International flight planning company, Hadid International Services, has set up an office at Gatwick Airport in the UK to support its plans for expansion.

The company was first established 22 years ago when the owner, Baha Hadid, was working as an airport officer at Damascus International Airport, Syria.

He volunteered some free assistance to a private owner, who was so impressed that he asked for Baha Hadid next time he returned to Damascus. Soon, the man told all his friends about this service and the business took off.

EBAN tracked down Hadid International’s vice president Adel Mardini at the company’s Damascus offices. First off, Mardini told us why the company chose Gatwick above the other UK airports.

“We believe Gatwick is the best area because a lot of our clients are located there – like Interflight for example. It is very important for us to be in contact with our clients, face to face, so we set up this UK office.”

While Hadid’s work covers the full range of commercial, cargo and vip aviation, it is from the latter category that it derives most of its work – among its corporate aviation clients are Twinjet Aircraft, TAG UK, International Jet Club and Interflight.

Hadid is certified to obtain overflight and landing permits all over the world, and claims to be particularly strong in Africa. The company also settles navigational charges on behalf of companies it represents along with refuelling and handling their aircraft. Weather forecasts, flight plans and transport arrangements are also available.

In the area of charter, Hadid is an expanding company. Mardini said: “It’s a good aspect of the business for us and we have a lot of clients, particularly in Saudi Arabia. We arrange flights to Africa, Asia and Europe using aircraft such as the Airbus 319, Challenger, GIV and Global Express.

“We have no fleet of our own at the moment but we plan to have our first aircraft within a maximum of two years. We would consider a long-lease charter; it depends very much on what offer we get.”

Running Hadid’s UK office will be aviation veteran Bob Catt. Mardini said of Catt: “We’ve known him

since his Jeppesen days, when we were a handling agent for them. We’ve definitely chosen the right person – he knows everyone and everyone knows him.”

As concerns further expansion into other countries, Mardini said: “We’re already working on a new office at the Frankfurt GAT, which should be up and running by January 2004.”