TAG Aviation’s Geneva division is now offering a Global Express to charter customers, making it the first in the company’s European fleet. The aircraft was bought by Mr Ojjeh (the owner of TAG Aviation) for his family’s own use, but of course he wants it on the commercial AOC, so that others can use it when the Ojjehs are not flying,” explained charter sales director Abner Tato.

The interior has been completely customised to Ojjeh’s wishes, “Carbon fibre has been used to give the aircraft a high tech look inside and obviously it makes the aircraft lighter. It can seat 14 people and

in my opinion, compared with others on the market, it’s one of the best equipped I’ve seen. The Global Express has a large, aerodynamically-efficient wing and powerful, low-consumption Rolls-Royce-BMW engines, enabling the aircraft to cruise at speeds of up to Mach 0.85, high above the weather and commercial flight levels. It also means we can fly to distant destinations which were previously only accessible with a refuelling stop,” said Tato.

TAG has close ties with Bombardier, being the company’s representatives in the Middle East, and this figured heavily in the choice of aircraft. "It was not really an investment, although on the charter side it marks an important addition to the fleet. There haven’t been too many enquiries for it yet, which I think is partly due to seasonal fluctuations and also the general economy. But these have hit the whole market,” he said.

The company is now hoping to attract new customers. “We are aiming to cater for clients who previously went elsewhere looking for this aircraft. But obviously it has a select usership. It’s important that

we have the latest model of aircraft like the Global or Falcon 900EX, because this is what people want today. Clients are definitely prepared to spend a little more for a newer aircraft and our strategy has always been to have the latest and most up-to-date aircraft.

“At the moment it is the smaller aircraft which are performing best on the market, although demand for longer-range aircraft will return. I think over the next four months of the year we'll see a rise in chartering after the slowdown that’s occurred over July and August,” said Tato.

Once out of maintenance, TAG believes that the Global will generally be making transatlantic flights along with trips over to Asia. “The Global Express’ 12,000 kilometre range means it can fly from practically anywhere to anywhere on the planet, in one comfortable hop. We can fly from New York to New Delhi, Moscow to Manila, Riyadh to Rio, Stockholm to Singapore or Sydney to Tokyo, non-stop. And not just to the major airports - the short-field performance and low speed handling qualities of the Global enable access to thousands more smaller airfields,” he added.