GI Aviation Launches PC-12 Operations in Dubai

With the Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina in the background, GI Aviation's first PC-12NG inaugurated official operations by landing on the sea runway at Sky Dive Dubai yesterday, less than two months after receiving its air operator certificate (AOC) from the UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority. General manager Marios Belidis said the company's first revenue flight took place on January 9, adding that several demonstration flights would culminate with the airline’s full operational launch on February 26.

“GI Aviation is the first company to operate [the PC-12] in the region and is pioneering an all-new business model for the Gulf,” he said. “Our goal is to deliver a competitively priced, reliable private charter service that will encourage new clients into this sector.”

Capt. Jukka T. Viro, GI Aviation’s flight ops director, said the turboprop single is certified to operate in temperatures of up to 50 degrees C (122 degrees F), meaning that the UAE's hot summer conditions are unlikely to present difficulties for the aircraft's full operation 12 months a year.

Middle East Business Aviation Association founding chairman Ali Alnaqbi, who participated in GI Aviation’s press event in Dubai yesterday, said he expects GI Aviation to have about a dozen PC-12s operating in the region over the coming years. “In my opinion, 10 to 11 aircraft is the number required to make the business case successful. We have a big region,” Alnaqbi said.

Finland-based Hendell Aviation, which has operated a similar PC-12 service in its home country since 2013, served as consultant to GI Aviation on the award of its AOC. Hendell’s CEO, Matti Auterinen, said he had been on secondment to GI Aviation for 16 months.  

“We commissioned Hendell Aviation to be the consultants on this project two years ago,” said David Lawlor, a representative of Global Ideas, GI Aviation's owner and a private office owned by a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi.  “It was a thorough process. The GCAA was very supportive. We understand that this was the first of type for the GCAA in the UAE, so they were careful and thorough, as I would expect. I think the regulator here has been absolutely impeccable,” he told AIN.

Lawlor said that GI Aviation currently has fewer than 15 employees but is growing. “The second PC-12NG is ready and will arrive in February,” he added.

He said local affluent business professionals or corporations could also invest in this type of aircraft to benefit from its “versatile, comfortable and cost-saving characteristics,” suggesting that aircraft management will become part of GI Aviation’s service offerings.