Personal jet use is shifting into the mainstream of Middle East travel, according to hotels, tour operators and resort companies at this week’s Arabian Travel Market exhibition at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
Forty years after the first flight of the revolutionary Learjet, the Middle East is now the world’s fastest-expanding market for personal jets. Industry experts forecast that the region will account for eight per cent of the 600-aircraft, USD 9 billion global personal jet market this year.
New scheduled services from Moscow and the huge worldwide publicity for Dubai as a leisure and investment destination are channeling ever more affluent people into the Gulf region, and hotels, tour operators and resort companies are integrating personal jets into their service-package. The seven-star Le Reve development in Dubai, for example, recently signed a deal with ExecuJet Middle East (EJME), one of the region’s leading executive aviation groups, to provide guests with personal jet services.
“Flexible options and charter packages have broadened the personal jet market,” said Khadar Mattar, sales director at EJME. “We’re opening up new options for the travel industry.”
The business market is climbing steeply too, according to ExecuJet, thanks partly the Gulf’s construction and finance boom. Businesspeople and professionals are finding themselves forced to jet around the region. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
