DC Aviation Al-Futtaim (DCAF), the only standalone FBO and MRO operation located at Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) today, expects the bizav market in the region to remain robust but flat.

“The last 12 months have been very stable. It is a very steady market, driven by people being based in Dubai in possession of aircraft. I don’t see that changing to a large number, not in the moderate mid-term timeframe of three to five years,” Holger Ostheimer, DCAF managing director, told AIN in the run-up to EBACE.

“If you look at the global economy, I don’t think there will be any upturn before that anyway. There can only be really very localized, regionalized [progress]…If we can see increases on a modest basis, of 5 percent per year market overall, then we can consider ourselves very lucky.”

Ostheimer said Dubai has done a good job of putting itself on the map in the past decade. “Dubai will continue to attract high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals who represent a certain level of activity in terms of aircraft ownership or private-jet flying. With that in mind, I cannot see things declining. We expect the market to remain stable.”

With the common-user VIP Terminal now fully open at DWC and ExecuJet operating the only other standalone FBO, which will be replaced by the end of 2019 by a full standalone FBO-MRO, facilities that offer the kind of discretion that the Arab market prefers are likely to come into their own.

“The new hangar is open and is ready to further expand DCAF’s operation at Al Maktoum International Airport within Dubai South. It is going to be providing more operational service to increase our activities. The existing facilities provided only so much space. It is going to be the driving force to allow growth in maintenance, especially the more complex maintenance activities in conjunction with Lufthansa Technik,” he said.

“Depending on the extent of aircraft maintenance events, the more complex they are, the more time an operator needs to prepare, and the more advanced notice you have as a maintenance organization. There are only a very small number of service centers in the regional market, but surely a considerable number of ACJ- and BBJ-type aircraft, and this is one of the markets we are targeting.

“We are looking to fill two to three long-term maintenance slots on a permanent basis. I consider this to be very realistic by [this] time next year.”

DCAF’s managed fleet remains at six aircraft, including two Globals, three Challengers, and one Falcon 7X. “We continue to work on two aircraft management opportunities. We are quite positive that they will be joining our fleet of aircraft in the next two to three months,” he said.

With Saudi Arabia opening up and Qatar plowing a lone furrow in the wake of the June 5, 2017 boycott by a Saudi-led quartet of Arab nations, the notion that other regional locations can attract attention is gaining ground.

“Everything probably depends on geographic and political developments, as to whether or not certain airports and locations will stand out. As being attractive enough to be considered as a new location, Dubai offers a unique mix of [the international] through its open-minded leadership. The marketplace here has certainly got the highest level of expectations in all areas,” he said.

Ostheimer said that another argument for DWC was that it was much closer to Abu Dhabi, meaning that it would attract a certain clientele from the UAE capital to Dubai. “But, as always, we concentrate on what we are doing. We are a modest, boutique service provider offering a bespoke service covering all aspects of operating private and business jets.”

Ultimately, although business aviation and cargo are the main focuses of development at DWC today, a backdrop of successful scheduled aviation is probably necessary for the new airport to achieve its ultimate potential.