By Cleofe Maceda, ZAWYA
Although a pandemic-induced slowdown has decimated commercial airline passenger traffic, the private-jet industry in the UAE is taking off thanks to corporates and wealthy residents in the Emirates.
Since the coronavirus lockdown was lifted a few months back, the charter-flight sector in the region has been seeing increased demand as travellers are ready to cough up thousands of dollars per hour to avoid crowded airports and cabins, an industry source told Zawya.
“There has been an increase in private jet demand since the lockdown restrictions were lifted from countries that could handle private aviation. Private charter demand [started to go up] with the cancellations of commercial flights,” said Aziz Ghorbani, general manager at Delta World Charter, a provider of private and cargo charter services.