Jet management and charter firm ExecuJet enters the MEBA show hoping that it will shortly get the green light for construction of a new bespoke facility at Dubai World Central (DWC) airport.
It already has an existing temporary passenger site at DWC, but wants to begin construction on a dedicated fixed base operation (FBO) terminal and maintenance hangars next year.
The requirement for rapid progress on the project is due to the drive to move all general and business aviation traffic away from the Emirate’s main airport, Dubai International (DBX).
ExecuJet has its main facility at DBX, but believes it will need to have vacated the site by the end of 2016, says Mike Berry, its vice-president Middle East.
“That’s why we want to be fully operational at DWC from January 2017,” he says.
It plans to replicate its existing DBX facility at the new site, offering a total of around 10,000m² including two maintenance hangars and an FBO terminal.
“It’s exciting, but when you have got a firmly established business with all the facilities in place, to start it all over again is a challenge.
“We just have to make sure we don’t disrupt our business too much.”
In the meantime, the Middle East operation continues to add to its fleet of 24 managed business jets. It hopes take on another “four to five aircraft” over the next 12 months.
The first of these, which will arrive in the coming months, is an Airbus ACJ319, which should also be available for use by its currently five-strong charter operation, says Berry.
Business has picked up over the past two months, he adds, following a relatively slow early part of the year. This was a combination of the runway closures at Dubai International and the start of Ramadan in at the end of June, he says.
Regional instability, notably in Iraq, may also have “had a bigger impact than we anticipated,” says Berry.
“But we seem to be nicely on track to where we anticipated the business would be over the last month and into November.”
Source: Flight Daily News