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Headlines - March-
April 2003
Jeddah_____________________
Andreas
Pluss named V.P. & General Manager of Jet Aviation in
Saudi Arabia
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Jet
Aviation recently appointed Andreas Pluss as vice president
and general manager of Jet Aviation Saudi Arabia, in
Jeddah, effective January 1, 2003. Pluss has over 21
years of experience in the aviation industry in a variety
of managerial positions.
In his new role, Pluss will oversee all fixed base operations
(FBO) and line maintenance services offered by Jet Aviation
Saudi Arabia in Jeddah and Riyadh and will be responsible
for customer support and customer development. “My focus
will be to maintain and increase Jet Aviation’s market
share in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to further
develop our full range of services, especially with
private aircraft handling,” said Pluss.Andreas Pluss
will succeed Norbert Ehrich, who moves to Jet’s Florida
office to assist in the management and growth of Jet
Aviation’s U.S. maintenance division.
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Andreas
Pluess
Vice President/General Manager
Jet Aviation Saudi Arabia
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Jet Aviation’s facilities in Jeddah and Riyadh, were established
in 1979 and 1983 respectively. Both facilities offer aircraft
handling (FBO), executive charter, line maintenance and aircraft-on-ground
(AOG) services to private, business and military operators.
The two locations each hold Saudi Arabian PCA licenses. In
Pro Pilot’s 2002 PRASE (Preference Regarding Aviation Services
and Equipment) survey, Jet Aviation Jeddah was voted the Best
FBO in the Middle East.
Further, Jet Aviation has announced that it is now offering
reduced charter rates on its Private Fleet Challenger 601
and its charter aircraft the Falcon 50 aircraft. These jets
offer seating for ten passengers and a range of close to 5,800
km.
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| Dubai
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EMIRATES
SKYCARGO rushes steel beams to Vietnam
Emirates SkyCargo
has successfully chartered the first Boeing 747-200 freighter
from Dubai to Ho Chi Minh City. The flight ensured that steel
beams for a construction project in Vietnam arrived safely
and on time. The shipment was heavy, outsized and urgently
needed. Emirates SkyCargo dispatched it within one week of
receiving the initial request.
The load comprised 12 steel beams, each over six metres in
length, weighing a total of 80 tonnes, which were needed for
a power project at Phu My in Vietnam. Hiran Perera, Emirates’
Cargo Planning and Capacity Development Manager, said: “The
challenge came not only in meeting the deadlines but in loading
the steel beams. They were on pallets six metres in length.
Extra lashing was required to ensure the shipment travelled
securely.”
The request for a charter originated with leading freight
forwarder ADSO Dubai who booked this charter on behalf of
their principal Hansa Meyer Transport GmbH + Co, Bremen, Germany
with whom they have been working for the last decade. The
request to Emirates SkyCargo came from International Air Services,
a company specialising charter brokering. A spokesman for
ADSO said: “Dubai’s strong position as the leading air cargo
hub in the Middle East helped ADSO in securing the charter.”
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| Larnaca
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Eurocypria
Airlines’ First Boeing Airplane Makes Its Debut
Eurocypria
Airlines, the first charter carrier in Larnaca, Republic of
Cyprus, has begun operating for the first time the Boeing
Next-Generation 737-800 leased from International Lease Finance
Corporation (ILFC). It will also be the first 737 with winglets
to operate out of the Republic of Cyprus.
Eurocypria, a wholly owned subsidiary of national carrier
Cyprus Airways, is taking delivery of three additional 737-800s
from ILFC to replace the Airbus A320s in its fleet. The four
189-seat airplanes, equipped with performance enhancing winglets,
will all be delivered in 2003.
“When
we decided to renew our fleet, we looked for an airplane with
excellent performance and economics,” said George Souroullas,
Eurocypria general manager. “We chose the 737-800 because
of its superior capacity, range, and overall economic value
in our network.”
Souroullas said Eurocypria works with tour operators throughout
Europe to transport charter passengers from the United Kingdom,
Germany, Sweden, and other European countries to destinations
in Cyprus. The airline also provides scheduled service between
Cyprus and the Greek islands.
The 737-800’s winglets, which curve out and up from the wingtips,
boost performance, allowing the airplane to fly up to 130
nautical miles (240 kilometers) farther than it otherwise
would.
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| Dubai
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APA
Air Systems FZC to provide new service in the region
Predicts growth in ‘Charter Feeders’
APA Air Systems FZC first started operations in the UK as
a freight forwarding company in 1982 as a private enterprise
and gradually shifted into the air chartering business as
charter movements started getting bigger and ‘Charter Awareness’
grew. As movements into Africa, and M.E. increased, APA entered
the M.E. market as a charter broker and set up a regional
office in the UAE.
The company has now introduced a service, which is fairly
new to the UAE. “In addition to our other aviation services
we are now undertaking registration service for aircrafts.
We can get them registered with the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO) and get their legal identity code. In
fact we can even provide customers a complete package including
registration, maintenance and insurance brokerage from right
here in the UAE and they no longer have to go to Europe to
obtain this service,” states Pervez Ansari, General Manager,
APA Air Systems FZC.
Charter awareness started in the M.E. region in the 1990’s.
After the split of USSR, there was a sudden influx in the
availability of Russian aircrafts for chartering and that
is when a number of players with aviation industry experience
got into charter brokerage. The charter business is however
not just about giving the cheapest deal to a customer or moving
cargo from point A to B. As chartering helps provides an alternative
to transport cargo or passengers with special requirements
or need for certain destinations or schedules a lot of minute
details need to be taken care of ranging from obtaining landing
and over flight permissions to fueling comments Ansari who
has over 25 years of Aviation Industry experience.
As the UAE is a transit point there is a lot of potential
through this region for cargo charters. As traders look at
new markets to transport their goods and new transport alternatives
to regular scheduled flights, charters as an alternative especially
to underserved destinations will grow in a big way.
“Another trend I see emerging is the ‘charter feeder service’.
For example goods from various GCC countries would come here
on chartered freighters carrying say 10-15 tons of cargo to
be transshipment through the Dubai hub,” adds Ansari.
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| Doha
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Qatar
Airways to operate Corporate Jetliner
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al-Baker, has
announced that the airline is going to operate an Airbus Corporate
Jetliner (ACJ) configured for A319 Long Range operations.
It is scheduled to enter service in mid 2003 and will be named
“Oryx Long Range”. Qatar’s first ACJ is in operation with
the airline since mid 2001, carrying the name “Oryx Express”.
While
the “Oryx Express” is configured to accommodate 36 passengers,
the “Oryx Long Range” will feature a two-class cabin layout
for up to 110 passengers. Both aircraft will be part of Qatar’s
all-Airbus fleet, flying on a network that includes destinations
in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent
and Asia.
As addition to the airliner passenger cabin, an Air Medical
Unit can be fitted in approximately one hour in place of two
seats and stowage. The Unit has a self-contained stretcher,
oxygen supply and provisions for electricity supply. This
allows the installation of a FAA certified SERAI EVASAN International
Air Medical Unit with a heart monitor, defibrillator and ventilator
for carrying passengers in need of medical attention.
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| Dubai
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Aero
Business Charter opens new office in DAFZA
Foresees major growth in Cargo Charters
to Africa
Aero
Business Charter (ABC), a single window air travel service
solution provider with special emphasis on air charters and
leases in the Middle East, Africa, CIS, Europe, Far East and
the sub continent has opened a new office in Dubai in addition
to their Sharjah headquarters. With two offices in the aviation
hub of the Middle East-UAE, the company hopes to provide better
customer service to clients.
Speaking about their strengths, Phillip Koshy, Manager Director
states, “We are entirely customer driven and pride ourselves
on the personalized attention provided to every potential
client. Our client list includes leading airlines, tour operators,
freight forwarders, multinationals, NGO’s, and relief organizations.
I would say that our main strength lies in our pricing strategy,
what we call reverse engineering. We work backwards by doing
the entire costing in-house and then leveraging with the aircraft
suppliers.”
ABC specialises in cargo charters and according to Koshy,
cargo charters to Africa are on the rise. “Typically cargo
charters take place to destinations that are less served by
scheduled airlines. On the cargo side, Africa still has capacity
constraints and that is why we see this trend. Main markets
are Kenya, Sudan, Chad and the market is just going to grow.
Traders come to Dubai to shop to take back goods to sell in
their country, which are huge volumes and the best transport
solution for them is a charter,” he states.
ABC is the official charter broker for Nigerian airways and
flies a cargo charter flight to Lagos, Nigeria once a week
from Dubai, mainly using the B707, 40 tonner aircraft or the
IL-76. The company has successfully been managing all their
cargo charter flights for the past two years.
Aero Business Charter’s activities also include a complete
range of aviation related services such as arranging permits,
fuelling, ground handling, flight plans, as well as management
services for starting or restructuring an airline.
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| Sharjah
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United
Aviation Services starts regional operations from Sharjah
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Mohammed
Husary
V.P. & Director, Business Development,
United Aviation Services
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Damascus
headquartered United Aviation Services (UAS) has added
the UAE to its list of worldwide representative offices
by setting up operations at the Sharjah Airport International
Free Zone. Its other regional offices are strategically
based in Hong Kong, Algeria and the United Kingdom.
“Since we already have successful operations from our
headquarters in Syria and various other offices we felt
that it was the right time to further tap the Middle
East market. Particularly with respect to cargo there
are a lot of charters flights going into Africa and
Europe from here as UAE is the hub for major cargo forwarders
and it thus seemed logical
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for us to set up a base here too. It also helps us come closer
to our existing customers in this region, to service them
better. We have definite expansion plans and hope to
develop this office into our second headquarters,” states
Mohammed Husary, V.P. & Director, Business Development,
United Aviation Services. UAS provides worldwide aviation
services such as charter and leasing brokerage, over flight
and landing clearances, credit fuelling, and ground handling
services anywhere in the world. With the backing of its huge
database, UAS at all times is able to find a suitable solution
for chartering needs be it passenger, VIP or cargo according
to a client’s budget needs. It also has its own fuel department,
which ensures fuel supply on credit basis at all stations
around the world with the best prices possible, due to their
existing contracts with local suppliers around the world.
Speaking on the air charter scenario in the region Mohammed
adds, “The political and economic situation of a region is
the main factor that influences the growth of the air charter
business. Private jet chartering by VIPs has increased a lot
and so have cargo charters from the Middle East. We have studied
the market trends closely and we see a lot of potential. Hence
we also plan to invest in our own Executive jets and Freighter
aircrafts in the near future.”
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| Dubai
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EXECUJET
M.E Announces appointment of new M.D.
Effective
2003, Horm Irani has taken over the position of Managing Director
of ExecuJet Middle East. Horm joined ExecuJet Middle East
in 2002 as the Sales/Deputy Managing Director, bringing 18
years of aerospace industry experience to the company.
Previously based in Toronto, Horm was employed with Goodrich
Aerospace as a Regional Sales Manager growing the
turbo-machinery products
business with engine manufacturers such as Pratt & Whitney.
This was preceded by a seven-year career with Bombardier Aerospace
Regional Aircraft selling and supporting deHavilland Dash
8 and Canadair Regional Jet aircraft to a territory which
included parts of Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Horm’s appointment comes as a result of the move by previous
incumbent, Denzil White, to ExecuJet Aviation Group, where
he takes up the position of Group Director Flight Operations.
Denzil will continue to be based in Dubai but will travel
to Copenhagen, Sydney, Zurich and Johannesburg in order to
carry out his Group responsibilities.
ExecuJet Middle East was established in 1999 and is based
at Dubai International Airport.The company provides a complete
set of aviation services associated with the sale, operation,
management, charter and support of modern high-technology
business jets. It has a Learjet 60 mid-size business jet and
Challenger 604 wide-body business jet currently available
for charter in the Middle East.
In recognition of its highly professional aviation service
standards and products, ExecuJet Middle East is the sole independent
business aviation service provider to have received an air
operators’ certificate from the UAE civil aviation authority.
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