Local government head Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Noaimi will utilise the Aerion supersonic business jet (SBJ) to maximise business efficiency. "For me, speed confers great advantages. It will simply speed up the pace of business activities, and allow me to take key business associates to more places, discussing more opportunities," Sheikh Rashid says.

The head of the planning department and the municipality of Ajman, one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE federation, is focused on getting the maximum out of the business day. Aerion has appointed ExecuJet Middle East (EJME) as its international sales agent outside the Americas. "We are now offering 40 early delivery positions to customers for a per-aircraft launch price of US$80 million in 2007 dollars," says Niall Olver, ceo ExecuJet Aviation Group. The positions will be secured by refundable deposits of $250,000.

The Aerion supersonic business jet was publicly unveiled in October 2004. "Market demand has driven our decision to begin accepting deposits," says Aerion's Brian Barents. EJME is adding four more charter aircraft to its current 14-strong managed fleet over the next four months. A Challenger 850 will join in December, followed by two Learjet 60XRs in January and February 2008, together with a Challenger 605 - all to be based in Dubai.

The new additions complement a further four new aircraft that EJME has secured under new management contracts. These aircraft will enter service over the next eight months, bolstering the total ExecuJet Middle East fleet to 22 aircraft. In the region, ExecuJet currently manages one Learjet 40; one Learjet 60; six Challenger 604s; one Challenger 300, three Global Expresses, one G550 and one Citation III. Of these, the Learjet 60, Challenger 300, one Challenger 604 and the Citation III are available for third party charter.