Air Partner is opening an office in the Middle East, its first outside of Europe and North America, on June 1.

Located in the Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZ), a new business development alongside the runway, the move into the United Arab Emirates is seen as a strategic stepping-stone in the company’s bid for a global network of offices.

With group sales of $130 million in its last financial year, Air Partner chose to base its fourth office in Dubai because of the country’s prominent location, and what it refers to as phenomenal economic growth rate and worldwide business prominence.

It was also felt that having a Gulf-based office was a necessary development in view of the rapid and continuing growth of the company’s emergency planning division.

Air Partner Dubai will be headed by Roula Rabbat, a Lebanese aviation expert who has lived in the UAE for seven years.

Latterly sales and commercial manager for Global Jet, an executive jet operator in Sharjah, she started in business as an accountant for a Beirut-based transport company before joining Emirates.

Here she was one of two cabin attendants selected from 200 to join the Royal Air Wing, the personal flight of the Ruler of Dubai.

“Dubai, often hailed as the Hong Kong of the Middle East, has long been identified as an ideal Air Partner location,” said group managing director David Savile. “Having an office in the region means that we are are now in an ideal position to offer an enhanced service in the local market to existing clients but also to develop new business in the Gulf and in other geographic locations around the world.

“In today’s politically volatile climate, it is also very relevant that we should have a Middle East office to support our specialist evacuation planning division.”

In addition to its London Gatwick headquarters, Air Partner plc already has offices in locations such as London City, New York, Fort Lauderdale, Cologne, Frankfurt, Vienna, Zurich and Paris.