Jetex will hold the official opening of its new Al Bateen Executive Airport FBO in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, in November, around the time of the 2023 Dubai Airshow. The facility soft-opened at the beginning of September.
“I’m working for more FBO options, but to be honest with you, I’m now focusing on the final opening of our Abu Dhabi FBO later this year,” CEO Adel Mardini told AIN. “We will also start moving now on new locations.”
For the past 30 years, FBOs in Abu Dhabi have been managed by different players, including DhabiJet and Munawala. “My goal is now to implement Jetex Abu Dhabi to the same standard as here in Dubai, at the very least,” he said.
Jetex’s growing workforce now numbers 820 people, a figure Mardini expects to reach 1,000 by the end of the year, with the headcount in Abu Dhabi reaching 100 employees by then. “We are always developing our assets and now we are not only in Dubai, but Abu Dhabi as well,” he said. “We are providing a ‘UAE solution’ for the client. We’ve gone the extra mile. We are selling a UAE package: Dubai and Abu Dhabi.”
Mardini said that Jetex would provide the only FBO at Al Bateen, meaning that the company now controls a sizable chunk of the UAE market. “My expectation is 6,000 movements a year there,” he said.
He does not have designs on Sharjah, the UAE’s third-biggest FBO market, because he believes that the incumbent, Gama Aviation, is sufficient to meet demand. “Sharjah had 1,500 flights last year. I believe one operator is enough for 1,500 flights,” he said.
He also clarified the number of movements Jetex handled at the VIP Terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport (OMDB) in 2022. “Jetex saw almost 11,000 movements in 2022, or 10,925, to be exact, at the VIP Terminal,” he said. "I have one target: I want to maintain my market share.”
Set against the official Mohammed Bin Rashid Aerospace Hub figure of 15,444 business jet movements at OMDB last year, Jetex has a 71 percent share of the market at that airport.
Given the significance of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to the Middle East’s economy, Mardini’s strategy of pursuing FBO opportunities in the regional bloc is paying dividends. Although Qatar is closed to outside players and Bahrain is a small market, Mardini is making headway in the GCC’s other four nations.
“We are now in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, and Salalah,” he said. “We are waiting for Kuwait to release a tender soon. They keep postponing it. We are very interested in the Kuwaiti market.”
The Saudi market remains the glittering prize. As early as 2015, Arabasco told AIN that Jeddah alone handled 22,000 movements at its FBOs. Jeddah, Riyadh, Medina, Dammam, Al Ula, and Neom are all in focus for Mardini.
“I would love to be in all Saudi locations,” he said. “Everyone has a wish list. That’s mine. We have made sure the Saudis know we are interested. I believe Saudi Arabia is building a new strategy for business aviation. There are locations in Saudi Arabia where there is no need to wait: Jeddah, and the Red Sea Project.
“We are still in discussions with them. There’s nothing concrete. I’m waiting for them. It’s a government decision. I’m sure they’re not ready. I’m on standby. For me, if I go into Saudi Arabia, I go for everything—all the locations.”
Mardini maintains that Jetex is also progressing in Morocco. “We are doing very well, mainly in Marrakesh, Rabat, and Casablanca,” he said. “We recently launched Dakhla. Dakhla will be huge in the future.”
Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria remain a more difficult proposition, he said, referring to a number of recent coups on the continent. “Africa is unstable, unfortunately. We see what happened in Niger, Gabon, and Mali. But Côte d’Ivoire is doing great. We have a monopoly there.”