Middle Eastern charter and scheduled service operator Rotana Jet plans to more than double its fleet by 2016. Speaking today at the Air Expo show at Abu Dhabi’s Al Bateen Executive Airport, where Rotana Jet is based, the company said that over the next two years it will add at least seven more aircraft to the five it currently operates.

“By 2016 we will have more than 12 aircraft in our fleet,” said Dr. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saif Al Nahyan, chairman of Rotana Jet, and a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family. “[Today] we have two charter [jets] and four scheduled aircraft “

On the scheduled side of its business Rotana Jet currently serves six destinations within the United Arab Emirates, as well as Muscat and Salalah in Oman and also Bahrain. According to Sheikh Ahmed, Rotana Jet’s plans to add additional scheduled routes to Alexandria and Luxor in Egypt, as well as to the Lebanese capital Beirut and Amman in Jordan, have been approved by the UAE Department of Transport.

“At Rotana Jet we have two divisions, including executive, which comprises a Gulfstream G450 and a 50-seater ACJ319,” Sheikh Ahmed told AIN. “We also have a scheduled operation where we use Airbus [A319s] and Embraer 145s. We are flying regionally at the moment in the UAE and the Gulf, and we are expanding.”

Sheikh Ahmed formed Rotana Jet in 2003 and until 2009 served as chairman of Etihad Airways. He was CEO of Gulf Air from 1996 to 2000 and, as a commercial pilot, held type ratings in the A340 and the Boeing 767.