Empire Aviation Group appoints Paras Dhamecha as Chief Executive Officer

US-educated Paras Dhamecha brings a wealth of international aviation business experience to his new role. He is a qualified jet pilot with active flight duty experience with US operators and was the co-founder and CEO of Dubai-based Elite Jets, established in 2004, prior to taking up his new position with Empire Aviation Group.

Speaking about his new role, Paras Dhamecha says: "Empire Aviation Group represents an exciting milestone in the development of private aviation in the Middle East and will respond to the growing demands of the rapidly developing regional market for comprehensive general aviation services, including aircraft sales, finance, insurance, charter, management and maintenance. We are already very active in aircraft sales, through our relationship with Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, with whom we will share a chalet at the Dubai International Show. We are ready to begin the aircraft management and charter service operations, as soon as the Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) is granted. Our AOC is currently being processed and a number of aircraft owners and charter customers have already committed their business to us."

The regional aviation market represents an enormous opportunity as it rapidly matures, and we believe that Empire Aviation Group is very well positioned to support this development through our aircraft sales activity, as well as the broader aviation services offered by the group."

Empire Aviation Group, which operates from a dedicated facility at the Dubai Airport Free Zone, has already been appointed by Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, the world's leading business, special mission and training aircraft manufacturer, as the distributor of the GCC region. The distributor agreement was signed at the Paris Air Show 2007, by H.E. Sheikh Tariq Bin Faisal Al Qassimi, Chairman of Empire Aviation Group and Chairman of Emirates Investment Group. Under the new agreement, Empire Aviation Group will be responsible for Hawker Beechcraft aircraft sales and support through its Empire Aircraft Sales subsidiary, in the GCC. The agreement forms an exclusive distribution relationship between the two companies in a number of key countries, including the UAE.