Qatar is making good progress towards becoming an important Arab Gulf centre for private charter with Rizon moving its regional headquarters to Doha and Dubai's Royal Jet reporting a steady stream of bookings from the country. "We are reducing the size of our Bahrain and Sharjah offices to consolidate our back office and administrative functions in our new headquarters in Qatar," explains Rizon Group ceo Will Curtis.

Many of Rizon's staff in its Bahrain and Sharjah offices are relocating to Doha. Curtis says: "The move will enable us to reduce our costs by 15% to 20%, while simultaneously improving our administrative efficiency to cope with our growing business. Rizon's offices in Bahrain and Sharjah will remain open for sales and marketing activities, but the centralisation in Doha will enable us to improve accessibility to the services we offer to our clients."

Rizon is constructing a new 120,000 sq ft hangar and FBO at Doha international airport, due to open in March 2010. The building is modular so that it can be dismantled and moved to the new Doha international airport when it opens early in the next decade (EBAN July 2009).

At London Biggin Hill, Rizon is nearing completion of a second 120,000 sq ft maintenance and FBO facility (see this month's UK Regional Review) which is on course for completion in late September 2009. Rizon reports a pronounced upswing in its volumes of charter business in the Arab Gulf states over the past two months owing to an increase in market share and the recent service entry of its Qatar-based Challenger 605.

Rizon was recently granted its Air Operating Permit (AOP) from the Qatar civil aviation authority, becoming the first Doha-based private jet company to receive approval for dedicated business jet operations from Qatar.

Meanwhile Royal Jet, the Abu Dhabi-based company chaired by HE Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, reports a 15% rise in bookings compared to the same period last year.

President and ceo Shane O'Hare says: "We are finding that there is a trend for our guests to make their bookings much later than they used to, often leaving this to within two to four days of when they wish to travel. But we are finding that within the Gulf Cooperation Council region there is strong demand."

He reports a steady stream of bookings from Qatar and from Saudi Arabia "where our recent alliance with ARABASCO has led to a surge of interest from the Kingdom."

O'Hare adds: "In part, this is also down to our new pricing policy that we introduced a few months ago within the Gulf region. The previous way we calculated our prices was based on where the actual aircraft originated from, whereas now we price the charter from where the guests commence their flight. This has led to dramatic reductions in charter rates - sometimes by as much as 20%."

He also confirmed a good response to Royal Jet's own charter brokerage service, launched in Dubai six months ago. "We have been very happy with the initial level of bookings being generated through our own brokerage, which provides complete tailor-made travel solutions.

"There is especially strong demand for flights into and out of Europe; but with the brokerage being a global service, we can find the right aircraft at the best price for any request for any journey. No matter what the request, we are now able to guarantee availability even if our own aircraft are fully booked, since through our brokerage we can make alternative travel arrangements, sourcing aircraft from other quality operators for our guests. But at no time do we compromise on our own very high standards of safety, security and service."