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Dubai, United Arab Emirates CNN —
It’s 3 a.m. at the VIP airport terminal of Dubai’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Aerospace Hub, and an ultra-long-haul plane is getting ready to take off. The luxurious 14-seater private jet will head to Europe as soon as its chief passenger and his entourage have arrived.
For the ultra-rich and others like him, it’s a common commute, and for this money-grubbing soul, every wish is catered for, from the high-density bedding on board to the Big Macs that are ready to be eaten as soon as one buckles their seatbelt.
“No matter where you fly to or from in the world … there has to be a McDonald’s and a KFC on board … it has to be both,” said Lilit Avetikian, CEO and founder of the recently launched private jet company Voyex.
For the Dubai-based private aviation veteran, catering to her billionaire clients’ unique requests – be it fast-food favourites, tickets to the Oscars or customised mystery holidays – is just part of the “360-degree” luxury lifestyle services she offers.
This is an elite club where people enjoy private jet trips that can cost anywhere from $50,000 to more than $200,000 one way.
As a premium private charter flight broker, Voyex boasts access to a network of over 20,000 aircraft worldwide that can be called up and ready to take off within hours.
“We actually have two very special aircraft that are only available to the super-rich – royalty and governments. They’re like little villas in the air,” Avetikian said.
As rising living costs have far-reaching effects on the global economy, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) billionaire’s club is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, raising demand for corporate and luxury private aviation along with it.
“It’s a mindset of abundance,” Vanessa Buda, vice president of communications and lifestyle at Voyex, says of Dubai, where the company is currently based.
“Ultimately, we appeal to representatives, government officials and celebrities,” she said. “They’re top-tier clients, but we have to keep them in confidence.”
More than 6,700 billionaires are projected to relocate to the UAE in 2024 alone, more than any other country, according to Henley & Partners, a consultancy that helps wealthy clients gain residency and citizenship abroad through investment, while Dubai is projected to see a 150 percent increase in the number of millionaires with investable assets of more than $100 million by 2040.
In its 2024 Private Wealth Movement report, the firm suggested the UAE is expected to attract almost twice as many billionaires as its biggest rival, the United States, driven by an influx of billionaires from India, the Middle East, Russia, Africa, the UK and Europe.
Dubai is now the world’s most active market for residential properties priced above $10 million, according to property consultancy Knight Frank.
“Over the past 50 years, Dubai has built a reputation as a global hub for luxury housing, and the world’s wealthy are actively pursuing the city’s most expensive homes,” said Faisal Durrani, principal researcher at Knight Frank Middle East.
Durrani said the desire for luxury and exclusivity among the world’s ultra-wealthy is also extending to private aviation, which is leading to growth in Gulf countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, as well as “the fact that Dubai has a long-standing history as a global connectivity hub”.
“If you go back to December 2020, most of the world was in lockdown but the UAE was not. And many of the ultra-rich who were stranded were first-time visitors to Dubai because it was the only place they could visit.”
According to consulting firm Creative Zone, the Middle East’s private jet market is worth $566 million and is expected to grow to $943 million by 2029. While the number of private flights in Europe and the United States may be high, the pace of growth in emerging markets such as the Middle East and India is unmatched, says Yousef Muallem, executive vice president of international for global private aviation company VistaJet.
“The ultra-rich are coming to the area,” Muallem said, “but they’re also bringing their corporate headquarters and headquarters, so it’s a two-fold effect.”
Muallem said the UAE accounts for 59 percent of the region’s civil aviation growth, but it’s not the only country experiencing rapid growth. Saudi Arabia is developing six to eight new airport terminals specifically for private jets. Sharjah, neighboring the Emirate of Dubai, will get a 14,000-square-meter hangar and a “VVIP” terminal. UK-based business aviation services group Gama Aviation recently announced it would pump $100 million into a new facility at Sharjah International Airport.
But the aviation industry is responsible for 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and not all countries are so enthusiastic about embracing civil aviation. Last year, the Netherlands announced its intention to ban commercial jets and small business aviation from its main airport, Schiphol, from 2026 in a bid to cut noise pollution and carbon dioxide emissions per passenger.
On average, private jets are 10 times more carbon intensive than passenger planes and emit 50 times more polluting than trains, according to the European Transport and Environment Federation.
Muallem said the civil aviation industry was used to “the various changes that come with civil aviation bans around the world” and argued that the focus should be on increasing the adoption of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) rather than flight bans.
Sustainable aviation fuel can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 80% and can be produced from a variety of sustainable feedstocks, including animal fats, oils, household waste and crops.
Emirates conducted a demonstration flight of an Airbus A380 running on 100% SAF in November 2023. Currently, some airlines use blended SAF, but the International Air Transport Association forecasts that SAF production capacity will not exceed 1.5 million tonnes in 2024, amounting to about 0.5% of total jet fuel demand.
Muallem added that the company purchased 4.2 million U.S. gallons of blended SAF in the past year.
Voyex doesn’t offer carbon offsets to its customers, but Avetkyan said the company is negotiating with environmental groups to donate a percentage of its profits to reforestation programs.
Avetkyan said he was encouraged by Emirates’ demonstration flight last year, but added that it will take time before there is enough supply to revamp the industry.
“This is something that we as aircraft charter brokers obviously have little influence over, so this is really a decision for the operators and suppliers,” Avetkyan said, adding that clients should not feel guilty about private aviation’s environmental impact.
“I’m not trying to apologize,” she said. “I’m actually speaking for my clients. They shouldn’t feel bad… and they absolutely deserve to be on a private jet.”
