At a recent Aviation Outlook conference in Abu Dhabi, a panel of experts talked about the recent explosive growth in the Middle Eastern business aviation market and positive prospects for 2009.
Royal Jet’s President and CEO, Shane O’Hare, explained:
“To a certain degree the Middle Eastern market has been isolated from the overall worldwide downturn, not least because of the high level of liquidity in the region and a strong GDP which is forecast to remain at around 7 per cent.”
O’Hare continued:
“Prices of aircraft are falling dramatically and corporate jet brokers are telling us that a year ago, there would be 30 people looking for one airplane. Today there are 30 airplanes looking for one buyer, pushing prices down by 30-40 per cent. We are looking to add another Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) to our fleet and as such an aircraft which was priced at $75 million last year is expected to break through the $50 million price range by year end.”
A representative of Abu Dhabi Airports Company said that development of the city airport is on schedule, with no cancellations of any prospective tenants.
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