Exclusive Interview:

Execujet MRO Services is all set to launch the new facility at Dubai South’s Al Maktoum International Airport (OMDW). The state of the art new MRO facility has been designed to accommodate nearly 20+ business jets simultaneously. Mr.Nick Weber, Regional Vice President Middle East, Execujet MRO Services in an interaction with Aviation World, Managing Editor,Vishal Kashyap share more inputs on this new MRO facility and this is going to reinforce Dubai’s status as an important centre for aviation MRO services. Excerpts of the interview…

Kindly share with us details about the new MRO facility in Dubai in terms of infrastructure, technology, approvals, etc.?
We designed our new MRO centre at Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) to meet projected growth in business aviation in the Middle East region. The hangar can handle 18-24 mid-size to large business jets simultaneously, including the very largest Dassault business jets such as Falcon 6X and Falcon 10X.

The new MRO centre is spread over 15,350 m2 and is replete with a larger hangar, back offices, training facilities and spare parts storage rooms. The new hangar specifically, has 8,300 m2 of floor space, about 1200 m2 more than the hangar space at our old facility at Dubai International Airport (DXB).A key difference is our operations at DWC will all be under one roof, as opposed to being split between two hangars as they were at DXB.

There is also an additional 3100m2 of workshops that will expand our MRO capabilities. We already have workshops for wheel and brakes, batteries, avionics, etc. However, with more space we can expand the capabilities even further. The facility will also become ExecuJet’s new Middle East headquarters in Dubai while the company will still retain AOG capability at Dubai International Airport (DXB).

What are the new capabilities that ExecuJet MRO Services ME will focus upon?
ExecuJet MRO Services Middle East is a multi-OEM facility and supports many types of Dassault, Bombardier, Embraer, and Hawker business jets. In the region, we also work with cabin interior specialists, F/List, to provide cabin refurbishment services in response to customer demand.

We look forward to adding new aircraft types, such as Falcon 6X and later on, the Falcon 10X to our repertoire. To prepare for entry into service of the Falcon 6X, we have been acquiring tooling and spare parts for the aircraft. We are sending a total four engineers for maintenance training on the Falcon 6X, a new aircraft type which is due to be certified and enter into service during this year.
As more business jets enter the region, we will continue to expand our MRO capability by investing in tooling and training as demand dictates.

What’s the vision behind the launch of the facility and its potential impact in the region?
To support the growth of the commercial aviation as well as business aviation, the authorities in Dubai decided business aviation in time, should migrate to DWC. We saw the strategic initiative as an opportunity for us to grow and to build a large purpose-built facility. We were already familiar with DWC because even though we have had a line and heavy maintenance facilities at DXB since 2006. We had established a line maintenance station at DWC back in June 2013.

The availability of space at DWC is an attractive proposition for ExecuJet MRO Services Middle East. With a larger facility, we will expand our capabilities including adding new aircraft types.
We will also generate more employment. With the launch of our new facility, we plan to increase our workforce from around 150 to 200 by 2028. The new employees will also include fresh graduate’s on boarded via our internship programme that gives local students hands-on aircraft maintenance experience.

How do you foresee the state of business aviation and MRO services sector in general?
When the pandemic took hold globally in early 2020, all segments of the aviation industry were adversely affected. But the business aviation sector started recovering in 2020’s second half, certainly much quicker than commercial aviation. Many high net worth individuals and business people turned to business aviation to meet their travel needs. Flying on a business jet – as compared to being on a commercial airliner – means you come in contact with fewer people.

Business aviation has always provided travellers with greater convenience and flexibility. Numerous market reports indicate that the vast majority of those who migrated to business aviation during pandemic continue to fly on business jets. The continued demand for business aircraft is leading to demand for business aviation MRO activities.The business aviation aircraft manufactures have large order backlogs and will continue to deliver those aircraft and future orders.

Meanwhile, we are continuing to see strong demand for pre-owned aircraft. Transactions involving pre-owned aircraft create a lot of work for MRO businesses. Aircraft owners will often put the aircraft through a heavy maintenance check before selling, so as to garner a higher sale price for their aircraft. Meanwhile, buyers of pre-owned aircraft will often want to have some work done on aircraft upon delivery, such as change the livery as well as upgrades to the cabin interiors.

Your views on Indian business aviation both in terms of growth and volume of business?
India is the second largest market in Asia for business jets with a fleet of around 150 aircraft, according to Global Sky Research. Last year the fleet grew by around 7%.
The industry anticipates that India’s business aviation market will continue to grow 5-10% per year which is quite strong growth considering India is already the second largest business aviation market in Asia.

Demand in India is for both the very large, long-range business jets as well as the super mid-size aircraft. India has many large conglomerates with businesses overseas, so their executives need a convenient mode of international transport. There is also strong demand for mid-size aircraft because many Indian companies have businesses in tier-two and tier-three cities in India where the airport infrastructure may be inadequate to support the larger commercial jet aircraft. Therefore, they need business jets, such as the Falcon 2000, with its short take-off and landing capability.

Last year we received India DGCA approval to provide heavy maintenance on India-registered Falcon 2000 classic aircraft, a very popular model of aircraft in India. We are also approved by India DGCA to undertake heavy maintenance on Falcon 7X, Falcon 8X, Falcon 900C/EX/EASy and Falcon 2000EASy models.

Apart from Dassault Falcon series, which other aircrafts types registered in India can get MRO services at ExecuJet facility in Dubai?
ExecuJet MRO Services Middle East is a multi-OEM facility and supports many other types of business jets across the vast array of product lines from Bombardier, Embraer, and Hawker.