LIFE AFTER SQ006 - Orient Aviation

s p e c i a l r e p o r tBy Jonathan Sharpin Macauwe blow this, with the resourceswe have, then shame on us.” So“If says Captain Ronald Pettit, aviation managerof Jet Asia Ltd, the Macau-based corporateaviation company operating two CanadairChallenger airplanes from the territory’s fiveyear-oldairport.The resources the ebullient Virginia-bornPettit talks about include the deep pockets ofStanley Ho, chairman of Jet Asia, but betterknown as head of Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoesde Macau (STDM), holder of the territory’sexclusive gambling franchise.Jet Asia manages one of the Challengerson behalf of STDM – Ho and his entourage areapparently frequent flyers – but both aircraft areavailable for world-wide charter services.The pocket-sized former Portuguese colonyof Macau, a gambling mecca and a drowsymini-version of nearby Hong Kong, might seeman unlikely home for an executive jet operatorwhen others in larger and more dynamic financialcentres in the region have failed to take offor fallen by the wayside.But Pettit says Jet Asia is already “viable”and aims to add a third aircraft this year. The goalis to acquire a managed airplane, meaning onethat is bought by a client and run by Jet Asia.“Our focus for our third airplane is for somebodyelse to buy it,” he said.Although Jet Asia declines to give detailsof its finances, Pettit said business had shown“phenomenal” growth in 2000, albeit from alow base.Jet Asia has had both Challengers flyingcharters simultaneously several times in recentmonths, a situation the company would like tosee more often.“But we are realistic, we are in a nascentmarket here. We are birthing corporate aviationin Asia.”Jet Asia started operations on May 1, 1998.Its Bombardier-made Challengers are fitted with10 seats, with one aircraft that can be configuredto accommodate 12 passengers.Justifying the choice of this size of cabinclasscorporate jet, Pettit said Asian customersprefer larger aircraft to accommodate familymembers, bodyguards and even nannies.The company’s reach extends far beyondAsia, with substantial business flying to Europeand the United States. Jet Asia’s marketing focusis on business from Fortune 500 companies,although the company has also counted Hollywoodcelebrities and a former U.S. presidentamong its customers.Why the focus on such companies? “Be-China a majordraw for Macau’sJet Asia clients‘We are birthing corporate aviation in Asia’Jet Asia: customers have included a U.S. president and Hollywood film starscause they do business in China. China is theelephant in the neighbourhood. Like the U.S.economy it drags the whole world along withit,” said Pettit.Since Portugal handed back the territory toChina in December 1999, Jet Asia has found thatobtaining mainland permission for permits tofly to Chinese destinations has become noticeablyeasier.“Because Macau was a Portuguese colony,Beijing treated us as a west European entity. Itwas in fact easier for a U.S.-registered airplaneto get a permit than it was for us.”Now that Macau is back in the embraceof the motherland, the approval rating hasimproved.Officially China requires notice of 15 workingdays for granting a permit to land in thecountry. “That would kill us. We couldn’t operate,”said Pettit.Thankfully, lead times for securing permitsare in practice much briefer, although not asshort as Jet Asia and others would like.Pettit noted the United States, Europe andSingapore required a mere two-hour noticeperiod, whereas elsewhere took days.But even though Singapore is liberal, flyingthere entails crossing the airspace of Vietnamor the Philippines, and both those countriesrequired several days’ notice.Pettit would like China to open officeshandling corporate aviation in every country toallow expedited procedures, ideally to reducenotice periods to a few hours.“We would like corporate flights to betreated almost like ambulance flights,” he said.Added Yeet Jones, Jet Asia’s manageroperations: “We know it can be done becauseBeijing will process anybody’s ambulance flightsin four hours.”Asia’s fees for permits, landing and othercharges are sky-high compared with elsewhere,Pettit noted, with for example Tokyo and Beijingcharging in the region of US$10,000. Seoul alsocharges $10,000, “and if you land on Sundaysit is $12,000”.By contrast fees for a Paris to Madrid flightwould probably be less than $2,000.But Jet Asia regards lead times for acquiringpermits, not the high fees, as the prime impedimentto business.Another constraint: a reluctance of rich, butconservative Asian chief executives to indulge inhigh-cost corporate aviation. “It’s not a questionof money,” said Pettit. “There’s plenty of moneyhere.”46 | Orient Aviation | March 01