Jet Support Services Inc. (JSSI, Stand 250) believes the Middle East is an important region and a growing market as it supports increased demand for aircraft ownership and charter, officials in the region told AIN.
“This regional growth [mirrors] what we’re seeing globally, as the business aviation industry benefits from waves of first-time users and buyers,” said Pascale Barhouch, the company's director of business development for the Middle East. “We saw this trend emerge during Covid-19 and the phenomenon has continued, spurred on by the ongoing struggles of commercial aviation. We anticipate this growth will continue into 2023.”
JSSI’s OEM-agnostic business model is the same worldwide, with dedicated local support in each region. “Across our products and services, we support approximately 20 percent of the global business aviation fleet, have visibility into more than 5,000 aircraft on JSSI programs and software, and oversee in excess of 10,000 maintenance events annually,” she said.
“This means that, regardless of aircraft type or operation size, we can bring customers an unmatched combination of objective information, dedicated maintenance support, and technical experience, combined with a neutral vantage point and global scale that others simply can’t match,” according to Barhouch.
From maintenance programs to maintenance software and independent technical advice, JSSI offers a full suite of products and services to drive cost savings and provide impartial and transparent handling of business aircraft maintenance events.
“As an all-OEM aircraft parts provider, we are also able to support customers with strategically located parts across virtually all makes and models of business aircraft. It means customers are increasingly seeing JSSI as their maintenance partner, not just another third-party supplier,” she said.
The MRO build-out at Dubai Al Maktoum International Airport (OMDW), particularly in the former Aviation District now known as the Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub (MBRAH), is gaining momentum, according to Fabrice Roger, JSSI's senior v-p of business development for Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. “There is no doubt that there is a need to enhance maintenance infrastructure in the UAE. And with Dubai’s central location, the developments at the MBRAH are clearly positive for business aviation,” he said.
“As more aircraft enter the region, it is inevitable that the demand for MRO services will also increase accordingly. JSSI is well positioned to help those MRO businesses grow not only through the maintenance requirements of our customers, but also with maintenance software to provide full visibility into their operation and help them build more efficient businesses,” Roger noted.
Today, JSSI claims to work with the widest MRO network in the industry to ensure availability on behalf of customers. He said it will continue to proactively work with these new MROs as it anticipates market trends and supply-chain constraints to help its customers keep a step ahead of competitors.
While concurring that Saudi Arabia has recently experienced a lull in business aviation flying, Roger said JSSI still found plenty of activity in the kingdom. “Despite a slowdown in business aviation flying in Saudi Arabia, we are still seeing requests for maintenance support and our customers are still seeing high levels of demand,” he said.
As to the prevalence of new versus preowned aircraft in the Middle East market today, and the implications for engine management, Roger said new-production aircraft remained a strong feature of the market.
With new deliveries continuing in the Middle East, predominantly from pre-existing orders, he has not noticed a slowdown in this aircraft market. However, a significant increase in demand for the limited inventory of preowned aircraft has been observed in the region, aligning with wider global trends.
“As the regional fleet grows, demand for managing any type of maintenance event and sourcing the required materials will also increase. With visibility into maintenance requirements through our maintenance software, we can work with customers on planning these events in advance, alleviating the last-minute scramble for scheduled events,” he said.
“Ongoing supply chain constraints mean aircraft owners will need an independent advocate working on their behalf now more than ever to minimize downtime, improve turn times, and maximize value and efficiency throughout each maintenance event,” Roger noted. “We are in the process of adding another strategically located technical advisor in Dubai to ensure our customers in the region get the support when and where they need it.”
Roger said current infrastructure in the region was unlikely to grow at the pace required to meet the trajectory of aircraft coming into the Middle East. With major global events such as the now-underway 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the region will see a rapid rise in business aviation traffic, requiring a strong presence of maintenance support to sustain it.
“This makes JSSI an increasingly vital partner to customers operating in the Middle East,” he said.
“Our customers can not only benefit from JSSI’s scale, but also from our industry knowledge, anticipation of market trends, and enhanced MRO availability. We will continue to work across product and industry siloes to ensure our customers are always empowered to make informed decisions and perform maintenance on their terms,” Roger concluded.