After a successful opening of a luxury FBO at Paris Le Bourget Airport as the first step in its international expansion plans, JetEx Flight Support has established a second site in Europe with a facility at Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine. In addition to further FBOs planned in Ukraine, the company, which is headquartered at Dubai International Airport, plans to open a facility in that country next year. Meanwhile, it is also exploring sites in Lebanon and China.<o:p></o:p>

The Le Bourget FBO has been completely upgraded since the company acquired the half of the building occupied by Belgium’s Flying Group and added it to its own share in February 2009. Managing partner Salem Youssef told AIN that despite the economic downturn, JetEx has “done well and fully met expectations.” When it took over from Flying Group, average daily aircraft movements roughly doubled to 20. Back in April he said he expected traffic at the new base to increase to around 30 movements daily by the end of this year but now he said, “JetEx is handling around 40 movements on an average weekday, rising to 60 on busy days.” About half of the movements involve NetJets Europe flights.

Youssef said about 30 percent of JetEx’s client base, including royal families and top government officials, comes from the Middle East and another 40 percent comes from continental Europe, including the growth areas of Ukraine and Russia, with the remainder from North America and elsewhere.

Ground-Handling Service
Mariya Vynohradova, JetEx business development manager for countries of the former Soviet Union said, “There is a great deal of focus on private aviation developments in the region, and JetEx is concentrating on Ukraine as a gateway in response to expanding client demand.”

She confirmed that Ukraine’s State Aviation Administration has licensed the company for ground-handling administration at five of its airports. The first to come on stream is the 24/7 multilingual operation at Zhuliany Airport, Kiev, which opened on September 9. Others are due to follow at international airports in the cities of Boryspil, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Lviv.

Kiev’s VIP facilities include a spacious new corporate lounge, private shower and lavatory, crew rest areas and canteen room with free wireless Internet access, LCD TV and refreshments. “The airport recently became a nonstop operation fully equipped to receive business aircraft up to the BBJ,” Vynohradova said. “Demand for VIP services, including fast-track customs arrangements, guides and supplementary services for trips throughout Kiev, is rising.” The full range of preliminary ground-handling arrangements include ramp supervision, hotel accommodation, transportation, catering, fuel, flight monitoring and reporting/dispatch.

Youssef said the company  now is concentrating on its Dubai facility, with discussions due to be finalized at the MEBA show in December.