Rob DiCastri, CEO of Abu Dhabi-based Royal Jet, told AIN that he is “hoping to” do new business in Saudi Arabia this week at the inaugural Saudi Airshow, despite the government’s anti-corruption effort that has slowed down business aviation there over the past 15 months. The three-day airshow opens tomorrow with an expected 260 exhibitors and 80 airliners and business aircraft on display.

“We've always had business there and some of it has continued. It's trickled,” DiCastri said. “Of course, when everybody went quiet, everybody lost business from that. But we're hearing noise now. We're getting requests, especially for events and things like that, that the Saudi government is putting on. They need capacity, and they need to move people. They don't necessarily want to move them in commercial aircraft, but want some private aircraft. It's encouraging.”

He said he is attending the show at Riyadh Thumamah Airport because of the opportunity in Saudi Arabia. “It's waking up, there's some interest coming. There are more quote requests coming out of there, so we need to be there,” DiCastri said, adding that Saudi has the largest business aircraft fleet in the region. “They historically have had more demand than anybody else in the region. It's not there right now. It'll come back.”