A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

Gama Aviation is progressing with the construction of its <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2024-05-28/gama-aviation-reignites-sharjah-fbo-mro-project">new FBO</a> at the UAE’s Sharjah International Airport (OMSJ), with its opening expected by mid-2025. The company is about to complete the dedicated taxiway connection to its 36,000-sq-m (387,500-sq-ft) ramp and has finished the terminal and hangar foundations as it prepares to put steel in the ground for the start of construction on the buildings.
“It feels like a big milestone for us,” said Tom Murphy, managing director of the facility, as well as Gama’s two UK locations. “We’re building up now rather than cement going down.”
For more than a decade, Gama has been providing aviation services at OMSJ from an existing structure that the company has now outgrown. That will be remedied with the opening of the new 2,000-sq-m (21,500-sq-ft) two-story terminal next year.
“From a terminal and lounge perspective, we’ll probably be about four times bigger from a footprint point of view,” Murphy told AIN. “That will also enable us to facilitate our regional corporate office, our charter teams, our account managers, our aircraft management team, our CAMO [Continuing Airworthiness Management Organization] team, finance, and human resources all under one roof, whereas, at the moment, we are separated a little.”
For passengers, the building will have three distinct areas: the luxurious central lounge; a quiet, more discreet relaxation area; and a raised food and beverage area overlooking the ramp. There will also be a crew area with rest pods and dedicated client office space, all within walking distance of the aircraft waiting on the ramp.
In addition, Gama’s 20-acre Sharjah leasehold will receive its own 14,000-sq-m (150,700-sq-ft) climate-controlled hangar—one of the largest in the region. It wlll be capable of sheltering bizliners and eliminate Gama's reliance on securing hangar space from third-party operators.
That will allow the company to increase its aircraft storage and maintenance capabilities, and it has already added four additional maintenance technicians to its staff in anticipation of the ramp-up. Additionally, the company plans to introduce a mobile service team based at the new MRO facility.&nbsp;Gama also has access to all the UAE airports and intends to offer AOG services across the region—similar to what the business aviation services firm provides operators in the UK from its Glasgow and Isle of Jersey locations.
At Sharjah, Gama offers line maintenance for Bombardier Globals and Challengers, as well as for the Gulfstream G650. In addition, it recently opened a line maintenance facility at Dubai Al Maktoum International Airport (OMDW). With the company’s UK facilities recently receiving approved service designation from Embraer, it hopes to bring that capability to its Middle East locations as well.

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Gama Aviation Making Progress on New-build Sharjah FBO

Faciilty expected to open in mid-2025

Gama Aviation expects its brand-new FBO at the UAE's Sharjah International Airport (OMSJ) to be operational by mid-2025.

Gama Aviation Making Progress on New Sharjah FBO

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