As a founding member of the African Business Aviation Association (AfBAA), Hadid (Stand 528) has made steady progress on the continent. South Africa and Nigeria still represent the main African countries for bizav; AfBAA data put the number of business jets in South Africa at 172 in 2014, with 80 in Nigeria.
Zuriqi noted the emergence of Ethiopia as a commercial hub for Africa, with Ethiopian Airlines affiliate Asky, founded in 2007, making inroads into West Africa, implying that Addis Ababa had yet to emerge as a center for bizav. “[Ethiopia is] a very good hub. It’s one of the busiest if not the busiest hub in Africa.”
He said Nigeria’s comparative strength in business aviation still meant reasonable movement today. “They are doing okay compared to other countries,” he said. “Lagos is busy and is seeing good movement.”
Another emerging market is Angola; Zuriqi said BestFly has a good quality FBO, and represents an example of a good location. “[Because the quality is so good], we don’t have to have our own staff on the ground.”
In North Africa, Zuriqi said Algeria is fully staffed, but he pointed out that the FBO concept had yet to reach Egypt, while Libya is not seeing any movement at the moment due to domestic unrest. Morocco is making rapid advances through the interest of Jetex Flight Support and Swissport Executive Aviation, which is setting up as many as nine FBOs there.
Zuriqi said leading business aviation airports in Morocco were located at Marrakesh and Casablanca, and that many flights destined for South America stopped in Morocco en route. “Most of the movements come through Morocco, due to technical stops and tourism.”
Middle East Growth
Moving to the Middle East, Zuriqi said Qatar Executive will take delivery of six or possibly seven G650ERs by the end of 2017. He said there was good competition in the Middle East market, mainly because the first- and business-class services of Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways were making business-jet services uncompetitive. He said Saudia Private Aviation’s FBO at Jeddah, its main hub, was “a masterpiece.”
Jet Aviation had been offering FBO services through DC Aviation-Al Futtaim’s DWC facility for the past six months, he said. “There is good competition in the market [among the Dubai] operators.”
A tender had been issued for the design and construction of a new general aviation terminal at Muscat Airport in Oman, Zuriqi said. “They [will] need hangar space for the new FBO,” he added.
Turning to the Asia Pacific region, he said Hadid had staff at 10 Chinese airports today, with typically one employee at each station. “Every landing is being treated in the proper way now,” he said.
The company’s sales office in Malaysia is invaluable in building the regional network, he explained, especially via attendance at the ABACE show. It also assists with local regulations, such as the vexing issue of obtaining slots to land at Hong Kong Airport, which is particularly congested and challenging for business jet operations.
“They helped us at ABACE this year on how to get [Hong Kong] slots, and whom to contact,” he said. He added that working with major Chinese companies should mean that Hadid will come to the attention of other concerns. “We know the Chinese market is growing. They fly more today.”
Zuriqi believes the recent announcement that China’s Deer Jet, subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate HNA, is to acquire a majority stake in United Aviation Services is evidence that the Chinese are now ready to throw their weight behind flight support, and that this will lead to positive developments in the global business.
Hadid’s India office opened in 2010, and the Pakistan station followed soon after. He said that Gwadar Airport still operated as a military base and that he had not heard of plans to develop the facility. But he acknowledged that Gwadar Port was a Chinese interest that could lead to more aircraft movements.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), linking Western China via Kashgar to Gwadar, is understood to comprise road, rail, pipeline and energy projects valued in excess of $50 billion.
Zuriqi said Colombo, Sri Lanka, saw good movement because of the volume of tourists and its convenience as a non-Indian waypoint between Asia and Europe. Landing permits took three days in India, he said, but only 24 hours in Sri Lanka. “Colombo favors tech stops and refueling.”
He sees little new on Iranian business aviation. “Nobody wants to take a chance on doing business there while the situation is unclear. The international community [must] decide if sanctions are in or out.”
Hadid currently employs around 400 staff worldwide. “We concentrate on what we know,” Zuriqi said.
