Business aviation users in the Middle East have a new way of funding their travel - the UK's Air Partner is the first broker to offer them pre-paid blocks of hours for flights within the region.
Its JetCard - already available in Europe and the USA - is pitched at customers who fly 25h or more a year and promises an aircraft - in one of three cabin categories - at 48h notice. Unused airtime can be refunded and flight credit never expires.
Air Partner - which has no aircraft of its own - has been offering corporate and cargo charters in the region for eight years, but Kevin Ducksbury, the company's Dubai-based director of Middle East and Asia, says increasing local demand for business travel and the availability of better aircraft meant the time was right to expand the JetCard concept.
"It gives customers the flexibility to purchase flying time at guaranteed prices. The feedback from Gulf-based customers who had used the product in Europe and North America was that they wanted it for regional use too," he says.
Air Partner believes the card may pull more corporate clients in. Much of its marketing is aimed at executive personal assistants and travel administrators who want a simpler solution to sourcing business aviation flights for their bosses with "no hidden extras".
Air Partner sources aircraft from "known suppliers with relatively young fleets - three to five years". Ducksbury says there are enough aircraft in the region for it to meet its 48h availability guarantee.
The company is partnering Mena Aerospace of Bahrain, which will sell the product in Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Ducksbury says the latter is an "untapped" market for pre-paid cards and that demand there is "already exceeding our expectations". Air Partner itself will promote the card in the rest of the region.
Source: Flight International
