MEBA10: High fives all round for Jet Aviation

Right: Philippe Gerard and Michael Rucker give high fives as Jet Aviation celebrates its fifth anniversary in Dubai.

“We welcomed more than 1,000 passengers. The recession is over,” said general manager Michael Rucker.

The General Dynamics subsidiary has bucked the trend of luxury lounges at its base at Dubai International Airport (across the runway from the MEBA site).

“VIPs don’t want to sit and drink coffee while they wait for their aircraft,” said FBO director Philippe Gerard. “They just want to get on board and get away.”

The Jet Aviation team has customs and immigration on site 24-hours a day and, as a result, can move their VIPs from aircraft to limo in less than five minutes – and the same in reverse.

The maintenance side of the business is also doing well with Jet Aviation now certificated for Dassault 7X to complete the Dassault fleet as well as Gulfstream, Hawker and Embraer products and Boeing’s BBJ

“We have support from the OEMs who realise the Middle East is a growing and demanding market. We are on the front line for their products and carry out an after-sales role for them. We maintain a parts service on their behalf to ensure we get customers moving.”

Rucker says there has been a huge growth in the last year. “It happened almost immediately after the Dubai Airshow,” he said. “Since then our hangars have been constantly full.”

Jet Aviation Dubai’s maintenance and FBO location was established in 2005. It has a total of 4,200sqm (45,192sqft) of hangar space, a workshop area of 1,000sqm (10,760sqft), and a two-storey FBO building with an area of 1,050sqm (11,300sqft). The facility holds an EASA part 145 maintenance approval and is a FAA repair station. It also holds Bermuda DCA, Cayman CAA, Jordan CARC, Pakistan CAA, Saudi Arabia PCA and UAE GCAA approvals.