Mustang takes the lead in the Open Sky stable

The aircraft was the Cessna Mustang and the Lebanese operator became the first in the MENA region to order and take delivery of the entry-level jet.

“Our plan was to lure business and first class passengers into private jet aviation,” said Open Sky director Haytham Azhari. “Of course this was before the global economic crisis, which hit just as we took delivery.

“The Middle East wasn’t affected as badly as Europe or America but there was one big difference that we saw in Lebanon – European operators were not able to fly the hours they wanted to in Europe and so they came here.

“Of course, there is nothing wrong with that, it is just competition. But it has just made the market a lot softer in terms of prices.”

Like many others in the Lebanese business aviation community, Open Skies put ambitious growth plans on hold in order to see if the business plans of the last decade would work for the next.

“What we saw in the downturn was people who are used to flying private aircraft coming down in size to fly with us in the Mustang and save on cost. That has changed our requirements and we may need to look at something that’s a little longer legged,” said Azhari.

“We were ordering more Mustangs but have put a hold on that to see which way the market goes. If it picks up and we see people moving from the airlines to private jets, we will get two or three more Mustangs; if we see people coming from larger jets then we will get something just a bit bigger.”

Cessna will be high on the shopping list for Azhari.

“We are comfortable with them. They have immaculate customer service and we have a beautiful relationship with Patrice Magot at Cessna in France, from where we bought the Mustang,  and great rapport with Saad Wallan in Saudi. Cessna has a good history and the people are good about being there when you need them.”

Open Skies Aviation was the brainchild of Azhari and a group of friends and family who shared the same passion for aviation

“We were a bunch of guys who love aviation – pilots , instructors and so on,” said Azhari. “I was doing consultancy helping people buy aircraft in Lebanon and saw there was a niche. The group of us decided to invest and set this up.”

Open Sky started in December 2003 alongside the country’s liberalisation and is now based in the purpose-built GA terminal at Rafik Hariri Airport.

“We knew what we wanted to do, but equally knew we would have to wait before a very light jet would come to market. It was 2007 before the first Mustang was certified. So we had the company and procedures in place but not the tools,” explained Azhari.

He and the team spent a couple of years working on certification for an AOC. “We bought a Cessna 206 and got an air taxi operator’s certificate, which works for nine passengers or less with non-turbine engines. We got a Commuter AOC for ten to 19 passengers for a turbine engine aircraft, which we needed to operate the Mustang in 2009.

“Lebanon is unique in that you have to have an AOC to run any aircraft here, even for personal aircraft. The CAA needs people to be diligent on maintenance and operating the aircraft. It’s a system that works.”

Open Sky has been operating its Mustang for just over two years and Azhari is pleased with the results.

“We took delivery at the end of September 2008 and so far, so good. First year we flew 550 hours, which when you know many trips are one or two hours, is quite a lot. We flew around 500 hours in the second year.

“The airlines have stepped up to fly more frequently on some of the routes we were serving, like Cairo, for example. There used to be one flight a day but now EgyptAir and MEA fly twice daily.

“But we still save time for people who don’t want to waste four hours a day at the airport going through security. And, of course, we fly when people need to go.”

Open Sky is still operating the Cessna 206. “We use it for aerial photography, sightseeing trips and so on. It is very popular. A lot of the scenes you see in the tourism books are taken from our aircraft. We are also seeing more people using the Mustang for high-end tourism around the region. The future is good.”