Gulf Wings, headquartered at Sharjah in the UAE, is hoping to add two further aircraft to its fleet before the end of the year: a Global 6000, which is set for delivery in November, and a Challenger 605. The operator's fleet already includes three CL605s and a Legacy 600, and business development manager Emad Fahem says that he also has his eye on a Challenger 604.

“The Global will offer us more flexibility in the fleet,” he tells EBAN. “It is difficult to know exactly what the demand will be like at this stage, because up to now we have mostly occupied the medium range sector. But I do expect it to be busy.”

The Middle East has experienced a slowdown of late because of political and economic events such as oil price fluctuations, boycotts against Qatar and instability in Iraq and Yemen. “I think that when it comes to money, everyone is still a bit hesitant,” says Fahem. “Flying has reduced. But we have been doing pretty well over the last couple of months, and once the Global joins the fleet we will be able to look beyond the Middle East for business.

“Even using the Challenger, we have flown to Japan, Australia and to the US, although obviously we must factor in technical stops. We have also flown to South Africa and Tanzania; so far we have been more or less everywhere except South America. Carrying out these flights with a Global rather than a Challenger is advantageous for us, because we won't require the fuel stops.”

The company is now IS-BAO Stage 3 certified as of March this year, and holds Wyvern Wingman certification too. “We are now working on our ARGUS Gold rating. These are measures to help make us more competitive in the market. We have an office at DWC too, to support our fleet,” Fahem concludes.