Royal Jet Starts Luxury Travel Services

Abu Dhabi-based private jet operator Royal Jet announced that it has partnered with Eden Luxury Group, a UK-based luxury travel provider, to launch a new travel division to cater to affluent travellers.

“The luxury travel company is a logical extension to our current portfolio at Royal Jet and we believe that there is a need in the market for a wider audience of customers. It’s not just VIPS who travel by private jet for a luxury bespoke travel service,” Shane O’Hare, president and CEO of Royal Jet told Gulf Business.

“So if you are travelling to the Maldives or Switzerland or Morocco, Royal Jet will provide a bespoke complete travel service – hotels, transfers, any special requirements from start to finish,” he said.

The customers need not necessarily travel on Royal Jet aircraft, he added.

The service will also cater to destinations across the world, depending on the customer’s demand, he said.

“The hotels we offer are high-profile properties, with strong personalities that can either be city centre, chic resorts, villas, ski chalets, yachts or private hideaways,” Paul Beacall, co-founder and CEO of Eden Luxury Group, said in a statement.

“They attract guests who are looking for properties with attention to detail and exceptional service levels, restaurants serving eclectic cuisine run by celebrity chefs, spa retreats and the like.”

Royal Jet, jointly owned by Abu Dhabi Aviation and the Presidential Flight Authority, also runs a charter brokerage, a medical evacuation service, and an aircraft management and acquisition consultancy.

It recently announced that its first quarter revenues increased 15 per cent year-on-year, the company’s best ever Q1 performance.

“The strongest growth was in our jet charter business,” said O’Hare. “Our brokerage, Medevac, aircraft management and fixed base operation divisions also performed well,” he said.

The Abu Dhabi company posted a record 226 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit in 2011, with total revenues rising by 31.2 per cent during the period.