Royal Jet has been renowned as the world’s leading international private luxury flight services provider for the past 6 years. With the world’s largest fleet of BBJs (Boeing Business Jets). Apart from that; Royal Jet owns two mid-range Gulfstream 300s, a long-range Gulfstream IVSP twin-engined Challenger 604 and a lear-jet 60.

What’s Up Magazine got an exquisite opportunity to spend time with three of the top level executives at Royal Jet to talk about the companies offerings and services. We met Ms. Sarah Walker-Kerr Royal Jet’s PR & Corporate Senior Communications Manager, Mr. Mohd Bokhari KSA Regional Sales Director, and Mr. Monther Alhumyanee KSA Regional Sales Director.

What’s Up: How did Royal Jet start, and who was the driving force behind it?

Ms. Sarah Walker-Kerr: Royal Jet is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi Aviation and the PFA (Presidential Flight Authority), and is chaired by His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, who serves as a Minister in the UAE Federal Cabinet.

Royal Jet is perceived as the most prestigious private jet operator in the region. Since we provide the pinnacle of luxury travel to our clients which encapsulates the core values of Abu Dhabi and the UAE.

Our heritage was derived from being part of the Presidential Flight Authority which is formerly the Amiri Flight in Abu Dhabi, Royal Jet has been divided in 2003 to form a commercial arm to serve royals, businessmen, and high net worth individuals.

WU: But what makes Royal Jet different?

SW: Each and every journey is bespoke and custom tailored to suit our client’s individual needs; including boarding a personal chef to make sure that our clients get the most exceptional travel experience. Let’s say you’re traveling to Germany during the Spring season your chef will make sure to use freshly picked asparagus to cook you a meal that would give you a taste from your next destination. We have many royal clients, so we don’t look at any trip as an A to B flight, we have to offer them the finest services.

WU: Looking at your large fleet of aircrafts, does that limit in any way Royal Jet’s client in choosing the right plane?

SW: We have a very flexible crew/cabin configuration that would definitely meet any client’s requirements. In order to provide our clients unparalleled service and a relaxing environment on board Royal Jet. Having the world’s largest BBJ fleet (Boeing Business Jets) created a high demand from regional and global heads of state, businessmen in Europe, Africa, Asia especially China to fly Royal Jet.

WU: What are the main services that Royal Jet offers?

SW: We offer a wide range of services like Private VIP Chartering, VIP Terminal and Fixed Based Operation, Aircraft Management and Consultancy, Medical Evacuation Services, and Charter Brokerage.

WU: Do you offer medical evacuation services here in Saudi Arabia?

Mr. Mohd Bokhari: We have achieved 650 successful missions so far, and now we have decided to launch this service here in Saudi Arabia, so by the time you read this article the medical evacuation services will be fully operational. We discovered that our client’s would like to extend the privacy they get flying with Royal Jet whether for business or leisure to the medical side, so we have the State‐of‐the-art medical equipment and intensive care facilities operated by a full team of doctors and medical professionals who would help facilitate any patient’s transportation from what we would like to call “bed to bed service”. Our medical services also covers the relations of the family like flying and accommodation arrangements. So Royal Jet takes care of all the behind the scenes for our client in case of needing such a service.

WU: That sounds really impressive to say the least, I mean covering all the nitty gritty is a hassle by its self especially during an emergency like a medical evac.

Mr. Monther Alhumyanee: Our medical service offers more than emergency evacuation services, we offer our clients under the same department medical tourism services, so if our client want to visit a clinic in let’s say Germany or Switzerland we would handle the whole journey’s logistics on their behalf so that they would enjoy a private and discreet journey.

WU: Tell me more about your charter brokerage service?

SW: We provide Royal Jet clients a full range of charter brokerage, so if you want a jet aircraft that isn’t available in the market, we will source and guarantee availability, plus we will guarantee that it meets the same Royal Jet standards. Those standards extends to both our aircraft management service and charted aircraft service as well.

WU: Royal Jet has been in the business for about 6 years now, do you see a slow-down on demand during this global financial period?

SW: We have successfully managed to stay on top for the past 6 years because of various reasons. The first would be the ongoing fortifying support of His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the second is our experienced managing team that shares a wealth of knowledge in aviation, since we all come from a business or commercial aviation background. We also enjoy a magnificent relationship with all regional governments including excellent relations with the Saudi government. And finally is because of our exquisite reputation with our clients who have been with us for the past 6 years and we do appreciate their loyalty and trust.

Royal Jet has been a profitable business since our launch, we have achieved our last years profit target and on track for this year, so we are continuing our fleet development as planned, plus launching new exciting service concepts.

WU: How do you manage to develop such concepts?

SW: We have a dedicated services team in-hose and we look for consultants in the service and hospitality industry who have handled renowned clients to develop new packages and services that we can extend to our clients, so we are looking for the best of the best in order to provide par excellence service. We discovered that the world’s eyes are watching us to set the trend. so we thrive for perfection.

WU: If a new client wants to get more info about Royal Jet’s services, or even wishes to book a flight. What is the easiest way to get more information?

MB: Each flight is tailored to meet the clients needs, so our new clients can call our call center, we also offer electronic brochures that provide a wealth of detailed information about our services, or if the client requests we can mail them hardcopies of the brochures. And of course our comprehensive website offers an interactive way to help our clients.

SW: Let me give you an example of how flying with Royal Jet makes a huge difference, If you need to fly to Dubai for a two hour business meeting you would have to fly the day before at least these days, either because you can’t find the frequency you’re looking for or because you need to be fresh before the meeting, since you need to go through all the airport’s formalities like immigration and check-in. So you have to be at the airport a good two or three hours before the flight, plus another hour to clear out of Dubai’s airport. That’s wasting your executive time, and I won’t even go into the return trip and the wasted time there.

Now let’s take one of Royal Jet’s smallest aircraft, all you have to do is drive 15 minutes to get to the airport, clear the Arabasco terminal in 5 to 10 minutes, board the plane that would fly you to Dubai in 2 hours, then drive directly to your meeting, and back again in no time.

MB: I might add that another reason why our clients prefer flying Royal Jet, is the high-level of privacy we offer, and we do guarantee that, we are not allowed to talk or mention who our clients are or where they are heading. To us we offer a very personal service and we respect that.

WU: How soon can you get a flight ready, what’s the lead time?

SW: We can get a flight off the ground in about 9 hours in normal situations, we usually need a lead time between 24 to 48 hours. But if a client requests a hurried departure we can be ready in less than 4 hours.