Holiday period boosts demand for private aviation services in Middle East

Increasingly, high value travellers in the Middle East are electing to fly with private jets such as the ones operated by ExecuJet during the holiday periods because it maximizes scarce leisure time, provides them with a wider number of destinations, avoids the timetable restriction of scheduled flights, and enables them to travel with high-levels of security in a private environment.

"Because people in the Middle East are used to waiting for holidays such as Eid to be formally declared before arranging their breaks, there is a tendency for booking flights at the last moment," said Horm Irani, Managing Director, ExecuJet Middle East.

"Rushing to book flights with a commercial airline at short notice means customers face premium prices or even worse, no available seats. Private aviation takes the hassle out of travelling because customers are always assured of flight availability. It is the convenience, flexibility, security and privacy that private aviation services delivers that is driving the growth of the industry in the Middle East," said Irani.

The rise in demand for private leisure aviation services has grown in correlation with the increasing trend in the market for executives to travel on private business jets. The market for small and medium-sized business jets in the Middle East is expanding at a rapid pace, driven largely by corporate customers.

"Executives in the Middle East, who have contributed to the more than 20 percent market growth in recent months, enjoy the greater security and flexibility they are provided with by flying privately. What we are witnessing now is an emerging trend for our corporate customers to fly privately, with their families, on their holidays."

Destinations including Egypt, Lebanon, Thailand and the Maldives are proving popular with ExecuJet customers for the upcoming Eid holidays. Cool weather in Europe at this time of year is contributing to travellers staying either in the region or heading towards the Far East for their holidays.

"With the Eid holidays lasting anywhere between five and 10 days people prefer to travel to destinations that are not too far away from their home country. Limiting flying time to a maximum of up to six hours means travellers can enjoy an optimum amount of time away, relaxing in a warm environment," said Irani. "This year, we are experiencing strong demand for Sharm El Sheikh, which is three hours away from Dubai, the Maldives, five hours, and Thailand, which is six hours."

The additional advantage of flying privately for holidays is that travellers can choose to arrive at smaller airports than those serviced by commercial airlines. "Being able to land at and depart from less frequented airports means that our travellers do not have to contend with high levels of traffic at customs," Irani concluded.

ExecuJet Middle East is the first independent business aviation service provider to have received an air operators' certificate from the UAE civil aviation authority. It provides a total set of aviation services associated with the sale, operation, management, charter and support of modern high-technology business jets in the Middle East.