Bombardier Flexjet Asia

Asian Aerospace marks the regional launch of Bombardier Flexjet Asia, a charter network that will facilitate access to business jets based in Asia. Unlike other Flexjet operations this will focus not on fractional ownership, but on a region-wide network of charter operations under a common banner and with uniform standards of safety and quality.

Until now, businesses chartering jets in Asia have had to deal with a variety of independent operators in different countries. Flexjet Asia will make multiple bookings possible with a single telephone call.

Bombardier will announce here the addition of a Singapore operator to the network. Flexjet Asia expects to begin operations with its first contract in the region in a matter of weeks.

"We're in the process now of getting all the players together and rationalized," said Mike Fahey, Bombardier's regional marketing VP. "We want to make sure we get the horse in front of the cart."

He noted there is strong expatriate demand for bizjet charter around Asia at the same time that the economic downturn has denuded countries like Indonesia and the Philippines of its fleets of older but available business jets. Demand, meanwhile, is accelerating for transportation into China. Here Flexjet will use Shandong Airlines and its four 604 Challengers. Later it will extend the Flexjet charter network to Australia as well.

"We can do all this because of the acquisitions Bombardier has made" in its quest to provide transportation solutions, Fahey said. A prime example is Skyjet, one of the premier online charter coordinators/organizers/providers, which will coordinate Flexjet Asia charter requests in Asia from its offices in Washington, D.C., and in Hong Kong.

Fahey said Flexjet Asia is already discussing major contracts with oil companies that do not want to buy their own aircraft but are seeking block charters of 200-250 hours a year. He is an expert in this field, having sold the first Learjet 55 into China, to Hainan Island Airways, purely on the basis of a contract with Exxon.

Flexjet Asia's launch partners are:

• Shandong Airlines Rainbow Jet, headquartered in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province, about 500 kilometres south of Beijing.
  Shandong has ordered four Challenger 604s, the first of which will be delivered in March. Its parent Shandong Airlines operates five Bombardier Canadair CRJ airliners and has options on another five.
• Subic International Air Charter Inc. based at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. It operates a fleet of Bombardier Learjets including the Learjet 31A, Learjet 35 and the Learjet 45. It has also placed an order for a Bombardier Continental business jet that is scheduled for delivery in 2003. Subic has agreed to offer several aircraft from its Bombardier fleet to Flexjet Asia for charter purposes.
• Jet Asia Limited of Macau, an aviation management and executive charter company that operates two cabin-class Bombardier Challenger aircraft on behalf of the Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM).

By John Morris