Too few business aircraft are based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Arabian Gulf states to meet rising demand for executive charter flights, according to International Air Charter (IAC), a UK-based charter brokering group that opened an office in Dubai two years ago. The company is urging charter operators to move aircraft into the region to increase capacity and stimulate further demand.
Describing a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma, IAC chief executive Hugh Courtenay told AIN that the lack of based aircraft in the Gulf states contributes to the high cost of charter. Equipment has to be flown in from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and even farther afield, which can add thousands of dollars to the cost of a charter and discourage customers from booking flights. Nonetheless, IAC has detected strong underlying demand for charters and feels that the market would grow even more quickly if sufficient capacity were available locally.
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