Upfront
‘We're better as the sum of all our parts’
Operating and managing aircraft are some of the hardest jobs during a pandemic, which originated in the region. Sino Jet, Metrojet and TAG Aviation Asia brought a wealth of experience to their response. Words: Yuvan Kumar
IT IS NO secret that Asian business aviation companies were the earliest to be hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. “This all pretty much started on January 1st 2020,” said Simon Bambridge, commercial director of TAG Aviation Asia. Although things got easier for the region in the second half, it has been a bumpy ride.
Corporate Jet Investor (CJI) spoke to three aircraft operators and management companies based in Hong Kong and Singapore, who painted a picture of a sector determined to survive the turbulent times spawned by the pandemic. These were Jenny Lau, group president, Sino Jet, Gary Dolski, CEO, Metrojet and Simon Bambridge, commercial director, TAG Aviation Asia. Their businesses quickly swivelled into work-from-home position (some already did this due to civil unrest in Hong Kong) and losses were minimised.
For the most part, their 2021 recovery story is very different from the previous year. Charter brokers and operators say demand for flights is back up and, in some cases, certain metrics are performing better than 2019 standards. Domestic flight activity dominates the conversation, with holidaymakers visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xinjiang this summer. Business travel is yet to pick up, said the experts, citing only corporate acquisitions as a strong cause to fly.
Asian operators are optimistic about the return of flight activity, as more of the regional population is vaccinated. This and the importance of collaboration emerged as the twin themes of our conversations. In Dolski’s words: “We're better as the sum of all our parts.”
Gary Dolski
CEO, Metrojet
Gary Dolski brings more than 35 years of aviation experience to Metrojet having previously worked for Bristol Aerospace, Bombardier, MD Helicopters and Jet Aviation. His work experience has covered business development and strategy, manufacturing, programme management, FBO, MRO, aircraft management and charter within commercial, military and general aviation. Dolski has international experience in senior management based in Canada, the UK, US and Singapore prior to Hong Kong.
CJI Connect: [email protected] +852 2109 1033
Gary Dolski
CEO, Metrojet
Gary Dolski brings more than 35 years of aviation experience to Metrojet having previously worked for Bristol Aerospace, Bombardier, MD Helicopters and Jet Aviation. His work experience has covered business development and strategy, manufacturing, programme management, FBO, MRO, aircraft management and charter within commercial, military and general aviation. Dolski has international experience in senior management based in Canada, the UK, US and Singapore prior to Hong Kong.
CJI Connect: [email protected] +852 2109 1033
Jenny Lau
President, Sino Jet
Jenny Lau is the group president of Sino Jet and former chairperson of AsBAA (Asian Business Aviation Association). She introduced the butler service concept in China’s business aviation and added new services and features to the market. She leads the company with impressive growth by collaborating with industry leaders and leveraging her deep expertise in business jet management. Under Lau’s leadership, Sino Jet has been identified as the largest business jet operator in Asia.
CJI Connect: [email protected] +852 2588 7001
Jenny Lau
President, Sino Jet
Jenny Lau is the group president of Sino Jet and former chairperson of AsBAA (Asian Business Aviation Association). She introduced the butler service concept in China’s business aviation and added new services and features to the market. She leads the company with impressive growth by collaborating with industry leaders and leveraging her deep expertise in business jet management. Under Lau’s leadership, Sino Jet has been identified as the largest business jet operator in Asia.
CJI Connect: [email protected] +852 2588 7001
Simon Bambridge
Commercial director, TAG Aviation Asia
Simon Bambridge joined TAG Aviation in 2010 and has since held a variety of positions in Customer Service and Business Development with his most recent being commercial director, Asia. Before joining TAG Aviation, Bambridge worked for 10 years for one of the world’s leading ab initio airline pilot training schools, Flight Training Adelaide, in business development and commercial roles. Originally from Australia, Bambridge lived in Hong Kong for more than 10 years and currently resides in Singapore.
CJI Connect: [email protected] +65 6812 2584
Simon Bambridge
Commercial director, TAG Aviation Asia
Simon Bambridge joined TAG Aviation in 2010 and has since held a variety of positions in Customer Service and Business Development with his most recent being commercial director, Asia. Before joining TAG Aviation, Bambridge worked for 10 years for one of the world’s leading ab initio airline pilot training schools, Flight Training Adelaide, in business development and commercial roles. Originally from Australia, Bambridge lived in Hong Kong for more than 10 years and currently resides in Singapore.
CJI Connect: [email protected] +65 6812 2584
CJI: Which aspect of the business has bounced back the fastest?
Lau: Charter services have bounced back quicker than ever before. We received more than double the demand during 2020 for international flights. But then this year, because of the international border restrictions, we got more demand for domestic travel. A lot of clients on the aircraft management side have started to prepare themselves to buy private jets for their families as well as their upper management.
This year the trend is to buy new aircraft. The Gulfstream 650 or Bombardier Global 7500 have been very popular. And some clients have purchased a Dassault 7X or 8X, and those are the most popular models they're looking to buy.
Bambridge: What has been most pleasing is to see the resilience of the company. So, while our fleet hasn't been growing, it hasn't been shrinking markedly either. We still have the majority of our crew employed and we are working with our clients to keep the fleet operationally ready.
We delivered a number of aircraft on time and on schedule despite all the issues. We also took a few deliveries – a Gulfstream G650, a G600 and a G550. And we did a pre-owned transaction at the height of the pandemic in Zurich. So, our ability to support those transactions was pretty impressive for us. I think one of the key things is that we have a very strong team. The whole team is very seasoned and there's no single point of failure through the team.
"The pent-up demand and requests are going up and everyone is ready to go."
CJI: Can you describe the flight activity you are seeing?
Lau: The demand is not as strong as early 2020, when the pandemic just started. But most of the domestic flights at the moment are for business purposes. People are still a little hesitant to travel overseas and domestically because there are outbreaks here and there from time to time. Some families are taking their kids to the UK or US for school. Holidaymakers domestically went to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xinjiang – which has been quite popular recently for the summertime.
The number of flights in March 2019 was 65% higher than those in March 2020, so this year’s activity has now recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Domestic flights are already exceeding 2019, which was helped by the growing of our fleet. We’ve recovered pretty fast from the pandemic and we have done a lot of work in keeping safety and cleaning up. Some smaller operators, faced a huge challenge as many of them depended on international charter.
Dolski: We are flying now at about a 30-33% level of what we used to do 2019. The pent-up demand and requests are going up, and everyone is ready to go. But it's 'where can we go?' And more importantly, 'when I come back, how much quarantine do I have to do?' So, we try to find the places they can go with the least interruption. There is an uptick in flying around Europe and North America. It is more on the personal side. On the business side, unless it's an acquisition, businesspeople are finding ways to do it remotely.
Bambridge: Flight activity is significantly down, in the region of 75% lower versus 2019. We are seeing a little personal and business travel. But charter activity is still pretty light at the moment in Asia. The exceptions would be with a little domestic activity in Malaysia and our aircraft that are based up in China have been working. That’s probably where the majority of hours have been coming, domestic China, not international.
One of Sino Jet’s dual headquarters in Hong Kong and Beijing (pictured). President Jenny Lau says “new business models will develop in the region.”
Metrojet’s new 7,000 sq m maintenance parking hangar opens in Clark, Philippines earlier this year.
One of Sino Jet’s dual headquarters in Hong Kong and Beijing (pictured). President Jenny Lau says “new business models will develop in the region.”
Metrojet’s new 7,000 sq m maintenance parking hangar opens in Clark, Philippines earlier this year.
CJI: What are some of your future goals/predictions?
Lau: I am very optimistic about the future growth of business aviation in Asia. It will pick up very soon compared with the US market. We are just waiting for international borders to open up. We will probably pick up some demand for commercial airlines – whose cancellation rates are pretty high – especially for the US.
New business jet models will develop in the region – maybe a time share model – that will fulfil the strong demand for new business jet travellers. Electric aviation is really interesting as well, but the lower aerospace regulations and the human resources have to be developed further to support that demand.
Dolski: The way I've always looked at it is: Let's work together, let's grow the pie together. And if I have a percentage of the pie, the pie itself gets bigger and our company benefits. How do we work together to share and keep our costs down because that's something we can control? We're better as the sum of all our parts.
We have opened up a phenomenal facility in Clark, Philippines, a couple of months ago with a 7,000 sq m [75,350 sq ft] maintenance parking hangar. We are looking at a nice little expansion in the region in a few months, because there is an opportunity and it's the time to see what we can do. We are always looking at expanding our fleet.
Bambridge: They say that the night is darkest just before dawn. In Singapore, they're talking about having 80% of the population, certainly over 60s, vaccinated by the last quarter this year. Then we can see how things start opening up again and living with this. And we're going to start seeing that increasingly around the region. I am hopeful that that we will see things start turning more positive in the last quarter. I think we are three or four months behind other regions, like Europe and North America.
We have seen owners holding onto their aircraft despite the fact that they're not flying much. It hasn't all been doom and gloom. It hasn't been pre-pandemic and it hasn't been where we'd want it to be. But, you know, it's not the end of the world. We see better days in the not-too-distant future.
"The pent-up demand and requests are going up and everyone is ready to go."
CJI Connect
Conor McDougall Garmin [email protected]
Greg Principato National Aeronautic Association, President and CEO [email protected]
