The positive momentum from Royal Jet’s strong 2011 business performance has carried over into the first quarter of 2012 as the private jet operator recorded a 15 percent increase in revenue over the same period last year – the best Q1 performance in its history.
The Abu Dhabi-based international luxury flight services company, chaired by His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, attributed its success to increasingly buoyant market conditions across all customer segments, emerging strong growth in Asia and Saudi Arabia as well as continued productivity improvements.
“The strongest growth was in our jet charter business, driven by our aggressive sales strategy,” said Shane O’Hare, President and Chief Executive Officer of Royal Jet. “Our brokerage, Medevac,aircraft management and Fixed Base Operation divisions also performed well. We have fed this growth through to the bottom line through continued tight cost controls, although there is still serious pressure from fuel costs and uncertainty in global markets. However, we are optimistic that the worst is behind us.”
O’Hare said that forward demand is strong well into the second quarter, further underlying the operator’s confidence in business recovery. “Although it may be premature to say that the global economy is on the path to steady recovery from a devastating international financial crisis, the outlook is positive,” he said.”We are continuing to build strongly on our benchmark global service platform this year with the investment of $10 million in the interior refurbishment of another of our six Boeing Business Jets.
“We are optimistic that this level of business performance willcontinue throughout the year, helped by factors such as increased private jet travel during the summer period, air travel in connection with the Olympics and other sporting highlights, as well as the consistent demand for Medevac flights within the region and beyond.”
Royal Jet recorded a 226 percent increase in net profitin 2011 out of total revenues that increased by 31.2 percent over 2010.
