Making its ABACE debut this year is the Aircraft Registry of Aruba, which has recently seen increasing interest from Asian operators. According to Alexandria Colindres, the registry’s director of business development, the public/private partnership is anticipating the awarding of its first air operator certificate (AOC) to an Asian operator this summer.

Established in 1995, the Aruba registry (Booth H418) currently has more than 150 commercial and private aircraft under its P4 registration, including an Airbus ACJ319 from Business Aviation Asia, and a Sino Jet BBJ. Arriving soon will be a Falcon 900B from a private operator. “In the last year and a half we’ve been getting a lot of influx from the Asian market, so we just thought it made a lot of sense for us to come over here [to ABACE in Shanghai] to meet with our already existing clients and also to broaden our exposure within the market,” said Colindres.

The registry employs a staff of industry-seasoned inspectors and former regulators to conduct airworthiness and operational checks. “Even though our regulations are up to ICAO standards and we always ensure the safety of the operation, we can be very accommodating and flexible if they have specific needs that they need to work with us on,” Colindres noted. “We’ve done some very customized operations and these inspectors have really helped us get to that problem solving.”

While many aircraft on the registry might never actually touch their wheels down on a runway in Aruba, the registry does adhere to ICAO mandate that all AOC clients must have their principle place of business in the location—Aruba in this case.