Abu Dhabi-based offshore aviation support and private jet charter operator Falcon Aviation expects to be able to offer unrivaled MRO facilities at its new hangar at Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) in Dubai, which opened in September, COO Capt. Raman Oberoi told AIN.
“We recently opened our MRO facility at DWC,” he said. “This Code-F Plot hangar has sufficient height to accommodate the Airbus A380. All our business-jet MRO services have been moved to this new hangar, including base and line maintenance for Embraer, Gulfstream, and Bombardier. We are looking into the possibility of providing base and line maintenance to narrowbody commercial and business jets. The hangar is located at a 24,000-square-meter [258,334-sq-foot] plot, with an additional apron space of 13,000 square meters.”
Falcon (Booth 1640) has four revenue streams, its main income stemming from oil-and-gas operations. “We have been able to effectively support Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s [ADNOC] oil-and-gas operations for the last 10 years with helicopters, and four years with fixed-wing. We have supported Total ABK on oil field operations for eight years using Bell 412s, and for three years with AW169 helicopters,” he said.
Falcon carries 700 passengers daily to Das and Zirku Islands. This involves five to six short daily flights on two Q400 NG turboprops, with a third on standby. It also operates five helicopters daily for ADNOC, including one AW189 and four Bell 412s, with two AW189s added recently. “[In light of] this, we will become the largest oil-and-gas operator of AW189s in the world,” he said.
Falcon also offers VIP jets and helicopters for charter, using an Embraer Lineage and Legacy and a Gulfstream G450, as well as a fleet of four VIP helicopters (one AW169 and three AW109SPs). Special charters can be arranged in the Q400NG, AW189, Bell 412, or EC130.
Falcon’s third revenue stream is helicopter tours on four Dubai-based EC130s. “About 3 to 4 percent of our revenue comes from touring flights. We carry 35,000 passengers a year from Atlantis The Palm, where we also manage and operate the heliport,” he said.
The fourth revenue stream is aircraft management and third-party MRO for business jets. “With the addition of MRO hangars at DWC, this business will continue to grow,” he said. Turboprop MRO will now be exclusively located at hangars at the company’s Al Bateen Executive Airport headquarters.
Falcon also provides an FBO facility from the VIP terminal at DWC for business-jet customers, for whom it also operates a fleet of VIP helicopters from a heliport located outside the VIP terminal.
“With a fleet of 33 aircraft [26 helicopters and seven fixed-wing], we achieve about 16,000 flight hours per year, about 12,000 of these on helicopters,” he said. “Most of our operations are for ADNOC offshore, utilizing 65 percent of these flight hours.”
Oberoi expects Kuwait to invest $100 billion in oil-and-gas operations in the next five years. In January 2019, Falcon began oil, gas and medevac operations in a Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) contract, using three new AW169s at the heliport in the Ahmadi area of Kuwait City. An increase in demand for lift is expected within two to three years, as these projects expand.
“These helicopters are based in the newly constructed hangar at the heliport,” he said.
Falcon has been an Embraer service center in the region over the years through its MRO facility in Abu Dhabi. The long-standing partnership is being relocated to Falcon’s new MRO hangar at DWC. “With this top-class facility, we will be able to provide MRO services to Embraer jets in the region, including Lineage and Legacy,” he said. “This will further strengthen Falcon Aviation’s relationship with Embraer.”