Saudi Arabia plans to set up aviation club

Plans for the club were unveiled today, at the Middle East Business Aviation (MEBA) exhibition running until tomorrow night at the Airport Expo Dubai, by HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who will be the club's Director General.

"There are currently 1,700 Saudi nationals training as pilots in Jordan so we can anticipate high demand for an initiative within the Kingdom," he said.

Touring MEBA's static park, which features 30 aircraft, Prince Sultan spoke of increasing demand within Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf for private jet services.

"Business aviation has become a need both regionally and internationally because of increased global trade, commerce and tourism activities," said Prince Sultan.

"It is also due to the fact that passengers and clients have recently experienced a dip in the services offered by commercial airline companies, internationally. There have also been some complications in the procedures of booking flights. In addition to that, Saudi businessmen are extremely active and need private jets to be even more effective at what they do. Some Saudi businessmen start their day flying to Kuwait at 0800 hrs in their private jets then fly back to different cities within the country to follow up on their business. Another factor is that KSA is a big country and traveling from the north to the south is much more time efficient in a private aircraft."

Speaking at MEBA, Ali Al Naqbi, Chairman of the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA), said that Saudi Arabia is the Gulf's biggest business aviation market representing 50% of the regional fleet which is now in excess of 300 aircraft.

MEBA is a two-day conference and exhibition with 90 exhibitors from 20 countries. It is organized by Fairs & Exhibitions (F&E) on behalf of MEBAA.