Business aviation operators across the Middle East are increasingly prioritising comprehensive risk management, medical support and security planning as activity expands across key markets including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

MedAire, the medical and security response organisation for aviation and maritime, has expanded its footprint beyond Dubai into Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India so that more of its expertise sits closer to the operations it supports. Its Dubai Assistance Centre operates as one of two 24/7 aviation security platforms alongside Phoenix, Arizona, providing business and general aviation operators throughout the region with medical, security and operational risk management worldwide.

“In a medical or security situation, global reach is most valuable when it is joined by local knowledge, established relationships and the ability to move quickly,” says Reely Rajan, director, India, Middle East and Africa, MedAire.

During this year's regional conflict, the Dubai office was evacuated and the operation shifted, but calls were answered, cases continued and specialists remained alongside clients.

“Business aviation is essential to the Middle East's connectivity, especially when routes, schedules and assumptions are changing by the hour,” says Peter Tuggey, managing director, aviation Europe, MEA and APAC, MedAire.

UAE operators DC Aviation Al-Futtaim and Empire Aviation both work with MedAire. DC Aviation Al-Futtaim draws on medical assistance, security intelligence and expert guidance to maintain passenger and crew wellbeing and risk preparedness across international markets, while aircraft sales, management and charter services provider Empire Aviation uses the partnership to support its aircraft owners and passengers.

“Private aviation is a team game and behind every seamless journey is an expert team managing the details that remain largely invisible to the passenger,” says Paul van der Blom, head of aircraft management services, Empire Aviation.

Ali Ahmed Alnaqbi, founding and executive chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Business Aviation Association (MEBAA), describes regional demand as robust, fuelled by strong economic growth, rising private wealth and the continued expansion of key aviation hubs in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This momentum is attracting international operators and brokers seeking to establish or expand a regional presence ahead of MEBAA Show on 8–10 December.

MedAire, an International SOS company, pioneered aviation medical assistance in 1985 with MedLink, the industry's first ground-based telemedicine service for in-flight emergencies, and has since managed more than one million medical and security cases. Its services are standard on aircraft from Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer, Gulfstream, HondaJet and Textron Aviation, and more than 250 airlines and 6,800 business aircraft operators use them.