Danger zone

zoom

Apandi Lakhiyalov, president and CEO of aircraft charter provider Aerovista, tells Aviation Business about developing the company, flying to hazardous territories and hosting presidents.

When was the company set up?

It started in 1997 and was set up at the Sharjah Airport Safe zone. It started as a basic operation that didn't include flying - it just provided aviation services and parts.

There were three people: myself, the secretary and another founder, with the three of us investing $100,000 combined. It was more a warehouse than an office because we stored all these aircraft parts. In 2000 we launched airline services, acting as a broker before building our own fleet from Russian aircraft.

Some four years after launching the operation, we had around 15 aircraft but all of them were Russian. They were standard passenger and business jets from the Eastern bloc.

To keep up with market trends we phased out the Russian aircraft and brought in more Western planes from Boeing. We placed an order for four used aircraft; two 737-200s which are still in the fleet and two more pending delivery. One was re-sold and the other is expected this year.

Right now, the fleet is two passenger aircraft with one cargo expected, but we want four passenger aircraft by the end of the year. In 2005, we secured a UAE aircraft operators certificate, which was a strategic move. It usually takes about a year-and-a-half to get one.

You need to comply with various procedures and the civil aviation authority has to approve certain aspects. We secured ours in June 2005 and have since been operating charters to the Mideast, North Africa, CIS and Indian Subcontinent. Most charter operators in this area reap good benefits from war zones, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

We fly everyday and most of our flights go to those countries, so we're dedicated to hazard areas. It's usual because you don't have many operators flying to those countries.

How has the company changed since it was launched?

In terms of aviation, we have been operating since 1997 and reached a set of customers after building a name for this product. We are one of the key charter operators with this kind of fleet.

We want to take this to the next step by increasing the fleet and getting more aircraft to operate on existing routes. We also need to operate to further destinations with newer aircraft, so that's something we are working on.

How many aircraft are you keen to bring in?

Two more - they will be 737s, 300s or 400s because those have a longer range and can reach Eastern Europe. The existing aircraft we have can't fly to Europe, so the 300s and 400s would be ideal.

There is big potential in this region, with destinations such as southern parts of CIS, Egypt, East Africa, and the Indian Subcontinent served by 200s, 300s and 400s. We may then look at bigger aircraft such as the 737-800, which is quite an expensive investment even if you leased it.

You need enough passengers to do that and we are ready for 120 people, so the 300 and 400s, ranging from 140-160 seats, are ideal. But an 800 with more than 180 passengers is too much for us at the moment.

What were you doing before joining the company?

I was an aviation engineer with vast experience in Russia. It's a place where there are a many charter operators. There was huge scope for that market in Dubai, which is why I came here. I started off acquiring and running aircraft before branching out to supplying aircraft parts and brokerage.

I developed a customer base before acquiring a fleet. I found brokerage easy because you don't need much investment; it's your network that's essential.

Once we built up a good customer base, we realised getting our own aircraft would be the next logical step. After launching this business segment, we eventually had 15 aircraft in different destinations, such as Sharjah, Africa and CIS.

How was your operation different to other air charter providers?

We have flown interesting personalities such as Kofi Annan and Tony Blair because we used to work for the UN on various projects. This was in North Africa when we had aircraft there. We also carried scheduled services, flying to Tbilisi in Georgia.

There were no Georgian airlines operating from Dubai or Sharjah to Georgia but we used to do it. We stopped it when there was a change in government over there and things became more complicated.

We have had experience in various models, including scheduled, chartered and business jet. We felt of these the ad hoc charter is what we did best and that's why we concentrated on flying 737-200s to Iraq.

What other typical charter jobs do you carry out?

We've worked with sports groups to move football teams and rugby clubs within the region. We also work with airlines, leasing aircraft to them. For example, there are North African airlines requiring aircraft, so we provided short-term leases for one or two months.

Print | Email | Discuss this article |

USER COMMENTS (0 COMMENTS)

POST A COMMENT

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Security Code *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.