Japan's first business jet VIP charter outfit applies for air operator's certificate
Japan's Global Wings aims to base its business-jet charter operation at the new Kobe airport from the second quarter of 2006.
The start-up plans to take delivery of its first aircraft, a Bombardier Learjet 45XR, in December and launch charter operations in January. Chief executive Tak Masamura says Global Wings will initially base the Learjet in Beijing or Shanghai and hire a Chinese airline to operate the aircraft. But Global Wings is also applying for its own air operator's certificate, which it hopes to secure by the end of 2005, making it Japan's first business-jet VIP charter operator.
"Kobe airport is available in 2006 spring; that's where our Japanese base will be," Masamura says. "We'll start in China, but we'll do Japan eventually." Nagoya's Komaki airport, seeking to reposition itself as a business jet centre due to the opening of a new commercial airport outside Nagoya early next year, is also trying to woo Global Wings, but the operator has its headquarters in Kobe, which is marketing its new airport as a business aviation centre for the Osaka area and all of Japan. Basing aircraft in Tokyo is too costly to even consider.
Global Wings initially plans to offer VIP charters in the domestic Chinese and China-Japan markets to Japanese and Western companies. The first aircraft, and a second Learjet 45XR on order but without a definitive delivery date, will still be based in China after the Kobe base opens because Global Wings will not be able to re-register them in Japan. Global Wings plans to order more aircraft for the Japanese operation, possibly as large as a Bombardier Challenger 604, if there is demand for longer-haul services to South-East Asia.
Global Wings planned to begin services around mid-year, but the start-up process took longer than expected. High operating costs and low demand from Japanese companies have so far prevented the launch of international business-jet charter operations in Japan. Global Wings has begun a marketing effort to demonstrate to local companies the advantages of business jets over commercial airlines but it says US companies that already rely on business jets in North America are an easier sales target.
Source: Flight International
