Falcon steps up executive activity

The Abu Dhabi-based company aims to bring in 12 aircraft in Q1 2025, and 50 by the end of the year.

Speaking during the BizAv Talks conference sessions at MEBAA, CEO Ramandeep Oberoi said that the incomers would be a mix of owned and managed aircraft.

He said there had been a jump in demand for private jets since the pandemic, when people sought safer ways of travel than flying by commercial airliner. They had then become accustomed to that mode of transport, which had resulted in continuing higher demand.

Additionally, he said, if an extended Arab family of, say, 10 people wanted to travel together, hiring a business jet was less expensive than paying for 10 first-class tickets on an airliner.

Oberoi said that, traditionally, the UAE aviation regulator, the GCAA, had been an airline-oriented organisation, “but now things have changed”. He pointed to the tiny European nation of San Marino, which had developed a registry of more than 500 aircraft, the vast majority of them executive aircraft.

“We’ve asked the GCAA to become more business aviation-oriented and they are very much interested.”