Dubai business jet operator sees growth in slowing regional economy

DC Aviation Al Futtaim to increase fleet by two in 2016.

Dubai-based business jet operator DC Aviation Al Futtaim believes it can cut its losses to break even this year against a backdrop of a softening regional economy.

The operator plans to add two aircraft in 2016, increasing its managed fleet to six, General Manager Holger Ostheimer told Gulf News by phone this week. Ostheimer did not say what type of aircraft would be added.

“We don’t expect the local fleet to decline, which gives us confidence that we will be able to grow the managed aircraft fleet in line with our budget forecast,” he said.

DC Aviation Al Futtaim, a joint venture between Germany’s DC Aviation and Dubai-based conglomerate Al Futtaim Group, plans to break even in 2016 having pushed back its earlier target of mid-2015 last year.

Ostheimer said he is confident he “would have turned the business around” by the end of the year despite the 21 month fall in the oil price that dampened business confidence in the region.

DC Aviation Al Futtaim, based at Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC), doubled the number of operated arrivals and take-offs in 2015 over 2014, Ostheimer said without giving numbers.

The company plans to build a 6,000 square metre hangar on the 10,000 square metres of land it leased last November, he said.

Asked about plans to enter the Iranian market now that sanctions have been lifted, Ostheimer said “We are making ourselves known.”