There is a bit of an ironic twist in the continuing fast-pace growth of business aviation in the Middle East. Many new users of business aircraft in this part of the world are part of the wave of economic diversification sweeping the Arabian Gulf states as they try to reduce their dependence on oil income in anticipation of the depletion of reserves. But, at the same time, it is the vast wealth being generated by elevated prices for existing oil output that is funding much of the market growth, which is conservatively estimated at 15 to 20 percent per year.
Not that business aircraft manufacturers and executive charter operators are pondering this conundrum very much. Their biggest challenge is providing sufficient capacity to meet the rising demand–much of it coming from beyond the close confines of the region’s extended royal families as the newly wealthy entrepreneurial class and foreign companies make increasing use of this mode of air transport.
