ExecuJet's plans to relocate its entire FBO and MRO operations to a single facility located at Dubai South's Al Maktoum International airport (DWC) are continuing. The new facility's design has been agreed and will be going out to tender in early 2019 with an estimated date for completion set for early 2020.

Mike Berry, EVP aviation services and VP Middle East, Luxaviation Group, says: “We began operating in Dubai in 1999 and opened a shared, single lounge FBO facility in 2007 with a team of just four ExecuJet employees. We have come an exceptionally long way in that time and our proposed expansion reflects the ambitious nature of everybody associated with the business. We look forward to welcoming customers to our new facility when it opens its doors in 2020.

“The Middle Eastern business aviation market has been slow for the past two years. However, we are expecting to see improvements in 2019, especially in the latter half of the year, as issues with aircraft grounded during the Saudi anti-corruption cleanout and the Qatari political embargo should get ironed out and resolved," he adds.

“As a result of the widespread economic upturn, we are also expecting to see boosts in tourist traffic across the region over the coming months. This is an area that used to attract a lot of activity, from Russia in particular, but has dipped significantly in recent years. We are looking forward to handling more tourist and business aviation activity as we slowly get back up to pre-recession figures."

ExecuJet's Middle East MRO team has also undergone considerable growth with the graduation of nine engineers from its internship programme in November 2018. The graduates gained multiple OEM aircraft experience while working alongside multinational mentors and colleagues at ExecuJet.

ExecuJet training manager John Crook says: “The industry-wide shortage of qualified aviation professionals has a real impact on the availability of top engineers for aircraft maintenance. The only way to tackle this is to invest heavily in skills development. ExecuJet Middle East is dedicated to providing the next generation of highly skilled engineers and, thanks to the ongoing success of our internship programme, we are already seeing our MRO capabilities expand significantly.”