Battle of brands: Middle Eastern business aviation

A business aviation village is emerging along the eastern perimeter of the construction site that is Dubai's international airport. Swiss business aviation services company Jet Aviation was the first to open its fixed-base operation, workshop and maintenance hangar on the Dubai Airport Free Zone 18 months ago. Six months later it was joined by Swiss rival ExecuJet which, along with its partner Bombardier, has moved into a similarly sized facility nearby. Between them is an even bigger unit - the airport's own new Executive Flight Services terminal - and another plot, where Gulf Jet intends to open offices and a Cessna maintenance operation later this year.
The bustle is testament to Dubai's status as the hub of the fastest-growing region for business aviation, the Middle East. The emirate's thriving economy - based on tourism, trade and real estate - its open regulatory environment, and its location, almost equidistant from the Maldives, Moscow, Mumbai and Munich, has attracted an influx of business aircraft.
With Indian entrepreneurs also big investors in the Gulf, the subcontinent is another common destination for Elite's pilots, says Dhamecha, an ex-pilot and native of Dubai who earned his spurs in business aviation working in New York for several years. Much of the company's contracts, he says, come from referrals by international brokers.
23/01/07 Murdo Morrison/Flight International

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