Dubai's Gulf Jet plans to expand its charter fleet to ten as demand for private air charter soars in the Arab Gulf region.

Executive manager Faris Deeb says the Gulf Jet fleet in 2007 will include two Challenger 604s, a Hawker 800XP, Cessna Sovereigns and Cessna Citation XLSs. The expansion programme is tailored to customer feedback and demand.

Gulf Jet, already operating one Challenger 604, is finalising details ready to take delivery of a second in the United States in September and put it into operation in October.

At the same time it is bringing a newly-delivered Sovereign into commercial service. Gulf Jet md Yousef Al-Ghareeb says the Sovereign offers exceptional value with the largest cabin in its class, superior performance and economy.

The Sovereign is in demand already because of its range and payload - a capacity to accommodate up to nine passengers and range of more than 2,850 n.m. "The Sovereign has been rated as a high performance jet best suited for regional, short sector, or multi-stop itineraries," he adds. "We were particularly impressed with the Cessna aircraft's capability in high-temperature operations, thanks in large part to the performance of the Pratt & Whitney Canada engines."

Deeb says: "Purchasing the Sovereign is just the first step in translating an ambitious plan of continuous expansion into reality."

The Sovereign is earmarked for shorter excursions within the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council region, the broader Middle East, Europe, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The AGCC consists of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates which includes Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar.

"The Sovereign's ability to take off and land in shorter runways gives it greater access to smaller airports worldwide," Deeb says.

The next phase of Gulf Jet's expansion plan has started already with confirmed orders for three Citation XLS to be delivered in January, March and April of 2007.

Deeb says that there is demand in Russia for holiday flights to the Maldives but 81.2 per cent of the

XLS charters came from the business sector. Favoured European destinations included London and Paris.

He adds: "We are operating in a very promising market and we are confident that demand will continue to grow given our emphasis on top quality service, safety and comfort."

Roger Whyte, Cessna senior vp, sales and marketing, confirms: "This order is further confirmation of the growing strength of the business jet market in the Middle East.

The booming economy of the Emirates is tailor-made for the Gulf Jet-UAE operation, and we're certainly excited about our role in developing the charter market there."