Petroff BBJ wins the Customised Aircraft award at Egyptian gala

Dina Tkacheva Development Director of Petroff Air, the winning aircraft operator and management company, said that “winning the award of Best Customized Aircraft Interior is a great achievement and well deserved.”

The winners were presentyed with a diamond-encrusted trophy presented by Happy Design Studio of France.

Tkacheva said that the entire team contributed; “we put our heart and soul and time in”, she said. She referred to partners such as Boeing and Greenpoint Technologies “who changed their life style for us and moved back and forth between Russia and the US to realize this dream.”

Tkacheva also explained that the $85-million customized jet is owned by a Russian businessman who just gave them “the broad outlines of his dream interior design and the whole team worked on putting together the best of everything.”

Held on the sidelines of the AVEX 2010 International Airshow, the Custom Jet Show honoured outstanding achievements and breakthroughs in the categories of Aircraft Interior and Livery Design.

The show brought some of the region ‟ s most advanced, luxurious and aesthetically customized aircraft to Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport displaying small to mid-sized customized aircraft.

The award of “Best Customized Aircraft Interior” recognizes the best of in-flight cabin comforts, entertainment and overall experience. The category awards the aircraft that has it all when it comes to enhancing the cabin experience of passengers.

The Boeing 737-7JF aircraft is a cosy and elegant flying house. A dinning/conference area includes a dining table with folding leaves. There are six single beige and olive colour recliners for the customer ‟ s comfort and a 42-inch LCD monitor; a guest room follows the video and entertainment system. The side-ledge contains a pop-up 20 inch LCD monitor. The master bedroom and lavatory include a queen-size bed and headboard, nightstands, dressers, wardrobes, credenza, closets, another LCD monitor and a shower stall with a transparent hinged door.

As one of the five-member jury-panel put it; “this is what I want to be used to” is what comes to mind when one is onboard this aircraft.

Among other nominees for this category were Airbus A318 Elite, Bell Helicopter's 429, Bombardier ‟ s Challenger 300, Embraer ‟ s Phenom 300 executive jet, and Smart Aviation's air ambulance.

According to Jill Samuelson, managing director of the European Helicopter magazine and one of the jurors, it was not an easy pick. “It was not an easy decision. They all have characteristics that we thought valuable and distinguished but based on the spirit of the Custom Jet Show this was the one that fit.”

Bell Helicopter, a Textron Company grabbed the award for the “Best Customised Livery Design.”

This award recognizes the most outstanding livery design on an aircraft at the Custom Jet Show on the creative and modern use of design elements, colour usage and overall paint scheme.

Among the nominees were Small Planet 's Boeing 737-300, Petroff Air ' s Boeing 737-7JF and Smart Aviation's Cessna Citation Sovereign C-680.

“I think with the livery design category we had a lot of choices; looking at a commercial airline, a helicopter company, an air ambulance. We had to look at what was best fitted to reach the clientele it was aimed at; and I think accordingly the helicopter was a great design that worked very well,” said Richard Maslen, Deputy Editor of Airliner World magazine and another member of the jury-panel.

The awards were offered by the French studio: Happy Design. Each winner received a night blue 1:100 scale model of the Concorde covered with 450 real diamonds.

A French jeweller set the diamonds by hand and gave the trophies a diamond value of 1 carat per trophy. They are arranged in such a way to create a Milky Way livery for each trophy.

Taking a plain vanilla aircraft and personalizing them to cater to their owner ' s or user ' s every whim is an emerging trend in the Middle East and North Africa region ' s private and executive aviation markets .

So high is the demand that the industry has rapidly grown in size and scope and spans a range of sectors, from bespoke interiors and personalized liveries, in-flight entertainment and onboard connectivity, to fully equipped bathrooms and kitchens with the capacity to prepare restaurant quality food in-flight.

The Custom Jet Show and Awards have been envisioned keeping this multi-billion dollar industry in mind.

“The Custom Jet Show is a great opportunity and an excellent mix that covers the entire industry including helicopters, commercial and executive airliners in one place,” said Malson.

“We have uncovered a high degree of enthusiasm from business jet owners and operators who want to showcase their customized aircraft and learn more about what has become an entire industry sector dedicated to refurbishing and customizing aircraft interiors as well as exteriors, said Nicholas Watson, AVEX International Air show director.