With over two decades of experience flying some of the world’s most prestigious figureheads, Royal Jet has firmly established itself as the UAE’s leading private airline.
Beginning as the UAE Royal family’s airline, it’s jets have flown the country’s leaders across the world for over twenty years, safely enabling them to complete missiones, secure peace deals and meet with global world leaders.
Today, Royal Jet has expanded far beyond its humble beginnings, with a substantial fleet of aircraft that connect VIP travellers from Abu Dhabi to the world. But it is about to spread its wings even further. With the recent arrival of its new CEO Shafiul Syed, Royal Jet hopes to attract a widened cleintele and expand georgaphically, whilst still offering the same levels of quality and safety standards it is known for. Here we find out more about the plans for the future of the Abu Dhabi based airline.
Tell us about Royal Jet’s business model and the current vision and direction of the brand.
Royal Jet is now in its 21st year which is a great achievement. It began as the Royal airline of Abu Dhabi, and then became primarily focused on the extended royal family. Then we started to buy more aircrafts and build capability, and we realised there was a market out there, so we started to expand commercially as well. Appealing to other heads of state, outside of this region.
We’re currently at a crossroad where we’re about to take a deeper plunge into the commercial market. We have a strong brand; we have a great home in Abu Dhabi – to be identified with the UAE leadership is really powerful in itself. And that gives us a brand that is different from others. We’re described as being timeless, sophisticated, and elegant. we’re not trying to be anything else; we are a more elevated brand. So, looking forward, we can start with the recent announcement that we will be upgrading our fleet. Some of the Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) aircraft are getting a little bit old, and generally, for our clientele we need younger, newer aircraft. That gives us a great opportunity to become a NAVOS operator. We recently announced the introduction of three ACJ320neo aircraft, with rights for an additional six, marking a significant step in meeting the growing demand for private aviation.
We also have two Bombardier Global 5000s, and we’ve realised that there’s a great market out there that we can appeal to. There is opportunity to extend our brand geographically and into different segments. So, over the next three years we are hoping to expand into different markets and sectors. We are going to do a bit of exploration which started this year with Malaysia, and we are going to take that further extending it forward over the next three to six months. You can expect to hear some exciting developments!
In terms of sectors for expansion can you explain in more details – will you be expanding into different price segments as well as new locations?
When it comes to pricing, we need to be in the ballpark. Whilst we have a superior product, and our whole customer experience is built around the royal element of Royal Jet, we are focused on curating personalised travel for leaders of countries, industries and businesses. But, there is a market that’s a bit more price-sensitive. There’s room for differentiation in terms of pricing and offering, but we need to be in the vicinity of what others offer. So, we will start to look at our pricing, new segments, and new geographies.
Since COVID the industry has changed – how would you assess the market today?
When you look at all the indices, the US and Europe are going through quite a lot of adulation. But actually, what we’re seeing in the Middle East is constant growth since COVID. There is still great demand. We have a lot of new players coming to Dubai World Central Airport. We are in a great location and there are many opportunities for us as an airline. There are so many markets crying out for capacity and so there’s huge room for growth. But we need to explore in the right way that’s viable for the customers and for us as a business.
How do you serve your customers and ensure their expectations are met?
It’s about curating a personal experience. We get to know our clientele and what they actually want, and we ensure we can provide that to a very high degree. This can be anything from catering, offering, the way our crew interact with the client. Everything comes together so that it’s a personal experience and no two experiences are the same. We collect data from our clients well and we’re looking to refresh a lot of our systems and make it more tactile so we can get all the information we need in the simplest way. We are going through a digital upgrade, and we are going to look at using AI tools and upgraded platforms to make the process even more seamless and allow us to become more client-centric.
You have joined Royal Jet quite recently – what expectations did you have and how has it been since joining?
I generally join companies that need a lot of help or improvement – but coming to Royal Jet – it was already a great brand, with a great family spirit amongst the employees. I think it’s a great platform. So, I’m a lot further forward than expected and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. I found the company in a great position to catapult it into the future and the future is looking very exciting.
The safety and quality standards at Royal Jet are world-leading and I think that comes from the experience we have in taking ultra-care of VIP individuals. It has become the culture in the organisation and that’s the only way we do things. We have some very difficult missions. The leadership of the UAE often fly to war-torn places or conflict where they are trying to broker peace. So quite often we must do a huge risk assessment in the back end, to make sure that our aircraft and our passengers are well protected and we’re taking the right risks that we can mitigate. There is a very delicate balance, but Royal Jet are extremely good at delivering on that basis.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
There are many challenges but one of them is that Royal Jet operates at a different standard and we have the GCA (the regulatory body in the UAE), and they have a very high standards.
Pricing is also a challenge as we are sometimes competing with companies who don’t have the same standards or the same levels of training that we do, or the same commitments to quality. So, we are often compared to these airlines who don’t train to the same level as we do, but unfortunately it appears to the outside that we are more expensive that others, but not everyone is always aware of what we put in.
Delivery of aircraft and getting spare parts is another challenge. We just ordered another three A320 Neos and we are working around three years from order to delivery. So, a lot of planning is required, and we know that there is also a large demand for these aircraft. Another challenge is that we are designing an interior for something that won’t come to life for three years, so by the time it arrives, it is already old. I do wish that those cycles could be somehow lessened but that is the industry standard as it stands.
And then another challenge would be related to sustainability which of course is an industry-wide challenge that we are constantly working o improve. I’m a passionate believer that the real solutions and change are yet to come but it will take time and it’s not something that we are one individual airline can fix. Ultimately aviation saves lives and makes us better people, but we have to find ways to improve the sustainability aspect of it.
Walk us through a customer experience at Royal Jet.
The customer experience begins with the booking process which comes through to the concierge booking department and once that mission is booked, we then try to send out an iPad to our customers to give them the opportunity to tell us more about themselves, their likes, dislikes and preferences for their journey. This can include options for catering, for the type of service they require, how the staff should interact with them. The iPad then comes back to us with all that information, and we can curate the guest experience. Quite often there will be an advance part that arrives at our airport lounge. We will take care of them as well as the lead guest when he or she arrives. We make sure everything is stocked with the food and beverage that he or she likes and that the space is prepared for how they would like it. Typically, that experience at the terminal is quite short with just enough time for us to clear the guest through immigration and customs.
Then when they arrive on the aircraft they will be met by the pilot and cabin crew and addressed in the way they prefer and then they are settled into the aircraft based on the preferences they shared beforehand. This could be their choice of TV, internet, food choices, music – we can curate everything for each individual preference, whatever their needs.
We want everything to be as seamless as possible for the guests and a truly personalised experience.
What do you think impacts a client’s decision to fly with Royal Jet?
We do have a lot of loyal customers who not only know Royal Jet, but they also know exactly which aircraft they want. That’s one level.
If we take a new customer – price is a factor obviously, but it tends to be that we will sell based on our aircraft. We are the biggest BBJ operator in the world. We have great internet, we have beds on board, we have a majlis setting. There is space for protocol, space for the lead passenger and his colleagues or family. A 34-seater is perfect for this and on the BBJs we can fly at 34,000 feet which is a comfortable height to fly at. With that you have all the safety and quality of Royal Jet. Availability of these aircrafts can be an issue as well as our ability to get them to where they want. Particularly with the BBJs and soon. The ACJs – they have the ability to fly long-range and that is definitely an impactful element of a guest’s decision to fly with us. We can get to Singapore, The United Kingdom, Iceland, in one flight and that’s not the case for every aircraft.
What’s in the pipeline for the future of Royal Jet?
A lot of it will be connected to our new fleet and the decisions we are making around that. As I mentioned we have a three-year time window on that but there will be more and new types of aircraft added. We are also looking to upgrade our old fleet.
Secondly will are looking at expanding geographically. And the third will be expanding into a different segment that requires smaller aircraft. Internally, as I mentioned, we are going through a digital renaissance and a reset within the business which is also very exciting.
