Wealth Coming Into Mideast Drives EAG’s Air Charter Growth
Celebrating its 15th year of operations this week at MEBAA 2022, management specialist Empire Aviation Group (Static S4; EAG) has seen its charter business triple since 2019, it said on the eve of the biennial Middle East business aviation show. “Our movements as a company today are up 200 percent over 2019,” EAG founder and managing director Paras Dhamecha told AIN. “If you look at the number of airplanes coming in and out of the region, I would think that, overall, movements have increased strongly.” The VIP Terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport (OMDW) has been the focus of business aviation activity. “If you visualize where earlier aircraft were parked—basically two rows along the length of the ramp of the VIP Terminal area—today, we’ve got aircraft stacked about five rows deep on the sides. Obviously, there are substantial movements, but I’m not aware of the actual numbers.” He said the company tracked the type and number of movements of aircraft under its management, but not the overall market. Several industry participants have said that the lack of clarity from the authorities on business aviation movements at Dubai’s airports hampers business planning. Relocation specialists South Africa’s Henley & Partners have identified the UAE as the leading global destination for ultra-high-net-worth individuals and expected 4,000 millionaires to move there this year alone. “The UAE still has this huge concentration on becoming a global hub for business aviation,” Dhamecha said. “It’s going really well. Dubai looked like it was number two or three in terms of overall growth and movements during the pandemic. “Obviously, the borders were open, so there was a lot more movement. The growth trajectory has been exponential. Support from the government continues to grow.