Arabic superstar is the fresh face of RayaJet

Lebanese singer Ragheb Alama has become the face of the operator for the coming year.

“Ragheb is truly an Arabic superstar. He is loved all over the region and people both young and old recognize and like him,” said Noor Abu-Mater, the Amman-based operator’s head of marketing.

Alama flew into Amman to launch his Summer Backstage Live Tour ’09 on board RayaJet’s Challenger 601 and told the media how impressed he had been by the excellent service he had received.

For Rayajet, the increased awareness and the perception of being a young, fit company is worth every penny. The company is in the midst of a merger with aviation academy Ayla, and is also investing in fleet development.

Earlier this year RayaJet and Ayla agreed to purchase the first Beechcraft Premier II for the Middle East – a move that RayaJet CEO Nader Dajani says will create new markets for business and leisure travellers across the Levant.

With a range from Amman to Dubai, Dajani says the operating cost of the Hawker Beechcraft entry-level jet is so much less than other aircraft with the impressive cabin size of the Premier, that RayaJet will be able to offer charters at significantly lower costs.

“We already have a lower cost base than Gulf operators,” he said. “Whereas in the USA the Premier is used primarily for business, I think we will see a lot of people wanting to use it for personal and leisure flights in this region.”

Dajani is excited about the proposed merger with Ayla. “We are at the second stage of due diligence. Both sides will see advantages. We see us being involved with more simulators there – at the moment our pilots have to go for recurrence training in the USA – also they have a great maintenance team. It is a win-win situation.”

RayaJet has performed beyond expectations and forecasts for 2009, Dajani reports. But does that make him happy? “One should never be happy in business,” he said. “If everyone is happy no-one does good business.”

Certainly RayaJet has done good business in the three years since Dajani and his business partners decided that they were spending too much money chartering aircraft and thought it would make more sense to create their own charter company.

“My business is cement and shipping,” said Dajani. “Aviation is a lot more exciting. We use about 15 per cent of the availability ourselves and the rest is there for charter.”

The demand is great enough that Dajani sees further expansion beyond the Premier. “We are looking at a new Challenger,” he said.

RayaJet is offering a premium service. “Because we are new we are able to look at doing things differently,” said Abu-Mater. “We are passionate about our business and that goes right the way through the company. It is not about just transport, it is about service. We want people to try us once. When they do we are confident they will come back again. We build relationships and we make sure the service is the highest level.”

Suddenly, marketing assistant Anoud el Khatib takes a call. There is a request for a medical assistance flight. “This is a growing element of our business,” Khatib confirmed. “We are moving people around the world.” Mostly the flights are from Baghdad. “We have carried patients to as far away as Fiji,” she said.

RayaJet has close relationships with medical specialists in Amman who give the go-ahead for the flight after checking the report from doctors on the ground. A doctor and a nurse will accompany the RayaJet crew for the flight.

It takes just two hours to convert RayaJet’s Citation VII or Challenger 601 into an air ambulance; the flight clearances often take longer.

“We are luckier than many,” said Abu-Mater. “We have our own flight planning team at Marka and get clearances quickly.”

Dajani agrees. “Service is better in Jordan than many of the surrounding countries. The main thing is our human resource. The commitment to service makes us stand out.”