Unlike the many business aviation services companies setting up shop at Dubai’s new Al Maktoum airport (DWC), Gama Aviation has chosen to build on its Middle East presence at Sharjah (SHJ), its United Arab Emirates home for the past 11 years.
The UK company’s new flagship, 80,000sq m (861,000sq ft) site – comprising a 12,000sq m hangar as well as passenger and crew facilities and an extensive dedicated ramp – is due to open early next year.
It will replace a modest fixed-base operation (FBO) in a building Farnborough-headquartered Gama shares with Sharjah’s aviation department as well as rented hangarage around the airport.
Gama’s decision in 2014 to opt for SHJ for its UAE base rather than the nearby Dubai International (DXB) has been vindicated by the subsequent decision by the Dubai authorities to consolidate business aviation activities at DWC and away from the slot-constrained DXB, says Tom Murphy, managing director, FBO services.
“We could have been one of six or seven FBOs at DWC or we could prove a concept here, and that’s what we decided to do,” says Murphy, who is based in Sharjah and overseeing the two-year project from his office in a portable cabin next to the construction site.
Sharjah effectively forms a single coastal conurbation with Dubai and the next-door emirate of Ajman, and Gama has long extolled the airport’s location as being closer than DWC to many of the hotels, residences and offices used by business jet passengers.
SHJ, just east of the city of Sharjah, is 30min drive from DXB and close to the E311 and E611 arteries that connect much of the UAE. Murphy says Gama has spent much of the past decade “dispelling the hard-to-access perception” of the airport, which operates 24h with no slot restrictions.
Just as low-cost carrier Air Arabia is the only significant base operator at SHJ, Gama has long been its only business aviation tenant, and Murphy says the emirate’s government has strongly backed the project, the privately owned company’s biggest ever investment.
The site includes a twin, 25m-high hangar with 14.5m doors, and a 36,000sq m apron with dedicated fuel services and access to the runway in 90 seconds, says Murphy, who claims it will be “the most efficient FBO in the region in terms of taxi time and slot availability”.
The adjoining two-storey VIP terminal building will come with private lounges and a first-floor observation bar. Crew facilities will include rest suites, briefing rooms, and 24h dining. Gama’s regional office will also be there.
So far, Gama – which has a maintenance, repair, and overhaul business in the UK – is offering only hangarage and light maintenance at Sharjah. However, heavier MRO activities are possible in the future, says Murphy.
