ‘Expanding areas of excellence’
ALTHOUGH the doors of TAG Aviation Asia’s first office on Hong Kong’s Gloucester Road didn’t open until 2006, the firm’s operations in Asia began some 35 years before.
The company was founded as Aeroleasing in Geneva in 1966 and in the 1980s it expanded throughout Asia, Africa, North America and Eastern Europe.
In 1998 it was renamed TAG Aviation and eight years later it made its Asian footprint permanent with the opening of its Hong Kong headquarters. The following year, TAG opened its first office in Singapore, followed by a base in Beijing in 2012.
In 2019, the opening of the Macau FBO marked the first TAG FBO in Asia. Then in 2020, TAG Aviation entered a new era as TAG Aviation SA and TAG Aviation Asia was consolidated under central ownership.
Today, TAG has a fleet of about 60 aircraft under contract with about half of those in Asia across nine facilities. This ranges from an ACJ, a Boeing Business Jet, Bombardier Challengers, Globals and a Global Express to Dassault Falcons, Gulfstreams, Phenoms and a recently added Pilatus PC-24.
Growth is also never far from the top of the agenda. Steven Young, president and CEO Asia, TAG Aviation told CJI: “Currently operating across multiple business aviation disciplines within the pan-regional aircraft management, charter operations, maintenance services along with a fixed base operation in Macau, TAG see all these activities as areas of excellence that can be expanded upon and are certainly happy to lead the way.”
Young puts TAG’s success down to its “people”. It is a big inspiration for the company strapline ‘Global Presence/Local Insight’. “TAG offers an understanding and responds to the unique needs and preferences of diverse markets whilst always keeping their global standards of safety and service excellence at the forefront of everything they do,” says the company CEO in Asia.
The company also offers its staff the opportunity to take the TAG Trained Pilot (TTP) programme. This initiative is an in-house pilot training programme that sponsors TAG employees to train as a pilot right up to a full type rating on a business jet.
“The TAG heritage comes from the aviator DNA and at the root of that are the pilots,” says Young. “The need to develop, train and mentor within the industry is paramount and the lack of properly trained, knowledgeable and skilled people within the industry is a concern for TAG. That is why we aim to provide a culture where people can develop to their fullest potential through training, mentorship, development, and internship programmes such as the TTP.”
TAG’s fleet is diverse with about 60 aircraft under contract.
TAG opened its first FBO in Asia in Macau in 2019.
“The TAG heritage comes from the aviator DNA and at the root of that are the pilots.”
Steven Young, president and CEO Asia, TAG Aviation, puts the company’s success down to its people.
Steven Young, president and CEO Asia, TAG Aviation, puts the company’s success down to its people.
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ASIAN AVIATION IN 2030
Operators look ahead
ASIAN AVIATION IN 2030 Operators look ahead
CAPTAIN STEWART BORG METROJET
The company’s director of Flight Operations is a check and training captain as well as an authorised examiner for the Gulfstream G450, G550 and G650ER for the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong (HKCAD). He joined the company in 2005.
Business aviation bulls once ran amok in China but with that market in “rapid decline”, the Asian tigers are targeting other potential hot spots in the region.
Leading aircraft operators in Asia are looking beyond their traditional strongholds to places like Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, with India seen as the “next China” given the rise in wealth and the infrastructure boom in the country, according to Darren Broderick, CEO, ACAM Group.
And with geopolitics increasingly shifting the economic landscape, the Asian boom in business aviation is likely to get stronger.
“The opportunities are endless,” Broderick tells CJIQ. “I think it will continue to grow at a fairly rapid pace, as it has the past 10 years.”
Amidst the action, Broderick’s chief focus is India. “They are building airports at a mammoth rate and the amount of corporate jets going in there is staggering,” he says. “We want to be part of that.”
He adds: “If you look at the Indian ultra-high net worths and corporates, 50% of travel is going east to Singapore and 50% west to Dubai. Dubai is a new base for us and we’re quite upbeat about that flow from India, so all the strings are attaching to serve that potential massive market.”
Andrew Svoboda, CEO, Phenix Jet Cayman considers India as “its own unique market”, which the company is taking a “heavy look at”.
“[That’s] because of its exceptional growth rate and its base of wealth and use of private business jets,” he said.
In terms of the fleet, Jet Aviation is eyeing further expansion across the Asia-Pacific region “to support seamless operations and offer customers more flexibility”.
“We are seeing an increase in charter requests for longer-range aircraft as businesses and customers continue to connect across the region, and globally,” says Jet Aviation’s David Best, senior vice president Regional Operations and general manager Americas and interim APAC.
For Metrojet, the outlook is all about “staying agile” and “responsive” to the challenges posed by fast-moving geopolitics, according to Stewart Borg, director, Flight Operations.
“Our strategy involves maintaining the flexibility of our operating bases and exploring new locations to meet the evolving needs of ultra-high-net-worth individuals who increasingly live and work across multiple home bases,” he says.
Borg sees growth potential in new ownership groups in the very light jet segment, but he is wary of the challenges posed by the consolidation of aircraft management service providers because of “market saturation” and the rise of grey charters “potentially undermining regulatory compliance and safety standards”.
Overall, the momentum in the Asia-Pacific market is fuelling a buoyant outlook for the next five or 10 years, according to Broderick.
“I’d like to see us at 100-plus airplanes,” he says. “It’s well and truly achievable if the momentum keeps going but if we all had a crystal ball we wouldn’t be doing what we are doing.”
