What brought you to the Middle East?
I came to the Middle East 35 years ago; I spent 10 years in Saudi Arabia, which is where I met my wife, Emily, and then we moved to Abu Dhabi 25 years ago and have been there ever since. I originally came to the region as a pilot for a company that has now segued to the name ‘Presidential Flight’. I flew for Sheikh Zayed for 10 years and after my contract I was made an offer from Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan to work as his advisor while he was chairman of the Department of Civil Aviation. I’ve been his advisor for 15 years and as part of role, we started Royal Jet 10 years ago. I have been around for a long time and worked with Royal Jet from the beginning, so it was a smooth transition.
Where do you think the Middle East is now in terms of its position as an international private jet hub?
We are in a fortunate location — halfway between the Southeast Asia and Europe, and it is a great place to base a company. Royal Jet’s niche is flying to places that the commercial airlines don’t serve. Our typical passengers are royal family members, high-net-worth individuals, very senior government officials and visiting dignitaries, and high-profile people who don’t want to attract a lot of attention when they travel. We have a strong market base here — last year we flew into 300 airports in 126 countries, which is pretty amazing. We have wonderfully experienced flight crew.
How do you select your pilots?
We look for pilots with superb skills who can think on their feet and work on their own. There is very little ground support in private jet travel, so every flight is a wonderfully challenging adventure and we have to hire people who enjoy that kind of challenge — that is the only way that we’ve been able to maintain our status as the benchmark for VVIP corporate travel in the region. We want to be the benchmark for global aircraft operators and I’m pretty confident we can get there. If a pilot joins a commercial airline they build time quicker than they would flying for a private jet service. But that’s what we like — people who have flown for an airline for four or five years and have about 4,000 hours of airtime under their belts, so they know what flying in international airspace is all about.
You must have some fond memories from your own career as a pilot.
I have been incredibly blessed with a romantic, adventurous and fun career. I have loved every minute of it, so what’s to complain about?
Can you share any unusual flight experiences from your career?
In my early days, I developed this little business of my own in order to build flight time — I used to transport dead bodies. I had a friend who had a plane and he would figure out all his operating costs, and I would rent the plane from him. I would move the bodies at a price and I built my flight time that way.
The Middle East has three regional carriers with strong premium products. Do their offerings pose any challenges for Royal Jet in terms of competition?
We operate in a luxurious manner that matches any premium product the airlines can throw at customers. You get all that luxury and comfort in an airline, as long as you go where they want to go and when they want to go. If you want to travel on your own schedule to places commercial airlines don’t go — come see us.
With these premium products come price hikes that inch towards private jet costs. Do you think private jet travel will soon negate a need for a first class?
I really don’t see it as usurping it. The idea of personal jets filtering down to cater to more peoples’ holidays is not something I see happening. There will always be a certain group of people who want to travel to destinations that commercial airlines cannot get to.
You mentioned that many of your passengers are quite high-profile. How many of them travel for leisure?
We don’t ask as it is none of our business, and that is part of the confidentiality. They call and they say they want to go from here to here in this time and we just say “Great, let’s go.”
But can you assume that, say, a flight to the Maldives would be for leisure?
Perhaps, but you’ll be surprised at just how many business meetings occur in out-of-the-way places; destinations where executive jets fly into as they don’t really want everyone to see that these companies are talking to one another. All of that falls into the confidentiality that we offer that the commercial airlines can’t.
Will Royal Jet be introducing any jet-share programs or single-seat bookings in the future?
Probably not at this point. For us to sell single tickets is not very likely for the foreseeable future. Maybe in the next few years, when we get an extra aircraft or two, we may try it out of curiousity. I may be wrong, but I don’t think you can set up an airline to do specifically that. You have to run ad-hoc charter, and when you start selling individual seats on a private jet you open the
door to making losses. At what point do you say you have to cancel the trip because we don’t have enough seats filled? You make the people who have already bought seats unhappy. There are a lot of stumbling blocks you have to be sure you can overcome before you can enter that business.
Where do you go to relax and unwind?
My wife and I are avid golfers, so we love travelling to South Africa. Fancourt is a great place to go and play, and there are some fantastic little towns along the coast that are just beautiful to visit, and the area also offers delicious, fresh seafood. We manage to travel to that part of the world every couple of years.
Is there any particular destination that has surprised you?
One of the most fantastic places I have visited is the Kingdom of Bhutan. It is only accessible for three or four months of the year as the rest of the time it is snowed-in. It has a fantastic culture, incredible scenery and great people. I have been there twice
and it is gorgeous.
Where do you think is the next big luxury destination?
I think it is actually right here in the UAE. We have an incredible air service here and hundreds of luxury hotels that range from five to seven stars, so I would say it is definitely the next big luxury destination.
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